Explainer: Beware of fake content that exploits emotions and clouds rational thought

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Content that shocks or horrifies or makes us feel anxious or fearful is often used by disinformers. This week we show how our emotional responses are used to cloud rational thought and how disinformation can entrench stereotypes.

By Daily Maverick

Those who wish to spread disinformation often play on our emotions. It’s a tactic that is also used by salespeople. How many of us, for example, have been in a shop where we are thinking of making a purchase (usually an expensive one) and seeing us hesitate, the salesperson tells us how much interest there has been in the same item and how the one we are looking at is the last one? This is designed to make you anxious about losing a possible bargain, while encouraging you to make a decision based on another person wanting the same item. It adds urgency and pressure.

Most of the media organisations in South Sudan, which adhere to professional standards of ethical journalism, don’t publish fake news. Our media usually think very carefully when using graphic and disturbing images, and offer context and warning and, crucially, some kind of justification for showing unverified images. 

If you see suspicious content on a social media platform, ask: Why is it there? Who has posted it? What do they hope to achieve? Ask if there is any justification for using such graphic content and if it advances the story in any way. 

If you find content about issues you are uncertain of, or if you are vaccine-hesitant, and suddenly your emotional buttons are being pressed, exercise extreme caution, check credible media and then avoid sharing, unless there are clear reasons to do so. 

A quick note on credible media – how do you know? Well, you can look to see if the media organisation subscribes to accepted standards of professional journalism. Do they offer a credible means of addressing complaints? Do they tell you who the editor is? Any media organisation that avoids such mechanisms is not helping with their or the media’s credibility. 

Another role as a reader and active member of the public is to keep reporting those who seek to exploit and heighten fear. It won’t stop disinformation, but it may reduce its spread and cause less harm. It is critical that we all play our part in combating and mitigating these digital offences. If you suspect that content on digital media is disinformation, hate speech, harassment of journalists or incitement to violence, report it to relevant authorities in your area.

Fact-check: Is David Uri Ben Uziel a South Sudanese army General? No.

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David Ben Uziel is an Israeli army general, not South Sudanese. He came to the then Southern Sudan to help train the Anya-Naya guerilla movement.

By 211 Check Desk

A post shared by Insight Juba, a Facebook media page claimed that Gen. David Ben-Uziel, a veteran Israeli soldier who played an active role in the Anya-nya revolution is a South Sudanese army General.

Screenshot of post claiming that David Ben is a South Sudanese

The post created a controversial online debate, but here is the truth:

In 1969, the Israeli government under the leadership of Golda Meir decided to assist the Anya-Nya guerilla movement in South Sudan in its fight against the Sudan government. 

Gen. David Ben Uziel, was then chosen to lead the Israeli agents to Southern Sudan and helped train the Anya-Nya guerilla movement.

Gen. David Uri Ben Uziel (AKA Tarzan or John) is the First Israeli to enter South Sudan in 1969 for a fact-finding mission in order to come to conclusion about the envelopment of the State of Israel to build the AnyaNya to become a fighting force for the freedom of the People of South Sudan.

Read more about him here.

Conclusion:

David Ben Uziel is an Israeli army general, not South Sudanese. He came to the then Southern Sudan to help train the Anya-Naya guerilla movement.

#FactsMatter, Don’t be a victim of fake news; instead, let’s fight misinformation on both mainstream and alternative media. To avoid spreading false information, don’t share content you’re not sure about or don’t know where it came from.

To learn more about our fact-checking process, go to https://211check.org/how-to-fact-check/ or send us a WhatsApp message at +211 917 298 255 to present a claim, and our team will immediately fact-check it and respond.

This fact-check has been produced as part of our incubation program under Code for Africa.

Fact-check: The Ministry of Finance and Planning is NOT giving out 3 million USD grants to businesses.

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A media official at the Ministry of Finance and Planning says the Facebook page running the advert is fake. According to him, updates from the ministry are shared on the minister’s social media accounts at the moment.

