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Dear friends,
You know those movies where machines take over our minds?
It's happening. Right now. I know it sounds crazy, but it's true.Social media companies are feeding us a diet of
outrage, fear and lies to turn our attention into profit. Our brains are primed to respond to these powerful emotions. It’s why we can’t stop scrolling our newsfeeds -- and it’s why wherever we look,
it feels like our world’s been turned upside down.
We’re no longer seeing the world, or each other, clearly. Look around. Trust in our institutions is being destroyed. Truth and lies are indistinguishable. Conspiracy theories are spreading like wildfire, including those about Covid -- one poll shows 25% of people now believe in them!
Avaaz is already leading the charge against social media disinformation -- Facebook have even publicly thanked us for our work! But we need to do more -- and
if we raise enough now, we can launch urgent, powerful investigations into these toxic lies, blow them up in the media, take out high-profile ads, work with sympathetic insiders in social media companies, and unleash a wave of hard-hitting advocacy on the key players in Silicon Valley and politicians around the world.
We need to do this now --
chip in to defend the truth against this onslaught of lies:
Avaaz is ideally placed to do this work --
we’ve already shut down disinformation networks with 3 BILLION views ahead of key European elections! And we’re pushing for laws to protect democracy from social media and driving powerful changes like getting Facebook to label fake content with fact checks. Time Magazine called the idea a ‘radical new proposal that could curb fake news’.
If we don’t get on top of these dangerous lies, they could swing elections, putting leaders in power with a vested interest in making this the new normal -- it’ll be almost impossible to stop. Right now, there are very few groups working on this, but if we raise enough, we can:
- Hire a kickass team of investigators to hunt the troll networks pumping out disinformation on social media and get them taken down;
- Launch a campaigning surge on legislators everywhere to regulate social media and protect our democracies;
- Unleash a team of advocates in Silicon Valley to powerfully argue for changes at social media firms;
- Run undercover investigations into disinformation and splash our findings all over the media to warn the public;
- Organise doctors and disinformation victims to tell their stories to legislators and social media executives.
Right now, advertisers are dumping Facebook because of the hate speech being spread on the platform. Twitter is under massive pressure because it is fact-checking Trump’s tweets. And doctors are demanding more is done to tackle Covid-related disinformation.
It really is now or never.
We’re facing one of those rare, precious moments where the future of humanity, and the fate of millions of lives, will be shaped in the next few months. We can’t let the lies win --
chip in now to power the campaigning surge against disinformation on social media that the whole world needs.
Our movement has done a lot in over a decade of campaigning, driving powerful change on issues from climate change to fighting the politics of hate all over the world. But this could be the single most impactful campaign idea we’ve ever tried to fund. Let’s come together again, and get this done while we still can.
With hope and determination,
Bert, Fadi, Marigona, Mike, Patricia, Aloys, Ricken, Flora and the whole team at Avaaz
PS: The cost estimates above are based on data from Avaaz disinformation investigations which prompted Facebook to remove networks with millions of views. PS - This might be your first donation to our movement ever. But what a first donation! Did you know that Avaaz relies entirely on small donations from members like you? That's why we're fully independent, nimble and effective. Join the over 1 million people who've donated to make Avaaz a real force for good in the world.
More information:The epic battle against coronavirus misinformation and conspiracy theories (Nature)
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-01452-zTech giants must stop Covid-19 'infodemic', say doctors (EU Observer)
https://euobserver.com/coronavirus/148281YouTube, Facebook split on removal of doctors' viral coronavirus videos (NBC)
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/youtube-facebook-split-removal-doctors-viral-coronavirus-videos-n1195276Spread of fake news adds to Brazil’s pandemic crisis (Financial Times)
https://www.ft.com/content/ea62950e-89c0-4b8b-b458-05c90a55b81fCoronavirus: Facebook alters virus action after damning misinformation report (BBC)
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-52309094How This Radical New Proposal Could Curb Fake News on Social Media (TIME)
https://time.com/5540995/correct-the-record-polling-fake-news/
