Information warfare vs democracy

25 Feb 2022 | Full Fact's weekly news
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Dear Friend,

The war in Ukraine was fomented by disinformation and information warfare will be part of the battle.

In the UK we have seen a little of this, for example after the Salisbury poisonings. In 2018 Russia put numerous narratives into play with the aim of causing confusion and indecision rather than convincing lots of people of one false narrative. You can see that at work in President Putin’s address this week.

Now, our fact checkers are liaising with peers across the world to track and counter false claims. You can help people stop the spread of disinformation by sharing the tips below.

I am glad to report that at the time of writing our fellow fact checkers from Ukraine are safe, though many have left the country. Their losses remind me how important it is that we all can and will keep trying to build a more open and accountable democracy here in the UK.

Will Moy, Chief Executive
FACT CHECK
MPs are failing to hold the Prime Minister account for false claims ([link removed])

In Parliament this week the Prime Minister repeated for at least the seventh time a false claim about employment figures. The UK Statistics Authority has written to him calling it wrong and "a selective use of data that is likely to give a misleading impression".

Full Fact is still pushing for Parliament to enforce its own rules, requiring MPs who make false statements in the House of Commons to correct the record.
Fewer people in employment ([link removed])
UKRAINE FACT CHECKS
Online footage purporting to be in Ukraine ([link removed])
* A video of military planes flying overhead, widely shared on Facebook, is claimed to be footage from the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This is false–it actually shows footage of a military parade rehearsal ([link removed]) from May 2020.

* A post on Facebook claims a video which includes a number of different clips depicts Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It was posted on the morning of 24 February 2022 and at the time of writing has over 19,000 views. The two-minute video contains five different clips. One was definitely not taken in Ukraine ([link removed]) , one was not taken during the current invasion, one was taken from a video game, one may have been taken in Ukraine over the last 24 hours and one we were not able to verify at all.

* A video shared on Facebook, which has been viewed over 77,000 times, claims to show footage of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February. Some of the clips included in the video are clearly not of the invasion ([link removed]) as they predate it.

* A post shared over 1,000 times on Facebook features three images of explosions, with a caption describing the current invasion of Ukraine and stating: “Explosions have been heard in Ukraine after Russia launched a full-scale invasion this morning.” One of the photographs is of an explosion in Ukraine. The other two show explosions in Gaza. ([link removed])

How to spot false claims online ([link removed])
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FULL FACT 2022 REPORT
The Online Safety Bill ([link removed])

Our new report this week warned that we must tackle ‘censorship-by-proxy’ in the Online Safety Bill. The most dangerous source of disinformation in any democracy is still the people who run the country.

The Online Safety Bill needs to provide democratic transparent safeguards against government attempts to control what people can see and share online. We’ve set out a ten point plan called Tackling Online Misinformation in an Open Society.

Read the Full Fact Report 2022 ([link removed])
MORE FACT CHECKS
Also this week...
* Keir Starmer hasn't voted 48 times to take the UK back into the EU ([link removed])
* Union leader wrong about what a wealth tax could pay for ([link removed])
* News clip doesn’t prove Queen is being treated with ivermectin ([link removed])
* Washington Post overstates prevalence of long Covid ([link removed])
* And no, storms with female names are not ‘more deadly’ because people underestimate them ([link removed])

Read our latest fact checks ([link removed])
All the best,
Team Full Fact

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