Denying the truth won't change the facts — #79

February is at the top of my “worst month of the year”-list. The only good thing about it is that it is short, just like this introduction. Enjoy!

Anna

Massive investigation uncovers companies and states behind global disinformation campaigns

DISINFORMATION

Disinformation-for-hire — when private companies take on contracts to create or amplify misleading narratives online for clients' benefit — has been booming in recent years. In 2021, the Oxford Internet Institute found evidence of private firms running social media manipulation campaigns in 48 countries during 2020, nearly double from the year before. But with a secretive nature, this is an industry whose true impact and practices are difficult to pin down.

But this week, a special investigation by the journalism network Forbidden Stories, together with several prominent publications, has exposed several companies and states behind global disinformation. 

The Guardian has revealed how a team of Israeli contractors claim to have manipulated more than 30 elections worldwide using hacking, sabotage, and automated disinformation on social media. A unit run by the 50-year-old former Israeli special forces operative Tal Hanan, who now works privately using the pseudonym "Jorge", appears to have been working under the radar in elections in various countries for more than two decades. For example, Team Jorge coordinated their work on the 2015 Nigerian presidential election with Cambridge Analytica in an attempt to bolster the electoral prospects of the incumbent president, Goodluck Jonathan – and discredit his main rival, Muhammadu Buhari.

Additionally, the Spanish newspaper EL PAÍS has been revealing how the Spanish-based disinformation firm Eliminalia has been helping Mexican ex-governors, drug traffickers, and Venezuelan officials to whitewash their online images. The company has earned millions of euros in the last decade for cleaning up the online reputation of hundreds of clients convicted and investigated in 54 countries for corruption, money laundering, sexual abuse and drug trafficking. Their tools have included several ethically questionable tactics to manipulate online information, such as creating fake news, cloned websites, and bots to deceive Google.

America’s teenage girls are not okay

MENTAL HEALTH

According to new data from the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, teenage girls are not okay. In an 89-page report, federal researchers conclude they are "engulfed" in a growing wave of violence and trauma. Showing increases in rape and sexual violence and record levels of feeling sad or hopeless.

• Nearly 1 in 3 high school girls reported in 2021 that they seriously considered suicide — up nearly 60 per cent from a decade ago. Thirteen per cent had attempted suicide in the past year, compared with 7 per cent of boys.

• Almost 15 per cent of teen girls report having been forced to have sex, an increase of 27 per cent over two years and the first increase since the CDC began tracking.

• Almost 3 in 5 teenage girls reported feeling so persistently sad or hopeless nearly every day for at least two weeks in a row during the previous year that they stopped regular activities. This figure was double the share of boys and the highest in a decade.

Girls fared worse on other measures, too, with higher rates of alcohol and drug use than boys and higher levels of being electronically bullied. While both the magnitude of the gender differences and the increases are concerning, it is unclear whether the data could be influenced by other factors — for example, if girls are more aware of depressive symptoms than boys or more inclined to report them — or whether girls are simply far worse off. Unfortunately, the alarming numbers for girls do not get less so by the numbers for boys being underreported.

Some psychologists point to social media, whereas others blame school shootings; others claim it is because of changes in parenting or the fact that we have become more secular as a society, losing out on faith and belonging. Climate-change activists say it's climate change. And some focus on the decline of physical-world interactions.

I'm sure it is all of the above and a lot more.

A couple of weeks ago, I recommended Yale University's free online course, The Science of Well-being for Teens. Here it is again.

Researchers report substantial melting of Antarctica’s “Doomsday Glacier”

CLIMATE CHANGE

Scientists studying the Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica – also called the "Doomsday Glacier" – report that warm water is seeping into its weak spots, threatening its existence and causing a massive sea rise. Thwaites is roughly the size of Florida and represents more than 50 centimetres of global sea level rise potential. Further, it might destabilise neighbouring glaciers, which could cause an additional 3-metre rise.

In late 2019 and early 2020, 13 scientists from the United States and the United Kingdom spent about six weeks on the glacier — the most extensive field campaign ever attempted in Antarctica. Using an underwater robot known as Icefin, the researchers monitored the glacier's grounding line, where ice slides off and meets the ocean for the first time.

In two papers published on Wednesday in the journal Nature, researchers uncovered that warmer water was making its way into crevasses and other openings known as terraces, causing sideways melt of 30 metres or more per year. And about 5 metres per year of melt near the glacier's grounding line – less than what the most aggressive thinning models previously predicted.

However, the melting is still of grave concern, even if it is less aggressive.

"If we observe less melting … that doesn't change the fact that it's retreating," said one of the researchers, Britney Schmidt, from Cornell University.

Double-check the headlines

Just making sure you didn’t miss any major world events this week.

• The war in Ukraine began a year ago. Here are the main events of a conflict that has killed thousands, forced millions to flee their homes, reduced entire cities to rubble and fueled fears of an open conflict between Russia and NATO.

• The earthquake death toll has surpassed 46,000 in Syria and Turkey. Rescue teams are still finding survivors under the rubble of destroyed buildings.

• Finnish Defense Minister says Finland could join NATO ahead of Sweden.

• Iran has seen its most widespread anti-government protests in weeks after small crowds marched overnight in Tehran and several other cities.

• Tesla will recall more than 362,000 cars in the United States to update its Self-Driving software after regulators said it does not adhere to traffic safety laws. 

• Instagram is rolling back several shopping and check-out features.

• United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with China’s top diplomat Wang Yi in the first face-to-face between officials since the balloon incident.

• Microsoft is considering additional limits for its ChatGPT-boosted version of the Bing search engine.

• Jimmy Carter, the 39th president of the United States, is moving to hospice care at 98 years old. He served as president from 1977 to 1981.

One long

The New York Times

Can China Reverse Its Population Decline? Just Ask Sweden.

Wealthy countries have been trying to boost their birthrates for decades. The results have been pretty similar.

Five short

1. Watch

Vice Media released a YouTube documentary about Caroline Calloway, the influencer once called a “one-woman Fyre festival” due to her repeated scams. While you might need some background on Caroline to understand the setting of the documentary, I think it is safe to say that although the Internet might not make people narcissistic, it makes a great scene for anyone who is. And in many ways, this documentary is just another act. But, at the same time, there’s a whole subreddit dedicated to hating her. And how much online hate should a person live with just because they are not nice? Especially if that might be caused by something clinical in the first place. It’s an interesting moral dilemma, for sure.

2. Listen

Do dating apps make it harder to find love? This episode of the podcast Offline with Jon Favreau investigates how dating apps turn us into worse versions of ourselves and change our culture. Well worth a listen, no matter whether you are swiping or not.

(Side note: Setting up your single friends is probably one of the cheapest philanthropic activities for 2023).

3. Remember

Reading makes you smarter. I doubt that scrolling has the same effect.

4. Change

This week, I practised letting people take responsibility for their (lack of) actions. I'd recommend it — 10 out of 10.

5. Try

Youtubers sleep with their mouths taped shut to ensure they breathe through the nose. Without any scientific support, they claim that nasal breathing is a “more efficient, effective way of breathing” than inhaling and exhaling through your mouth since it humidifies and filters the air. Apparently, breathing is yet another thing we’ve forgotten how to do in our modern life. I cannot believe taping your mouth shut when you sleep is the best way to deal with that, or is it?

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