The Struggle Against Deepfake and Disinformation
Further updates on the use of Pegasus in Poland, and Italy's efforts to block Starlink.
Digital Conflicts is a bi-weekly briefing on the intersections of digital culture, AI, cybersecurity, digital rights, data privacy, and tech policy with a European focus.
Brought to you with journalistic integrity by Guerre di Rete, in partnership with the University of Bologna's Centre for Digital Ethics.
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N.19 - 18 December 2024
Author: Carola Frediani and Andrea Daniele Signorelli
In this issue:
Deepfake and Politics
Finland’s Approach to Combating Disinformation
Poland, Intelligence Under Investigation Over Pegasus
And more
DEEPFAKE
Deepfake and Politics
You've probably seen the fake video of the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Elon Musk kissing that's been circulating on social media and in the news. This video, created using artificial intelligence based on real photos of the two in Paris during the reopening of Notre-Dame, was easily recognizable as an AI-generated deepfake. It appears to have been initially shared by an X account that frequently posts deepfakes of politicians.
This particular type of deepfake probably seemed harmless to many, as it was so easily identifiable and exaggerated as to seem obvious.
However, deepfakes can be used in much more malicious ways, including against politicians. The American Sunlight Project (ASP), a think tank researching disinformation, has published a study on the use of deepfakes against U.S. politicians.
The research identified more than 35,000 mentions of non-consensual intimate images (NCII) depicting 26 members of US Congress – almost all women: 25 women and one man – recently found on deepfakes websites. Most of these images were quickly removed after researchers shared their findings with the affected members of Congress, likely thanks to quick reporting or legal action against site administrators.
Nonconsensual and fake intimate images of real people have existed for some time, but generative AI has expanded both the user base and the possibilities. "Currently, policies to limit their creation and distribution are inadequate", reports The19th.
The study highlights that it is highly unlikely that ordinary people – those without the resources available to members of Congress – would receive the same swift response from the creators and distributors of AI-generated NCII if they attempted to request removal.
In the past year, there have also been several reports in the U.S. of high school girls being targeted with sexualized images of various origins in California, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
DISINFORMATION
Finland’s Approach to Combating Disinformation
In recent years, workshops aimed at teaching students – and others – how to identify fake news and counter its spread have proliferated across Europe. While some of these workshops are useful and well-designed, others lack the necessary care and preparation, and most are not part of a broader, sustained effort.
However, one European country is demonstrating what can be achieved when anti-fake news initiatives are carried out with competence and consistency: Finland. The Finnish government launched its anti-fake news initiative back in 2014: two years before the alarm over social media-driven disinformation peaked with Donald Trump's first election and the Brexit referendum.
The year Finland decided to embark on this project was no accident. In 2014, Russia annexed Crimea and the war in Donbass began. At that moment, Finland – a Nordic nation that shares more than 1,300 kilometers of border with Russia – realized the importance of fighting disinformation and Russian propaganda.
As Russian trolling escalated in Finland, President Sauli Niinistö urged every Finnish citizen to take responsibility for fighting false information. By 2015, Finland had brought in American experts to train officials on how to identify fake news, understand why it spreads, and develop strategies to combat it. The education system was also reformed to place more emphasis on critical thinking.
As CNN explains in a feature on Finland's fight against fake news, "the initiative is just one layer of a multi-pronged, cross-sector approach the country is taking to prepare citizens of all ages for the complex digital landscape of today – and tomorrow".
“A prime example of this effort is Prof. Valentina Uitto's social studies class, where a group of 10th graders recently debated key issues for the upcoming EU elections. Topics such as Brexit, immigration, security and the economy were passionately discussed before the students were asked to choose an issue to analyze”.
"They've collected what they think they know about the EU elections... now let's see if they can separate fact from fiction", Uitto said with a grin.
The students then broke into groups, using laptops and phones to investigate their chosen topics. The aim is to inspire them to become digital detectives – a modernized version of Sherlock Holmes for the post-Millennial generation.
Uitto’s class embodies Finland’s critical thinking curriculum, revised in 2016 to equip students with skills to identify disinformation, particularly the kind that has disrupted election campaigns in the US and across Europe.
