Overview of Website
Misinformation, ‘fake news’, ‘alternative facts’, lies, malicious propaganda and weaponized narrative represent a serious threat to peace and stability in the world. These imposters confuse, mislead and unsettle the public and contribute to mistrust in government and the mass media; they damage individuals and businesses, destroy reputations, sometimes lives; and they incite fear and anxiety, which undermines social cohesion, democracy and the rule of law.
This website aims to provide a 'one-stop-shop' for people seeking to understand the threat and how organisations around the world, big and small, are working to tackle it.  In terms of threat levels, tackling lies and disinformation in public life / on social media must surely rank alongside global pandemics and the climate crisis as one of the main challenges facing humanity today.
Time Constraints?
For a no frills explanation of what Fighting Fake is all about we've provided a one page flier.
If you’re interested in a specific issue — 'deepfakes', 'conspiracy theories', 'emotional truth', 'media bias', what ever — you can find links on the Site Map.
If you want information on a specific organisation or initiative, try here.

If you're sceptical about ‘fake news’ and think it's "nothing new" or “just a ploy" by Trump, Putin and their ilk to control the debate or deflect criticism then I suggest you watch this short [2 min] video of Barack Obama. 

And if you still think 'fake news' is "much ado about nothing," then perhaps you will feel more comfortable here.
It is not physically possible to keep the website up to date given the range of topics covered and the speed at which technology, policy and events are evolving. However, the associated Facebook page does provide a commentary on significant developments.[1] And if you're serious, you can also subscribe (free) to a host of specialist newsletters.
And a Small Request...
If you find this website interesting and thought-provoking, please tell your friends — and if you don't, please tell us (using the feedback form). And if you have suggestions or are inspired to actually do something, no matter how small, please let us know so we can share your ideas and experiences with others. Thank you!
Page Content
Please Note:  The material contained on this website is for educational purposes only. It is NOT intended and should not be construed to constitute legal advice — see Disclaimer. 
Blue Rectangles are hyper-linked to sections on the page below;  Grey Rectangles are hyper-linked to other pages.
1    What is Fighting Fake?
"The public will believe a simple lie rather than a complex truth."    Alexis de Tocqueville
Fighting Fake is a citizen’s initiative which seeks to raise awareness of the threat to society and environmental sustainability posed by lies and misinformation, and publicise and support efforts to tackle the problem. 
The intention is not to try to compete with the cohorts of people and organisations now working to tackle the ‘infodemic’, rather to help raise public awareness of the threat and publicise, explain and contextualise what’s going on. We also want to promote critical thinking about misinformation and what is true or genuine in education and civil society, and to encourage those using social media to think carefully before posting material online which may inadvertently contribute to the problem.
Apologies to Lincoln for messing up his well known lines. There are countless examples of famous people's words being manipulated like this on the internet. If in doubt about a quote's authenticity, you can check on sites like  Quote Inquisitor.
"Lies are the social equivalent of toxic waste: Everyone is potentially harmed by their spread." Sam Harris
False information is today being generated and propagated on an industrial scale.[2]  This has been made possible by advances in information and communication technology, and the proliferation of social networking services like Facebook, video sharing websites like YouTube, and open source blogging sites like WordPress. This in turn has enabled information and opinion to be shared, spun and re-posted, and for material that is sufficiently eye-catching, saucy or scurrilous, to go viral and potentially reach an audience of millions. But very little of this phenomenal torrent of ‘facts’ and opinion is edited or peer reviewed; and we don't know how much is partial, biased or plain wrong.
The main concern is that suspect material and ill-informed opinion is drowning out accurate news and considered comment, and leaving people struggling to tell fact from fiction. Indeed, in this respect it is worrying that an increasing number of people are retreating into their our own echo-chambers, preferring to rely on friends and acquaintances for news and comment (and confirmation of our opinions and prejudices). This, and the loss of advertising revenue to the tech giants, has had a devastating impact on mainstream media and professional journalists — those whose job it is to winkle out the truth and contextualize it for the rest of us.
And the problems are set to get worse with advances in machine learning and artificial intelligence [ML/AI], the growth in the ‘Internet of Things’, and the intensification of disinformation campaigns including the proliferation of 'deep-fake' videos and GPS spoofing. There's also the prospect of quantum computing... Around 1 million or so new people around the world are going online every day and many are wholly unprepared for the experience![3]

