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NHK’s Kaori Iida highlighted the growing threat posed by fake news and monetization of disinformation during a speech titled “The Rise of Impression Zombies” at the 2024 Global Journalism Forum.
NHK Japan’s director of digital news explained that “impression zombies” are accounts that specialize in monetizing viral content. “We define impression zombies as accounts that swarm around viral posts, copy and steal information, or forward meaningless text. In Japan, we call these accounts ‘zombies’ because they tend to hang around in groups, without spirit or energy, and just wander around,” she said, noting that a similar practice in the United States is known as “content farming.”
She said that after the Noto earthquake in Japan on January 1 this year, false posts appeared on social media claiming that the earthquake was man-made. “By the end of the second day, we saw 250,000 posts about the man-made earthquake hypothesis.”
Kaori shared examples of how false information is monetized. “We found a Pakistani man who confirmed that he used footage from the 2011 earthquake and claimed it was footage from the Noto earthquake to gain impressions. He was paid $75 for this,” she revealed.
Kaori stressed that the spread of false information during a crisis can severely affect rescue operations and cause confusion during evacuations. “Some of the posts are in Japanese, which the Japanese public finds trustworthy. Other posts come from Japanese impression bots, but from Urdu, Hindi and Arabic accounts, often using strange Japanese language,” she added.
To combat misinformation, NHK has adopted a strategy called “pre-clarification,” which addresses false information before it spreads. “I firmly believe that it is better to be prepared than to scramble to find reliable information after the fact,” Kaori said.
In October 2013, NHK established the Social Listening Team (SoLT), which is mainly composed of students interested in journalism. Kaori explained: “The team monitors X and Facebook 24/7. They find suspicious or questionable information, which is then verified by journalists. This helps ensure that reliable information reaches the public.”
Looking ahead, Kaori said: “The future of news lies in trust, and debunking fake news is like playing whack-a-mole. Our priority is to make news products valuable enough that people seek them out every day.”
In closing, Kaori reiterated NHK’s commitment to maintaining trust and relevance. “We need to continue to be a trusted news organization to stay relevant and survive for another 100 years. We can’t have zombies roaming around,” she concluded.
To learn more about NHK’s response to fake news and impression bots, read Kaori’s article “Debunking, pre-debunking and appropriate technology: Building a solid foundation for the future of news” in the Future of News report. Click here to read the full report: The future of news reporting
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