By 211 Check Desk

A sponsored Facebook post on a fake account of the Ministry of Finance and Planning purporting that it is giving out entrepreneurial and agricultural grants of up to three million dollars to small businesses in South Sudan is a hoax.

The advert claims that the grants in an effort to promote investment, agribusiness and economic empowerment is a partnership between USAID and Global Entrepreneurship Network.

“We, therefore, advise entrepreneurs and farmers to take advantage of this great opportunity to apply for the grants by clicking on this link…,” partly reads the hoax.

Screenshot of the hoax

They then direct users to fill in a google form.

Screenshot of the Google Form

When contacted by 211 Check, a media official at the Ministry of Finance and Planning said the Facebook page running the advert is fake. He says updates from the ministry are shared on the minister’s social media accounts at the moment.

“The grant is a hoax. Currently, we have the minister’s Facebook page and Twitter accounts on his names,” the media official said.

211 Check investigations have found out that the Facebook page was created on 24th February 2022. It is an attempt to collect personal information for monetary gain.

Do not fill out the form and disregard the information.

Conclusion:

211 Check has looked into a Facebook post claiming that the Ministry of Finance and Planning, USAID and Global Entrepreneurship Network is giving grants to small and medium scale businesses and finds it to be FALSE

#FactsMatter, Don’t be a victim of fake news; instead, let’s fight misinformation on both mainstream and alternative media. To avoid spreading false information, don’t share content you’re not sure about or don’t know where it came from.

To learn more about our fact-checking process, go to https://211check.org/how-to-fact-check/ or send us a WhatsApp message at +211 917 298 255 to present a claim, and our team will immediately fact-check it and respond.

This fact-check has been produced as part of our incubation program under Code for Africa.

Fact-check: Is there a new way of using Facebook and WhatsApp for free? No.

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The only Free Facebook that allows you to text is offered by MTN South Sudan. You don’t need to give anyone your login credentials such as phone number, email or password to use Facebook for free on MTN.

By 211 Check Desk

Recently, hoax messages have circulated claiming that there is a new way “to use Facebook and WhatsApp without the need to buy data bundles for six months.”

The message sender then requests a user’s login information, such as their phone number and password, so that “they could activate it.”

Screenshot of the Hoax Message

Some desperate users who shared their login information were compromised, resulting in the loss of their Facebook and Messenger accounts.

“If you receive one of these messages, delete it and ignore it instead of forwarding it,” says Arik Robert, SafetyComm South Sudan Team Leader, to 211 Check.

“Those who participate in the hoax waste their time and have their online privacy violated,” he said.

Common Facebook Scams

  • Fake Links/Clickjacking – Fake news, free giveaways, etc. can be delivery methods for malware. Just like email scams of the past, these leverage stories, news or offers that catch your attention. The point is to have you click on a link or share something that propagates malware. 

Examples include:

  1. Direct Messages with links or attempts to get you to look at something.
  2. Links resulting in another login request for Facebook/Email Provider – this is to harvest your account.
  3. Surveys – Some surveys on Facebook are created to harvest information about users for identity theft/account hijacking/spear phishing (crafted attacks).
  • Fake Accounts – Fake Facebook accounts can fall into many different types of scams. Examples include:
  1. Account Cloning – I’ve seen this approach grow in frequency in the last year. Indications of a cloned account are a second Facebook Friend Request – if you’re already connected on Facebook, you should not receive a second Facebook Friend Request. The old email trick – “I’m in jail in a foreign country, can you send money?” has migrated to Facebook with a different twist. 
  2. Friend of Friend/Relative – Some fake accounts are created and operated to entice you to trust them. Within a short period of time, they promise money or ask for it. Many scams revolve around large sums of money if you provide a fee or personal data.
  • Romance – Another common scam are requests to “be friends” or “…get to know you”. I’ve seen many people fall for these accounts. They can be grouped into two primary categories:
  1. For the Lulz – Some people create and operate fake accounts for their own personal needs or dysfunctions. They may not ask for money and simply crave attention. I’ve seen men pretend to be women and women pretend to be men in the digital world. 
  2. For the Money – These scammers are versed in spending time to build up a dependency.  They may send you small amounts of money to build up their credibility. Eventually, it leads to needing money from you. Once this starts, they go for everything they can get.  Many of these scammers know how to pull your heart strings to get what they want. 
  3. Your Employer – Sometimes it’s not about exploiting you, but who you work for. Cisco’s 2016 Annual Security Report listed malware delivered via Facebook scams as a top delivery method to compromise organizational networks. Great cybersecurity measures are easily compromised by enticing someone to click a link at work. Some employers block Facebook for these specific reasons. 

