This week, my colleague Karolin Schwarz, reflects on the scourge of white supremacist terrorism:

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Last weekend, 10 people were killed during an attack carried out by a white supremacist in Buffalo, New York. The racist attack followed the playbook of other terrorists: a pamphlet posted online followed by a livestream of the attack, just like during earlier attacks in Christchurch, El Paso or Halle (Germany). Just a few days prior, a 16-year old was arrested in the western German city of Essen, suspected to have planned a similar attack. He too referred to the anti-Muslim terrorist attack in Christchurch in his writings.

While platforms are dealing with re-uploads of the attacker’s writings and livestream video, we have also focused on his pathway to radicalization, which he laid out in a diary he wrote before the attack. We know from this and previous attacks: digital platforms play an important role in their radicalization. Another common denominator: almost all right-wing terrorists have invoked the conspiracy theory of the "Great Replacement" in the past years. Behind this lies the racist, antisemitic tale of an alleged secret plan to “replace“ the white majority population in countries like the US, Germany, New Zealand or Norway. Right-wing politicians and pundits have also been continually tapping into this conspiracy theory. An adequate response to this will continue to challenge platforms, media and democratic societies, as Alice Marwick and Ben Collins have laid out.

Much of our focus lies with the motivation and ideology of right-wing terrorists, but we should also remember those who lost their lives in Buffalo:

Roberta A. Drury, Margus D. Morrison, Andrew Mackneil, Aaron Salter, Geraldine Talley, Celestine Chaney, Heyward Patterson, Katherine Massey, Pearl Young and Ruth Whitfield.

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Editor’s Pick

Anti-vaccine sentiment is far from a newfound phenomenon. It’s been around pretty much since vaccines were invented. But in more recent times, it’s been driven by the belief that vaccines cause autism. This week I’ve been delving into the origins of this with The Doctor Who Fooled the World: Science, Deception, and the War on Vaccines by Brian Deer. 

It’s a meticulous account by the investigative journalist. Deer, who has focused on this story in detail for many many years, explains how Andrew Wakefield published that deeply flawed and infamous report in The Lancet, and how there were various conflicts of interest at the heart of it. There’s a lot more in there, but if you’re interested in learning about the foundations of recent vaccine hesitancy, this is the book to read. 

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From the Kinzen Slack channels

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

WIRED. If Tech Fails to Design for the Most Vulnerable, It Fails Us All

Increasingly, we’re seeing a focus on design principles as a key factor in ensuring better online spaces for everyone. While so much of our conversations about misinformation and hate speech get bogged down in anecdotes and whether said content should be removed or labelled, improving design infrastructure is often left out. This article highlights some examples of how Grindr has introduced features to ensure the safety of its gay userbase. 

The New Yorker. The Triumph of Marcos Dynasty Disinformation is a Warning to the U.S.

I’m generally not a fan of articles that begin by focusing on how an event in the developing world impacts the United States, but this headline is misleading as the story focuses exclusively on the Philippines. It includes lots of detail about how Nobel Peace Prize recipient Maria Ressa and her team at Rappler have been working to counter disinformation in the Philippines in the recent election, and their response upon the landslide victory of “Bongbong” Marcos. See Kinzen’s recent blog post which was published in advance of the election here.

The Institute for Strategic Dialogue. The ‘Great Reset’ Conspiracy in Australia

Ahead of the election in Australia on Saturday, this report explores how false COVID narratives are impacting the country still. 

Platformer. Facebook admits its mistakes

Casey Newton works through a recent release of data from Facebook, something researchers have been calling for in the interests of transparency. The report highlights errors in content moderation, both by technological systems and regular old humans.