Fake News Threat to Democracy, Says British Parliament…
The British House of Commons in an interim report by its Committee on Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has warned that the deliberate dissemination of false information poses threat to democracy.
The report released yesterday and obtained by THISDAY also referenced the case of Black Cube, an Israeli intelligence firm fingered in the hacking of emails and medical records of President Muhammadu Buhari, while he was still a candidate running for election against then incumbent Goodluck Jonathan.
The report said there“are many potential threats to our democracy and our values. One such threat arises from what has been coined ‘fake news’, created for profit or other gain, disseminated through state-sponsored programmes, or spread through the deliberate distortion of facts, by groups with a particular agenda, including the desire to affect political elections .”
The report said such“has been the impact of this agenda, the focus of our inquiry moved from understanding the phenomenon of‘ fake news ’, distributed largely through social media, to issues concerning the very future of democracy.”
Arguably, the report said, more invasive than obviously false information is the relentless targeting of hyper-partisan views, which play to the fears and prejudices of people, in order to influence their voting plans and their behaviour.
Black Cube, an Israeli corporate intelligence organisation, describes itself as“a select group of veterans from the Israeli elite intelligence units that specialises in tailored solutions to complex business and litigation challenges.” The organisation claimed that using our unique intelligence methodology, Black Cube enhanced its clients’ decision making by providing otherwise unobtainable information.
According to the British House of Commons Committee, fake news’ is bandied around with no clear idea of what it means, or an agreed definition.
The committee said the term “has taken on a variety of meanings, including a description of any statement that is not liked or agreed with by the reader.
“We recommend that the government rejects the term ‘fake news’, and instead puts forward an agreed definition of the words ‘misinformation’ and ‘disinformation’.
“With such a shared definition, and clear guidelines for companies, organisations, and the Govern- ment to follow, there will be a shared consistency of meaning across the platforms, which can be used as the basis of regulation and enforcement.”
The committee received evidence about the role of SCL Elections, a company that Alexander Nix formed, as an off shoot of SCL Group, in 2011, and its role in foreign elections, including its use of mis information, disinformation and micro-targeting, which may have crossed the line into unethical, or even illegal behaviour.