Protecting Yourself – There are some key steps to protect yourself: 

  • Setup Security – Many people think their accounts are secure and details hidden. Many people lockdown their posts, but leave photographs, check-ins, etc. open. These are all great data sources for scammers to use against you. Lock everything down and test the setup. Open only the functions that you need to.  (If you have security minded friends or family, ask them for help. Sometimes a second set of eyes spot missed settings.)
  • Real World Suspicion – If you wouldn’t do it in the physical world, don’t do it in the digital world. If you met someone on the street who said they lived in your neighborhood 20 years ago and ten minutes later asks for your Social Security Number to give you $2000, you’d be suspicious. You should use the same scrutiny and judgement, and more so, in the digital world. Just because someone says something is true, does not mean it is. It just means they said it. “Never assume anything is true until you verify it yourself.” If it sounds too good to be true, 99% of the time, it is not true.  Be cautious.

Conclusion:

211 Check has looked into messenger messages claiming that there is a new way of using Facebook and WhatsApp for free and finds them to be FALSE

#FactsMatter, Don’t be a victim of fake news; instead, let’s fight misinformation on both mainstream and alternative media. To avoid spreading false information, don’t share content you’re not sure about or don’t know where it came from.

To learn more about our fact-checking process, go to https://211check.org/how-to-fact-check/ or send us a WhatsApp message at +211 917 298 255 to present a claim, and our team will immediately fact-check it and respond.

This fact-check has been produced as part of our incubation program under Code for Africa.

Data Story: Women in the Western Equatoria State Government

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By Justin Anthony

The Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan demands that there is 35% women representation in all levels of government. In this short article we look at the statistics of women in ministerial positions, members of state independent commissions and county commissioners in Western Equatoria State.

Out of the seventeen (17) state ministries, only four (04) female ministers were appointed by the various parties to the R-ARCSS in Western Equatoria State.

As per the power-sharing agreement, Western Equatoria State has ten counties in which only two (02) females were appointed as the County commissioners.

No Female advisors have been appointed out of the five.

In the six (06) state independent commissions that brought 30 individuals only nine (09) are females.


Gender
State Ministers		Independent CommissionsCounty Commissioners
Male132408
Female040902
Total173010
% of Women23.5%30%20% 

This brings the total number of female executives in the Western Equatoria State government to 13.


Statistics of women representation in Western Equatoria State  Executive
S/N
Name of candidate
Post
Party
1FemaleMinistry of Animal Resources, Fisheries and TourismIG
2FemaleMinistry of Roads and BridgesIG
3FemaleMinistry of General Education and InstructionIG
4FemaleMinistry of Gender, Child and Social WelfareIO
5  FemaleMember, Anti-Corruption CommissionIG
6FemaleMember, Employee Justice ChamberSSOA
7FemaleMember, HIV/AIDS CommissionIG
8FemaleMember, RRCIO
9FemaleMember, Human Rights CommissionIG
10FemaleChairperson, Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation CommissionSSOA
11FemaleMember, Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation CommissionIG
12FemaleCommissioner, Mundri West CountySSOA
13FemaleCommissioner, Mundri East CountyIG
1SPLM-IG 8
2SPLM-IO2
3SSOA3
4OPP0

About the Authors:

Justin Anthony, a Data Speaks Fellow at #defyhatenow South Sudan, wrote this data story, which was edited by 211 Check Editor Emmanuel Bida Thomas and approved for publication by Steve Topua, Data Analyst and Trainer. It’s part of the ongoing #defyhatenow South Sudan Data Speaks Fellowship program with funding from the European Union Delegation to South Sudan.