Finland is uniquely positioned to create a virtuous cycle: trust in traditional media and a highly literate population make it easier to fight fake news, which in turn reinforces these strengths. The country ranks first in Europe for media literacy (followed by Denmark and the Netherlands), second in the world for press freedom (after Norway), and has the highest trust in traditional media in the world, according to the Reuters Institute Digital News Report.
These factors make Finland particularly resistant to Russian disinformation efforts and receptive to anti-fake news initiatives.
However, there are risks associated with anti-fake news efforts. CNN highlights the potential for justified skepticism to turn to cynicism, as the effort required to fact-check can overwhelm individuals. "It's very annoying to have to check everything and not be able to trust anything ... or anyone on the internet", said 15-year-old Tatu Tukiainen, a student in Uitto's class. "I think we should try to put a stop to it".
Moreover, Finland's success may not be easy to replicate elsewhere in Europe. With just over a century of independence from Russia, the threat of Russian interference is felt more acutely in Finland than in many other nations. Finland also has a strong sense of national identity.
"The Finns have a very unique and special strength in that they know who they are. And who they are is directly rooted in human rights and the rule of law – things that Russia, right now, is not", said Jed Willard, director of the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Center for Global Engagement at Harvard University, who was hired by Finland to train officials to identify and counter fake news. "There is a strong sense of what it means to be Finnish ... that is a superpower."
SPYWARE
Poland, Intelligence Under Investigation Over Pegasus
Piotr Pogonowski, who headed Poland’s Internal Security Agency (ABW) during the administration of the Law and Justice (PiS) party and is now a board member of the central bank, was detained by police and brought to testify before the parliamentary investigative committee probing the alleged misuse of the Pegasus spyware, developed by the Israeli company NSO and sold to governments. Pegasus was reportedly used to spy on politicians and opponents during the previous government's tenure.
Poland's new government, led by Donald Tusk, said last year that at least 578 people, including politicians, had been monitored since the PiS government acquired Pegasus in 2017. Neither the previous government nor the NSO has confirmed the purchase of the software.
This is not the first time that Europe has seen investigations and hearings into the use of Pegasus. In addition to the European Parliament's committee on the matter (as previously reported by Digital Conflicts), Spain's intelligence chief Paz Esteban was fired in 2022 after it was revealed that Pegasus had been used internally against Catalan separatist politicians and, separately, by a foreign entity against Prime Minister Sánchez.
More details are available on Notes from Poland.
AI AND TECH SOVEREIGNTY
Better Datasets Won’t Solve the Problem: AI for Africa Must Be Developed in Africa
Language models developed by major technology companies consistently underperform in African languages.
It's time to focus on local solutions. "It is this difference in prioritization that is the missing ingredient in current discussions about making AI more inclusive. Which problems people focus on, what we regard as informative data and what types of failure are considered acceptable are all human choices”.
An insightful article on AI and Africa published in Nature.
CYBERSECURITY
Salt Typhoon’s Assault on U.S. Telcos
What we know about the attack that targeted major American telecommunications companies, accessing customer data and even communications in some cases.
"Here's another example of a backdoor access mechanism being exploited by the wrong spies", commented cryptographer Bruce Schneier. To make matters worse, in this particular case, the law does not require the use of a single platform managed through public and transparent processes. Instead, each operator is free to use proprietary platforms or third-party software. In essence, as EFF pointed out before the CALEA update, wiretapping has been handed over to private companies with limited oversight. Both phone companies and potential technology partners are directly involved in the interception, creating vulnerabilities.
An article by Marco Schiaffino for Guerre di Rete [Italian only].
STARLINK
Halt on Starlink in Two Amendments Proposed by the Italian Democratic Party (PD)
Submitted as part of the Competition Act, these amendments aim to exclude the satellite connectivity company from PNRR (the National Recovery and Resilience Plan approved in 2021 by Italy to boost its economy after the COVID-19 pandemic) connectivity services and resources. "The goal is to prevent companies subject to the DSA (such as X and Starlink, both owned by Musk) from competing directly or indirectly with other telecom operators, essentially offering two services: connectivity and the platform itself. The concern seems to relate to competition and market dynamics, as the integrated service offering could create unmatched advantages".
A second amendment, authored by Nicita and Basso, seeks to exclude third-party satellite technology from accessing PNRR resources, reports Repubblica.
COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
How WhatsApp is Used Around the World
An in-depth analysis from Rest of the World.