I've tried on  a separate page to assess the cost and consequences for society / democracy of the infodemic of misinformation that has been unleashed on the world in recent years. I might add that several internet pioneers — including Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Vincent Cerf and Jaron Lariner — have spoken out publicly about their deep concerns about the direction of travel.
What's in a Word?
You get an indication that all is not well with the world from the ‘words of the year’ chosen by major dictionaries. Over recent years these have included: 'post- truth' (Oxford), 'fake news' (Collins), 'mis-information' (Dicitionary.com) and 'gaslighting' (Webster). 
We've tended to use 'misinformation' as a general catch-all term and have explained why and provided definitions of this and 'disinformation', 'conspiracy theories', 'mal-information', etc. on a separate page.
"Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind… During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.”   George Orwell, 1984
"The propagandist’s purpose is to make one set of people forget that certain other sets of people are human."   Aldous Huxley
 In this section of the website we investigate the peddlers of lies, half-truths and 'alternative facts', from  the immature, ill-informed or disturbed individuals locked away in their bedrooms with their smart phone, tablet or laptop, to the misled or malevolent individuals who create or spread 'fake news' and conspiracy theories, or who attack, 'cancel' or dox people whose views they don’t like or agree with.
Then there are the media moguls and populist politicians who carefully select their ‘facts’ or spin stories, and twist or distort the truth in the process, and the powerful lobbyists and pressure groups with their own special agendas, the anti-vaxxers, climate change deniers, alternative therapists and intolerant fundamentalists — people who know they're right, reject science and reasoned argument and all too often seek to present belief as ‘fact’. 
"Social media isn’t a tool that’s just waiting to be used. It has its own goals and it has its own means of pursuing them by using your psychology against you.” Tristan Harris ['The Social Dilemma']
 And last but not least, we have hostile foreign powers seeking to cause havoc and undermine democratic government by distorting the historical record and weaponizing and propagating their toxic narrative. This rather fine float,  'Democracy in Danger', featured at a Shrove Monday Carnival Parade in Duesseldorf, Germany, on 27 Feb 2017.

