Tinius Digest October 2019

Google is the dominant player, and Google ads are present on 70 percent of websites with fake news and disinformation.

To put it into perspective: AppNexus ads are present on only eight percent of the website and Criteo on only four percent. But: In terms of money, Google accounts for 37 percent, followed by AppNexus (25%) and Criteo (23%).

The reason is that ad tech from Google is most popular overall (especially on low-traffic websites), while a limited number of high-traffic sites use AppNexus and Criteo.

The Global Disinformation Index found ads from several major advertisers on the website. Among these are Audi, Honda, American Airlines, Oxford University, Sprint, and Azul Systems.

The money Google distributes to media organizations seems to follow a clear pattern: the greater the threat of regulations, the more money is funneled to journalism in that region. When regulations are implemented, or the threat level is lower, the financial support in the area drops dramatically.

France and Germany are two of the most eager countries in Europe when it comes to proposing regulation of technology companies. 285 media organizations in the two countries have received financial support (that’s more than 20 percent of all media support Google has provided).

The increased political pressure in the United States over the past two years is consistent with increased support for American media organizations – at the expense of Europeans.

Strategic silence was most effective when gatekeepers had significant control of public discourse. Deliberately not discussing or addressing issues no longer works.

Platforms must accept that information is never neutral and cannot be weighted equally. There are many ways to create content, and these differences give the content different values and degrees of credibility.

Publishing and making information available has a cost and has implications for society.

A fragmented and democratized information flow – which is governed by the interests of the majority (read: search engine algorithms) – could marginalize minority groups and promote and reinforce unwanted attitudes (read: hate groups).

A direct consequence is a need for strategic reinforcement of information through ethical and responsible choices.

Governance processes need to be developed to highlight reliable and credible information that serves the public.

75 percent believe it should be more difficult to store personal data and information that can be used to create digital profiles. Only 10 percent disagree, and the majority are between 18 and 29 years.

The researchers wanted to investigate people’s real willingness to share data. Therefore the participants were asked to disclose all information from the survey so that it could be linked to data from Facebook that would form a digital profile. 26 percent gave their consent.

When a control group was first asked about privacy, personal data and how they are used, the number giving consent dropped to 17 percent. Interesting: Information about the Cambridge Analytica scandal does not affect participants’ willingness to share data.

Fun fact: People who scored highly as ‘intuitive’ in the CRT reflection test more often share personal data than others.

Those who share data have experienced more phishing, ID theft, and other adverse events (such as sharing infringing pictures or videos).

83 percent of Swedes use social media – this is the same number as last year.

The daily use of Facebook is falling (to 51%), while Instagram (41%) and Snapchat (24%) are increasing.

There is also a significant decline in sharing of content on social media: uploading photos (31%), sharing other people’s posts (30%), writing own posts (28%), and sharing news (24%).

For the first time, the report also asked the recipients what activity they perceived as meaningful. 60 percent think it makes sense to use news apps. Only 12 percent say the same about mobile games. It is worth noting that only one in four Swedes (24%) perceives time spent on social media as meaningful.

55 percent of Swedes have listened to a podcast, while nine percent listen daily – and more pay for digital content: Music (58%), video (57%), and news (32%).

61 percent of digital advertising revenue in Denmark now goes to foreign companies (primarily Google and Facebook). An increase of three percentage points in one year.

Danes spend less money on access to content (TV subscriptions, streaming services, mobile, newspapers, etc.). The decline is not dramatic, but worth noting.

49 percent of the Danes have listened to podcasts, and the proportion is increasing in all age groups.

The rise of alternative (mostly right-wing) political media on YouTube is a consequence of both supply and demand for content.

Yes, YouTube has made it easier for people with sympathy for these opinions to express themselves and gain an audience – and YouTube’s algorithms have been a critical factor in helping them reach their audience.

The increased consumption of videos that promote white nationalism is due to the fact that there has always been an audience that has demanded the content. Not that former politically moderate users are being radicalized and consuming the content.

The increase in the number of conservative voices on YouTube (both on the production side and the number of viewers) can be largely explained by the fact that many traditionally conservative people have started using YouTube over the past two years.

Although the most extreme all-right groupings have been declining since mid-2017, YouTube’s algorithms helps them find their audience. This is because YouTube users with sympathy for the Alt-Right movement are more engaged than other YouTube users: They watch and like more videos and comment more often. This is interpreted by YouTube algorithms as a positive behavior.

Only 25 percent of journalists use encrypted emails, only 18 percent encrypt phone calls, and nine percent encrypt chat with sources and internally. 32 percent state that they do not use any form of encryption in their communications.

Media organizations and journalists in Europe and North America more often use encryption in their communications than journalists in other parts of the world.

Editors (75%) are much more concerned about disinformation than journalists (48%). 

But editors are far less skeptical of social media than journalists. 20 percent of journalists believe social media makes the quality of journalism worse – only six percent of their editors share this view.

One in three media organizations has now hired dedicated fact-checkers.