Jochen SpangenbergDeutsche Welle, Research & Cooperation Projects

jochen.spangenberg@dw.com

Twitter: @jospang

NEM Summit 2017

Madrid, 29 November 2017

Source: Manipulated image of an apparent Iranian missile testSource : Manipulated image shared by Facebook user Gregory Michael, apparently

showing shark swimming in New Jersey waters after hurricane Sandy.

Copyright Notice & Disclaimer

Note: this is a slightly adapted version of a presentation held at NEM Summit, Madrid,,

on 29 November 2017. It is made available to participants and others interested in the

topic verification of eyewitness media / user-generated content and the

misinformation ecosystem.

Copyright notice: Copyrights, trademarks, logos etc., and IPR of individual items /

concepts contained in this presentation from third parties, remain with respective

copyright and IPR holders. Usage of logos, images, screenshots etc. in this presentation

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"What the F _ _ _ !?"

My keynote presentation:

Handling and verifying social media content

Source : from motion picture “Jaws”, directed by Steven Spielberg

Source: Thomas Peschak (2003). Photo taken off the South Africa coast. (Image on previous page = extract)

Source: screenshot of Tweet from Twitter account of Jason Michael (@Jeggit) Source: Taken from here (original tweet no longer exists)

Selection of “re-appearances“

Not so funny …

Source: Tweets circulating on Twitter, claiming to be of

crashed Germanwings flight 9525

Source: Daily Mail Online,

19 November 2015

Source: The Observers.

Why post and share (inaccurate) information?• Personal reasons (ego, “5 minutes of fame“, “fun“,

vanity, attention seeking, urge, carelessness, habit, …)

• Neglect, lack of skills, speed, inexperience,

“human factor”

• Influence opinion or bring across

particular viewpoints / positions

(PR, spin, marketing, propaganda, ...)

• Make money

Source : Screenshot of Twitter profiles of IDF and Al Qassam Brigades

Source: Typology developed by

Eliot Higgins, enhanced by Claire

Wardle, published on First Draft

News, Feb 2017

Source: Screenshot of Wired article ,

Feb 2017

The Macedonian Teens Who

Mastered Fake News

Typology of misinformation (aka “Fake News“)

Source: Claire Wardle on First Draft News, 16 Feb 2017 Source: eavi, July 2017

So we get this…

Source: The Guardian, 23 March 2016 Source : Screenshot of Twitter post of @MalCPD on 23 March 2017

… and this …

Source: Image credit: Nickolay Lamm/StorageFront interpretation of Climate Central data.

Source: Image courtesy of Fourandsix.com

… and this …

Source: Screenshot of fake CNN Politics Twitter account. Taken from a Buzzfeed article of 2016

Source: Screenshot of the real CNN Politics Twitter account. Taken on 10 Nov 2016

The “sad news” …

Source: Buzzfeed News, Nov 2016 Source: Buzzfeed News, Nov 2016

Value of content residing

in social networks (esp. for news)

Source: Janis Krums

Nepal, April 2015Source: Global Voices Online, 26 April 2015. Image by Kunda Dixit, editor of Nepali Times.

Paris 13 Nov 2015Source: Screenshot of video by Le Monde

journalist Daniel Psenny, courtesy of LeMonde

Brussels 21 March 2016Source: Screenshot from video of Pinchas

Kopferstein

Verification in Action(and dealing with social media content)

Source: here (original tweet no longer exists)

Back to the sharks

Source: screenshot of Tweet from Twitter account of

Jason Michael (@Jeggit) of 28 August 2017

Starting point

Source: manipulated photo, as posed on Instagram account of nois7, Image source here.