About South Sudan Data Speaks Fellowship: 

This is a three months data journalism fellowship for South Sudanese content creators with an aim of educating participants on the fundamentals of data journalism through in-depth training facilitated by experienced data analysts.

The fellows have been selected from across South Sudan and they are trained in data sourcing/mining, data analysis, and data visualisation for three months (October to December) 

Data Story: South Sudan’s Fiscal Year 2021/22 Budget

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By Okot Emmanuel

South Sudan’s Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning has proposed a budget worth 287 billion South Sudanese Pounds for the Fiscal Year 2021/22.

The Finance Minister, Agak Achuil Lual says the government proposes to spend a total of SSP 287.0 billion which represents 12.8% of the country’s GDP estimated at SSP 2.241.0 trillion.

The 2021/2022 budget proposes increased allocation to the social sector (education, health, social and humanitarian affairs). Allocation to the social sector increased to SSP 80.2 billion from SSP 312.2 billion in FY 2020/2021.

Allocation to the education sector is SSP 49.2 billion which indicates an increase of SSP 24.7 billion which represents 100.8 per cent compared to the FY 2020/2021 allocation of SSP 24.5 billion.  

Similarly allocation to the health sector of SSP 27.7 billion (of which SSP 9.0 billion is earmarked to combat COVID19 pandemic) the provision of SSP 27.7 billion to the health sector interprets to an increase of 575.6 per cent compared to the SSP 4.1 billion allocations in FY 2020/2021 budget. 

The budget allocation to the social and Humanitarian Affairs sector of SSP 3.3 billion has increased by 26.9 per cent compared to the FY 2020/2021 allocation of SSP 2.6 billion.

Of this amount, as stated by Acuil, SSP 169.3 billion or 7.6% will be financed by domestic revenues while SSP 77.4 billion which represent 3.5% will be through credit (i.e. concessional loans) from cooperating partners.

The balance of SSP 40.3 billion, which represents 1.8% will be financed through commercial borrowing.

Revenue Sources for Financing the FY 2021/22 Budget
SourceAmount in SSPPercentage (out of GDP)
Domestic Revenues169.3 billion7.6 %
Credit from cooperating partners (Concessional Loans)
77.4 billion
3.5%
Commercial borrowing 40.3 billion1.8 %

The budget aims at stimulating economic recovery and reducing inflation from 22.8 in the fiscal year 2020/2021 to 16.3 per cent.

The Finance Ministry further said the FY 2021/2022 Budget is to consolidate peace, combat the COVID-19 pandemic and increase investment in physical infrastructure.  

About the Authors:

Okot Emmanuel, a Data Speaks Fellow at #defyhatenow South Sudan, wrote this data story, which was edited by 211 Check Editor Emmanuel Bida Thomas and approved for publication by Steve Topua, Data Analyst and Trainer. It’s part of the ongoing #defyhatenow South Sudan Data Speaks Fellowship program with funding from the European Union Delegation to South Sudan.

About South Sudan Data Speaks Fellowship: 

This is a three months data journalism fellowship for South Sudanese content creators with an aim of educating participants on the fundamentals of data journalism through in-depth training facilitated by experienced data analysts.

