https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63222819
'As the midterm elections approach in the US, the wave of false claims
surrounding the vote is a reminder of how hard it is to combat fake news. Does
Finland have the answer?
A few hours after Vladimir Putin called up 300,000 military reservists in
September, a video showing long queues of cars at the Finnish-Russian border
started circulating on social media.
The Finnish Border Guard was quick to point out it was fake.
"Some of the videos were filmed earlier and now taken out of context," it said
on Twitter. The tweet promptly made it to the top of the Ukraine live page on
national broadcaster Yle's news website.
The Border Guard's and Yle's response highlights a crucial element of Finland's
success against disinformation - public trust in the authorities and the media.
Finland is a high-trust society. According to an OECD report, 71% of the
Finnish population trust the government, compared to the OECD average of 41%.
And it's not just the government - parliament, the civil service, the police
and the media all enjoy high levels of trust.
In an annual study by the Open Society Institute, the country tops a global
chart measuring resilience to disinformation.
That does not mean Finns believe everything they read in the papers and never
look at social media for information. But when they do, most have the ability
to critically evaluate information.'
Via Susan ****
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
