Association for Progressive Communications’ Post

HVIDVASKNING AF INFORMATION: OPERATION FALSE FAÇADE Ny rapport fra EEAS med kortlægning af række platforme, der spreder pro-kremlske budskaber i EU: * "The EEAS together with Spanish authorities spotted suspicious activity online and proceeded to analyse a series of suspicious websites that were involved in creating and disseminating pro-Kremlin content seeking to undermine Western support to Ukraine." * "The Operation False Façade comprises a network of at least 23 inauthentic websites mimicking Western media entities." * "These sites translate content from Russian state-controlled media into EU languages or repackage information from various accounts on platforms such as YouTube, Telegram, X, and Medium into articles." * "While primarily operating in English - translating Russian content- there is one dedicated node functioning in French too. The information published by the network is after translated and tailored for EU audiences in Germany, France, Spain, Italy and Poland." Link til kort artikel: https://lnkd.in/gBYiTKic Link til rapport: https://lnkd.in/gaYKewaZ

🔔 FACT-FINDING MISSION: MEDIA FREEDOM IN #CROATIA 🔔 🗓 From 9 to 20 Sept 🖥 Online Today begins an international online fact-finding mission led by ARTICLE 19 and the EFJ, as part of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) project. This mission is organised in partnership with EFJ's Croatian affiliate: Croatian Journalists' Association (CJA) - HND. Why have we organised such a mission? To assess the current challenges to media freedom and the safety of journalists, such as recent media law reforms and #SLAPPs. We will provide key recommendations at the end of the mission, based on all constructive discussions with a wide group of interlocutors in Croatia, including journalists, media houses, civil society organisations, lawyers and media experts, government officials and regional bodies. The mission started this morning with constructive dialogue with EFJ president Maja Sever (also president of the Trade Union of Croatian Journalists) and we will continue this afternoon with Croatian journalists facing daily pressure. Read more: https://lnkd.in/evBFEaW7 #pressfreedom #mediafreedom #MFRR #Croatia

The Shadow Report on the Albanian Media Landscape is a report developed by SCiDEV and Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso Transeuropa highlighting critical challenges and providing key recommendations as part of our engagement with the European Commission’s consultations for the Rule of Law Report for Albania. Key Recommendations: •Combat Media Concentration: Authorities should enact and enforce legislation to reduce media concentration, ensuring a diverse and pluralistic media market. •Guarantee Media Independence: Safeguard the independence of all media outlets by preventing political and financial interference in editorial policies. Ensure transparency in media ownership to prevent capture by political and economic interests. •Protect Journalists: Establish an effective monitoring system for attacks against journalists, with specific measures to protect women journalists. Amend the criminal code to enhance protection for journalists and provide law enforcement with the necessary training and resources to address media freedom violations. •Uphold Public Interest and Freedom of Information: Align the definition of public interest with European standards, rigorously enforce the law on Freedom of Information, and ensure media accreditation regulations do not hinder journalists' access to information. 📄 This report is available in both English and Albanian: https://bit.ly/3ykNp4E This report is part of the Media Freedom Rapid Response and #ATLIB project, implemented by OBCT in cooperation with SCiDEV and #NUNS, and co-financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. #MediaFreedom #RuleOfLaw #JournalismSafety #SCiDEV #OBCT #NUNS

What are the core challenges and to-dos in countering disinformation and foreign information manipulation and interference for the EU’s next cycle? We agreed with Claire Pershan, Alexandre Alaphilippe and Tommaso Canetta that prompt and clear enforcement of the Digital Services Act and sustainable funding for CSOs that lead the work in this area is key. A crucial point in this respect remains ensuring data access to researchers. In FIMI, I believe we should start targeting proxies - websites, social media pages, Telegram accounts that freely republish and copy-paste texts from EU sanctioned Kremlin-backed sources, translating them to EU languages (with the help of automation & LLMs) and reaching thousands of EU citizens. Many of the sources found in Doppelganger or Portal Kombat operations still remain fully operational. Thanks to Stephan Mündges for moderating us and to Maldita.es for inviting GLOBSEC to this timely event! (Photo credit: Maldita)

