Finland is winning the war on fake news. What it's learned may be crucial to Western democracy

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

https://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2019/05/europe/finland-fake-news-intl/


Helsinki, Finland (CNN) – On a recent afternoon in Helsinki, a group of students gathered to hear a lecture on a subject that is far from a staple in most community college curriculums.

Standing in front of the classroom at Espoo Adult Education Centre, Jussi Toivanen worked his way through his PowerPoint presentation. A slide titled “Have you been hit by the Russian troll army?” included a checklist of methods used to deceive readers on social media: image and video manipulations, half-truths, intimidation and false profiles.

Another slide, featuring a diagram of a Twitter profile page, explained how to identify bots: look for stock photos, assess the volume of posts per day, check for inconsistent translations and a lack of personal information.

The lesson wrapped with a popular “deepfake” — highly realistic manipulated video or audio — of Barack Obama to highlight the challenges of the information war ahead.

*snip*

[Irish_Dem]

1. The GOP likes Russia meddling in our politics.

Why in the world would they get rid of it?

[Binkie The Clown]

2. And Finland has also fixed homelessness.

[Sneederbunk]

3. Finland has a population of about 5 1/2 million.

A little less than that of Minnesota.

[reACTIONary]

4. That's good to keep in mind. nt

[LAS14]

5. Yeah. I bet Finland doesn't have local control of schools. In Texas, I've heard....

... teaching "critical thinking" is banned.

I often wonder what teachers do when kids come from homes where they're taught not to believe mainstream media.