The 223rd Block: Uninfluential

Let's try not to focus on the information desert...

Tina Carmillia

Aug 11, 2024

This week…

Your reading time is about 7 minutes. Let’s start.

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When I read stories like the nationwide racial riots in England (Michael Holden / Reuters) or US athletes taking advantage of free healthcare in the Olympic Village (Stephanie Apstein / SI), I wonder what political pejoratives are used in “Third World” countries when reporting them.

Unrelated, as the Olympic Games come to a close, making way for the Paralympic games later in the month, I have to tip my hat to the CBC. This is the third time I’m enjoying CBC’s Olympic coverage (the first two being the 2021 Tokyo Summer Games and the 2022 Beijing Winter Games), and I cannot tell you how happy I am to get access to all events—live and on replay. (Yay, handball! Volleyball! Weightlifting!) I understand all public broadcasters in all lands have their critics—and they face scrutiny and held to a higher standard because they are tax-payer funded—but I think calling for CBC to be defunded is extremist.

I guess you don’t need to wonder if I enjoy sport—after all, this newsletter is named after the device used in sprints and other foot races!

I hope Olympic broadcasters are pulling in good money from advertisers to tide them over til the next cycle, and not have to replace people with AI. Although, in the US, Google pulled its panned ad that featured a father helping his daughter write to her Olympic hero using Gemini AI (Victoria Song / The Verge). In Canada, one sponsor sparked controversy: Ozempic (Rosa Saba / CP). People just want real people with real abilities, ig.

Anyway, here’s a selection of top stories on my radar, a few personal recommendations, and the chart of the week.

ICYMI: The Previous Block highlighted the scammiest, spammiest of social media, AI and tech in sports, and the state of the global information system. FWIW:

Excess memes and ‘reply all’ emails are bad for climate, researcher warns by Helena Horton for The Guardian.
The AI tech aiming to identify future Olympians by Peter Ball for BBC.
The true price of sportswear by Ryan Lenora Brown and Majirata Latela for The Dial.

CORRECTION NOTICE: None notified.

MEDIA RESTRICTIONS

Media crackdown following Venezuela’s contested elections

Claudia Smolansky and Clavel Rangel for Caracas Chronicles:

Music, sports or entertainment news is the only information allowed by Conatel on days after the elections. All news or opinion shows are suspended. In Carabobo, according to the Press and Society Institute (Ipys), twelve journalists were victims of a stigmatisation campaign through WhatsApp messages, which criminalises their informative work on the protests in the region.
“Since Monday, no programs have been aired on La Mega, Onda, or Éxitos. They (the directors) sent a message today stating that only entertainment, music, and sports programs will be broadcast tomorrow. The news programs are still on hold, and there can be no discussion of elections,” said a radio host in Guayana City.
In this case, Denis Cabeza from Conatel Bolivar signed the message sent via WhatsApp to all the radio station directors in the state. A different Conatel representative from each state was responsible for sending the communication. For example, in Monagas, it was Rosalva Teresen. Journalists from this region also confirm that there are no news programs or opinion shows on the media outlets.

Venezuela already lives in an information desert. Loosely linked:

Venezuela’s Maduro blocks X access in country for 10 days by Vivian Sequera and Mayela Armas for Reuters.
China cracks down on ‘fan culture’ during the Olympics, arresting a woman for social media posts by Ken Moritsugu for AP.
Turkey restores access to Instagram after 9-day block by Ezgi Erkoyun and Tuvan Gumrukcu for Reuters.
UN committee approves first cybercrime treaty despite widespread opposition by Anna Desmarais for Euronews.
Pierre Poilievre’s rally attendees do not exist by Conspirador Norteño.

UNINFLUENCED

Is a high-profile critic of the Chinese Communist Party a con man?

Frank Langfitt for NPR:

Gao Zhi, 44, is a small, wiry, working-class man with a goatee. He grew up during China’s economic boom years in a small village in the Yellow River Valley. Like tens of millions of other rural Chinese men, he moved from job to job—working in a factory, as a waiter, a truck driver and a security guard.
Gao wasn’t political growing up, but he learned how to jump over China’s Great Firewall. That’s the sophisticated filtering system that blocks access to sensitive foreign websites to keep Chinese people in the dark. In 2019, Gao read about the crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong. He says he was outraged and vented online.
“I started cursing the Communist Party, saying that the Communist Party should be annihilated,” recalled Gao, who was working at the time at a factory to the west of Shanghai that made motherboards.
Gao tried to talk to fellow workers about the protests, but they sided with the Chinese government. Disappointed and disillusioned, Gao boarded a flight to the Netherlands in 2020, and he entered on a tourist visa.

What is the truth?? I’m so invested! Loosely linked:

Disturbed by tragic deaths, Indian students are raging against celebrity YouTube teachers by Barkha Dutt for Rest of World.
How Spotify started—and killed—Latin America’s podcast boom by Stan Alcorn for Rest of World.
No god in the machine: the pitfalls of AI worship by Navneet Alang for The Guardian.

SCIENCE DISINFORMATION

Scientists are falling victim to deepfake AI video scams

Linda Nordling for Nature:

Discussions about the dangers of deepfakes have so far focused on politicians and celebrities. A video of the rapper Snoop Dogg reading tarot cards might seem harmless, but the same technology has been used to generate pornographic images of singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. Deepfaked voice recordings have been used to sow disinformation in elections from Slovenia to Nigeria, and most people in the United States expect AI abuses to affect this year’s US presidential election. But AI researchers say that scientists—particularly those in the public eye—are also at risk.
“When you think of ways to spread misinformation, you want to manipulate what people think are the trusted sources of information,” says Christopher Doss, a quantitative researcher who works in Washington DC for the RAND Corporation, a non-profit policy-research think tank. So, deepfakes involving scientists “are probably going to be something that we see more of,” he says.

Crooks everywhere. Loosely linked:

Russian disinformation slams Paris and amplifies Khelif debate to undermine the Olympics by David Klepper for AP.
Russian influence in eastern Europe is aggravating HIV epidemic, say experts by Kat Lay for The Guardian.
‘Massive disinformation campaign’ is slowing global transition to green energy by Fiona Harvey for The Guardian.
Cosmos Magazine publishes AI-generated articles, drawing criticism from journalists, co-founders by James Purtill for ABC News.

What I read, listen, and watch

I’m reading The Data Detective (2021) by Tim Harford. I wish statistics is taught much earlier in school but I’m asking for too much. I think good understand of statistics (and statistical biases) can also improve self awareness of cognitive biases and logical fallacies. Every time I think about the base rate fallacy in DNA tests used in law proceedings (there is a reason it’s also called the “prosecutor’s fallacy”—it happens too much), or COVID-19 hospitalisation rates, for example, it makes my blood boil. I also think it is precisely because so few understand statistics—and know that most people do not—that they know they can data dredge, and get away with it. Ugh.

I’m listening to Nature Podcast on ChatGPT’s language problem.

I’m watching Bloomberg’s investigation on Italy’s hunt for a mysterious Nigerian mafia.

Chart of the week

Amazon, Alphabet, Apple, Meta, and Microsoft all report potentially source some raw materials from countries where human rights-violating militias finance themselves through mining. — In the US, importers of raw materials have been required to disclose their sources for potential conflict minerals under the Dodd-Frank Act since 2010. A similar regulation is in effect in the EU since January 1, 2021 to curb the financing of violent militias.

Statista’s Florian Zandt shows the number of countries Big Tech potentially sourced conflict minerals from based on the companies’ reports. More information, plus links to each company’s reports are here.

The Starting Block

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