Source: screenshot of a Google Reverse Image Search Source: screenshot of a Tineye image search

Source: screenshot of a Wolfram Alpha

weather check

http://www.wolframalpha.com/

Source: screenshot of an Exif data check performed with Jeffrey‘s Exif Viewer

Source: screenshot of @kdekranis9 account on Twitter

taken on 22 October 2017

Sources: screenshots of who.is domain check, mentionmapp and followerwonk

Source: screenshot of Twitter profile of Jason Michael (@Jeggit) taken on 30 August 2017

Tools / Platforms(in addition to common sense

and critical reflections)

Sources: Screenshots of Suncalc, Google Maps & Translate, Tweetdeck, Followerwonk, Mentionmapp, Topsy,

Storyful Pro, Jeffrey’s Exif Viewer, Panoramio, Pipl, Amnesty’s YouTube Data Viewer

Source: Salimfadhley. (CC BY-SA 3.0)Source: Georg Mittenecker (CC BY-SA 2.5)

Some of our activities(in the verification sphere)

Source: screenshots of selected works / efforts carried out by REVEAL consortium

Algorithm-supported verification (11/2013-12/2016)

Areas of work:

• Verification tools

• Social media analysis

• Geo-tools

• Influencer analysis

• Verification workflows

• Checklists for journalists

• Market research

• Legal investigations

• …

More on http://revealproject.eu/ & @RevealEU

The Image Verification Assistant

Source: screenshots of selected works / efforts carried out by REVEAL consortium

Source: screenshots of selected works / efforts carried out by InVID consortium

Focus on video verification (01/2016-12/2018)

Areas of work:

• Workflow analysis & support

• Develop (part)automated

verification to/for :

− Detect manipulations

− Logo detection

− Forensics

− Image recognition &

classification

• Legal aspects / rights clearance

• Benchmark analysis

• ....

Source: screenshots of selected works / efforts carried out by InVID consortium

Examples (available already, free-to-use)

Chrome & Firefox extension / plug-into support video verification

Disturbing image detector

Note: Image has been blurred manually by Jochen Spangenberg

More on http://www.invid-project.eu/ & @InVID_EU

Some lessons learned (extracts)

Technical side

• Full automation of verification = unlikely in near future

• Numerous useful tools out there already

(hardly any “made specifically for journalism”)

Practical side

• UGC / digital content verification = “must know” for journalism

• UGC verification = not yet commonplace for journalists

Challenges

• Right tools for right job

• Solutions “made for journalism”

needed

• Organisational / corporate aspects

• Collaboration

Source: geralt (CC BY-SA, Pixabay)

A consequence ...

Source: Eva Lopez

● Collaborative verification

● Organising individual tasks

● Workflow integration

● External tool integration

● Easy sharing of output/results

06/2016 -09/2017

Core idea of Truly.Media: Collaboration & simplification

The Tool: Truly Media (1)

40

Beta Version V1.5.0

The Tool: Truly Media (2)

41

Final observations

and remarks

The basics

• Who

• When

• What

• Where

• How

• Why Source: Flickr, by s1lang, (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Know your tools and tactics

Source: plenty.r. (Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0)

Source: Dina Regine (Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0) Source: Takver (Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0)

Source: succo (Pixabay, CC0)

Ethical issues

Source: Jordi Mir(head of victim blurred by Jochen Spangenberg)

• Responsibility of people who post UGC

• Possible consequences for eyewitnesses / relatives / friends

Source: The Guardian, 15 August 2015. Source: Image published by The Sun, UK, 23

March 2017 (face of victim blurred by Jochen Spangenberg)

Source: Reuters (face blurred by Jochen Spangenberg) Source: Live Leaks (body blurred by Jochen Spangenberg)

Trauma / PTSD

Source: Flickr, Terry Johnston , CC BY 2.0

In sum

• Information residing in social networks can have high information / news value

• Awareness and knowledge of dangers and pitfalls is vital (legal, ethical, social,

financial, personal >>> know “the rules”)

• Understand the “misinformation ecosystem” und underlying motivations

• Teach (respectively learn)

critical thinking

• Ideally: always verify before

sharing (“think before you share”)

• Get to know useful tools and tactics

• Invest time and resources

• Cooperation between

stakeholders

• Advance the issue / topic with

needs-focussed R&D and such likeSource: geralt (CC0)

• Include EU consultation screenshots

Source: GiselaFotografie / Pixabay, CC0

The thing about

responsibility …

Source: EU Commission / DSM

Jochen SpangenbergDeutsche Welle, Research & Cooperation Projects

jochen.spangenberg@dw.comTwitter: @jospang

NEM Summit 2017Madrid, 29 November 2017