With so much of the Western media discourse focused on Elon Musk, it’s critical we take a global view. Nuanced debates should take into account the complexity of online harms impacting offline violence. 

Whether Trump is or is not reinstated on Twitter pales into comparison with genocide in Myanmar, for example. We’re seeing rhetoric in various parts of the world which is cause for concern and underlines the necessity of content moderation. 

One area of focus for us at the moment is the Philippines, where voters go to the polls on May 9. One of our analysts, Anthony Esguerra, has compiled a very helpful overview of the mis and disinformation trends that can be expected over the next few weeks. And real world violence is a possibility: he points to the Maguindanao Massacre, where 58 people were killed as a candidate was filing his candidacy papers in 2009. Check out the post here.

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For Your Headphones This Weekend

Nina Jankowicz previously wrote How to Lose the Information War, focusing on the impact of Russian disinformation in Eastern Europe. Her new book is How to Be a Woman Online: Surviving Abuse and Harassment, and How to Fight Back. She appeared on the Tech Policy Press podcast The Sunday Show to talk through themes from the book. Listen here.

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From the Kinzen Slack channels

Articles recommended by our uniquely experienced group of engineers, scientists, designers, developers and editorial experts

Axios. Experts warn about rising extremism in gaming spaces

The cultural dominance of gaming is extraordinary. I expect we’ll see many more reports like this in coming months and years, as it becomes a focus of research. Just like any online space, the possibility for extremists to gather together and grow their numbers by slowly but surely radicalising others is real. 

Grid. Being a woman on the internet is a nightmare. How can we fix it?

If you don’t have time for the podcast above, this is another interview with Nina Jankowicz focused on misogyny and the challenges of being a woman online.

Brookings. How Russia benefits from ill-informed social media policies

There have been some arguments made online by prominent voices that Russian views are being censored since the invasion of Ukraine. Emma L Briant argues that social platforms’ moderation efforts are clearly not going in one way only, but that much of the suspensions, often followed by reinstatements, play perfectly into the Kremlin’s hands.

BBC. Ukraine war: False TikTok videos draw millions of views

Shayan Sardarizadeh highlights some examples of misleading TikTok videos that have gone viral recently. He points out the use of fake livestreams, fake video game footage, and old imagery deliberately repurposed to tell today’s story as key trends.