Central Asia in Focus: Kazakhstan’s lower house of parliament passes controversial media law; desiccated Aral Sea contributes to a 7% increase in dust in Central Asia in the last 30 years with bigger problems potentially coming soon; Uzbekistan takes control of Kyrgyz enclave at Barak; IMF disputes Turkmen GDP figures; and a reminder of the latest Majlis podcast that asks if the Tajik government’s policies are creating terrorists. https://lnkd.in/eQUUYUzg

#Legal_Paper 📢 This paper analyzes the Syrian Ministry of Information’s 🏛️ decision to monitor “unlicensed” digital platforms 📱, highlighting how Syrian authorities exploit the law’s vague wording ⚖️ to target media workers. #STJ

Today’s news round-up in Poland from PAP/The First News There are a few hiccups in the English here and there but it's a useful resource if you're interested in Poland's news and views and some interesting features that are often not covered elsewhere. Below is TFN's round-up for 20 December: #newsroundup #poland #polska #PAP #statemedia #polishpressagency #inenglish #newsinenglish #news #english #thefirstnews

Words Thrown Around Recently American  elections are an excellent source of power shift, entertainment and of course, lots of talk in form of debates in  tv shows and written articles. The Arab world media will be covering this election like all other corners of the world if not more for geopolitical reasons.  Many interesting articles by renowned political analysts  will be translated to Arabic by local agents. And some of elections-related expression resurface every 4 years, and are not the easiest to translate in 1 or 2 words. Here are  2 can think of : Whataboutism: The art of mirroring one’s current  faults with the opponent’s previous ones. A fairly new expression that does not have equivalents in Arabic. Some translators chose to go for the literal: ماذاعنيّة   . This might be the correct one if given enough  time, but for now the best translation is : المقارنة المراوغة . Dog Whistle-ing: The art of using social main stream and acceptable rhetoric with the intention  to call the attention of a particular group covertly. And since dog related expression are considered bad manners in the Arab world, the best translation would be : استنهاض مبطن

China’s first independent fact-checking initiative, China Fact Check, uses WeChat to combat misinformation through a volunteer fact-checking system. Read more here: https://buff.ly/4fdK3Rw #China #Misinformation #FactChecking

The civil war in Sudan is rarely given attention in the media, one year after it started. This ‘silent war’ has had long-term and devastating consequences. ARTICLE 19's findings show that the violations of the right to freedom of expression have further increased over the past year - from attacks against the media and journalists, internet shutdowns or manipulation of information. One of the things that has escaped scrutiny so far is the responsibility of online platforms. In this conflict, major social media published no information about steps taken in response to the conflict on their platforms (as compared to some of those related to the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine and the war in Israel and Palestine - albeit those have been strongly criticized). So we urge the platforms to take their responsibility seriously. This includes disclosing the resources they allocated to their content moderation efforts to account for the increased online and offline risks during conflicts, the level of engagement with humanitarian organisations and local civil society groups on the ground (taking into consideration the safety risks of the latter), and whether there are any rapid response systems to enable human rights groups to escalate urgent matters to the platforms and take swift action when user safety is at risk. We also remind internet service providers and telecommunication companies operating in Sudan, including MTN, Zain Group, Sudatel Telecom Group, Ltd, or Canar, of their human rights responsibilities. These include takinge all possible measures to prevent a shutdown that they have been asked to implement from proceeding and prevent or mitigate to the extent possible adverse human rights impacts. They should also publicly disclose details about any shutdown orders they receive. #Sudan #war #platforms #socialmedia #telcos #responsibilities #humanrights #freedomofexpression #connectivity https://lnkd.in/eYsrj5Af