There are no limits to what is considered fair game — this includes the deliberate spreading of misinformation about Covid-19. 
The good news is that misinformation and conspiracy theories (like Q-Anon and Anti-vax) are today recognised as dangerous and a real threat to social cohesion / political stability. Virtually every day there is something in the news about their impact. There's also been veritable flood of books and specialist reports on all aspects of the problem (see New Publications). This is encouraging.
Today thousands of agencies, institutions and organisations around the world are working to identify and expose misinformation and 'fake news' and or prepare the public to deal with the problem and its consequences. They range from educational establishments promoting media literacy, critical thinking and quality journalism, to groups engaged in data analysis, website labelling or fact-checking, and software engineers working on cyber-security or forging tools to detect fraud or content tampering; and also agencies developing national legislation and think tanks formulating blueprints for internet regulation and discussing possible reforms to international bodies and treaties.
We also need to highlight the work of academics and commercial data gathers who monitor and analyse internet traffic, helping us understand and contextualize the underlying processes and trends, including how big data is being used; and the work of the tech giants which are (belatedly) putting serious resources into purging their platforms of bogus web sites and fake, extremist and illegal material. 
A paper on 'Confronting Bad Information' [uploaded Jan 2021] provides an overview of who's fighting fake and the challenges ahead.
“The world is a dangerous place. Not because of the people who are evil; but because of the people who don't do anything about it.”      Albert Einstein
So what can individuals do in this crazy, disunited and unpredictable world, where false news, conspiracy theories and malicious cyberactivity is becoming more and more of a threat? Well, there are things we can all do, not least inform ourselves and be vigilant when using social media or re-posting material on line; or be careful when we venture onto new and unfamiliar websites. We can also support the quality press and bona fide organisations (like Wikipedia), and subscribe to national organisations that promote accurate reporting, science / critical thinking,  open rights and or respect for human dignity, privacy and freedom of expression.
"Information is the oxygen of the modern age. It seeps through the walls topped by barbed wire, it wafts across the electrified borders."   Ronald Reagan
The Resources Section of the website provides information and guides to help you spot misinformation and 'fake news', and also to understand the psychology behind the liars, cheats and conspiracy theorists. There are also links to pages identifying recent articles, books and reports (sorted by topic), and web sites where you will find a wealth of information and analysis. This includes papers on why truth and trust are so important for human cooperation and flourishing.
The videos page covers everything from: how the tech giants grab and keep our attention, and how bad actors manipulate speech / video to the strategy and tactics behind information warfare.  The website also has a Glossary to help with the many new and perhaps unfamiliar words that are creeping into our vocabulary — doxxing, fauxtograph, nudging, spear phishing, truth bias, truthiness, etc. etc.
7   The Challenge Ahead
“If democracy is to survive the digital age, technology companies, governments, and civil society must work together to find real solutions to the problems of social media manipulation and abusive data collection. Multilateral and cross-sectoral coordination is required to promote digital literacy, identify malicious actors, and deny them the tools to fraudulently amplify their voices. When it comes to protecting data, users must be granted the power to ward off undue intrusions into their personal lives by both the government and corporations. Global internet freedom can and should be the antidote to digital authoritarianism. The health of the world’s democracies depends on it.”
Adrian Shahbaz [Freedom on the Net 2018]  
On 26th January 2017 the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved the minute hand of the 'Doomsday Clock' from three to two-and-a-half minutes to midnight. The Clock is a symbol that represents a countdown to possible global catastrophe. It was set up in 1947 and has been maintained by The Bulletin ever since .
The sources of tension in the world are many and diverse, often associated with historical, cultural or tribal tensions, or having control over or access to natural resources. But in recent years hostilities seem to have been ratcheted up by a rogue Russia (under Putin), determined to exact revenge on Western powers; an emergent China (under Jinping) exerting its considerable political and economic power; and the United States (when under Trump), focused on 'Making America Great Again' and retreating from the world stage. In January 2022, the clock was reset again, and now stands at just 100 minutes to midnight, and this was before the war in Ukraine and Putin's veiled threats to deply tactical nuclear weapons...
As populations grow and resources become further stretched and climate disruption begins to bite we can confidently expect new tensions to develop and new conflicts to break out. But the really big battle ahead is the battle for people’s minds.[4]
The distinguished political scientist, Joseph Nye[5] has written that “in the information age it’s not just whose army wins but whose story wins.” And stories and disinformation campaigns are far cheaper (and often more effective) than bombs and missiles; they can be injected into cyberspace by a professional operator with little fear of being detected. So, misinformation, ‘fake news’ and malicious propaganda are today the weapons of choice.
Currently Russia tells the best stories, although China is fast catching up. Both countries are increasing their capacity to engage in cyberattacks, and Western governments are stepping up their efforts to counter them. This is why our collective efforts to counter lies and disinformation must not fail and why the battle for truth is so important.
"In this possibly terminal phase of human existence, democracy and freedom are more than just ideals to be valued — they may be essential to survival.” Noam Chomsky
Disclaimer
The material contained on this site is for general information and educational purposes only. It is not intended and should not be construed to constitute legal advice. Indeed, the information may not be applicable to all situations and may not reflect the most current situation. It should not be relied on or acted upon without the benefit of professional legal advice.
Notes
 1     I set up the Facebook page before acquiring the Fighting Fake domain, hence the name Critical Information. I'm currently looking into how best to resolve any potential confusion without losing those who have liked or follow the page.

2    False information is invariably bad and potentially dangerous.  It doesn’t matter whether it is circulated innocently by people wanting to inform, educate, amuse, impress or comfort others (ie misinformation), or whether it is spread deliberately by cynical individuals, criminals, theocrats or hostile foreign powers seeking to control, distract, deceive, embarrass, frighten, injure or undermine (ie disinformation), either way the consequences can be profound and far-reaching, and all too often, socially-divisive. Mal-information is information that is true but private/confidential which someone has released or used in some way in order to inflict harm (ie ‘doxxing’ ). As William Blake points out "A truth that's told with bad intent beats all the lies you can invent."

3     Almost 60% of the world population are now internet users (4.39 billion) and all this has happened within 15 years,  less than a single generation. In 2019 the number of Internet users grew by 9%.

4     One highly effective technique, perfected by Russia, is 'reflexive control', which is discussed here.

5    Joseph Nye pioneered the theory of 'soft power'. He is the former Dean of the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and was a member of Secretary of State John Kerry's Foreign Affairs Policy Board. He is also a member of the Defense Policy Board.
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