The fellows have been selected from across South Sudan and they are trained in data sourcing/mining, data analysis, and data visualisation for three months (October to December) 

Each fellow will produce a minimum of three (03) data stories during the fellowship. The focus will be on increasing access to information

Explainer: Using TinEye; Essential for Fact Checkers

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TinEye is an image search and recognition company with experts in computer vision, pattern recognition, neural networks and machine learning with a mission to make images searchable.

By #defyhatenow Cameroon

Social media has made it easier to share memories, pictures, and communication across distances. Even the most basic social media sites have enabled users to upload photos, share information about themselves and make friends. 

According to a publication on Social Media today; Social media dates back as far as the early 1840s.  The first recognizable social media site, “Six Degrees”, was created in 1997 by Andrew Weinreich. It enabled users to upload a profile and make friends with other users. 

In 1999, the first blogging sites became popular, creating a social media sensation that’s still popular to this day. As years have passed, an increasing number of social media platforms and sites such as WhatsApp, WeChat, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, Snapchat, LinkedIn among others have come up. 

These sites have attracted billions of users for diverse reasons. With the increase of user numbers on these platforms there has been a rise in the propagation of misinformation, disinformation, malinformation and Hate Speech. 

When the term “fake news” comes up, people think of social media posts with rather implausible stories. While posts shared on social media are the most visible aspect of it, there is so much more to fake news than exaggerated article titles on social media feeds. Given that “fake news” is often spread with the use of texts, images, videos, animated graphics, fact checkers have resorted to using open source platforms for verification to debunk “fake news”. 

Some of these open source platforms include; TinEye, Yandex, RevEye, Reverse Image Search, Google Reverse Image Search, Jeffrey’s Exif Viewer, Google Advanced Image search, Forensically among others. 

We will delve into dissecting TinEye.

Functions, Features and Methodology

TinEye is an image search and recognition company with experts in computer vision, pattern recognition, neural networks and machine learning with a mission to make images searchable.

It has a feature known as Compare Feature that lets you quickly switch back and forth between your search and result image by highlighting any differences between the two images. It’s especially useful to see how images have been cropped, resized, skewed or manipulated.Today, 

TinEye’s image recognition is used by millions of people and powers billions of searches across a wide range of industries. TinEye is privately owned, profitable and its revenues are generated by its clients. Using TinEye, one can search for detailed information on an image or perform a reverse image search. This can be done by uploading an image or searching by URL (Uniform Resource Locator), the address of a World Wide Web page. You can also simply drag and drop your images in the search box to start your search.TinEye constantly crawls the web and adds images to its index. 

Today, the TinEye index has over 41.9 billion images. To check about an image, you can upload it from your computer or mobile device by clicking the upload button to locate the image you wish to search for. To search by URL, simply copy and paste an image URL address into the search box. One can as well drag an image from a tab in his/her browser and drop it in a browser tab where TinEye is open.Lastly, it’s possible to simply Copy and Paste an image from your clipboard.

How to use Tineye to search for an image

You can search for an image with TinEye in three ways:

  • by drag and drop
  • by uploading an image
  • by giving TinEye a URL (this can be a page URL or an image URL)

The easiest way to search with TinEye is to drag and drop an image onto the TinEye webpage in your browser.

To search by uploading an image, just click the upload button (blue arrow in a circle) to select from your computer or device the image you’d like to search with.

You can search with a web address (URL) by simply copying the link into the search box on Tineye. 

Below are some YouTube videos on how to use TinEye in identifying a doctored image.

How to use Tineye: https://www.youtube.com/embed/XemlN-B7w38?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque&rel=0

How to use Tineye identifying a doctored image: https://www.youtube.com/embed/I3Sbihz4vpI?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque&rel=0 

Most images found online are protected by copyright and should you like to use any image found through TinEye, you will need to find the image owner and contact them directly. 

Unless an image is identified as a public domain image, you need to ensure that you get in touch with any image copyright holder and secure the rights to use the image you have found. 

Unfortunately, in South Sudan, because of the weak legal system in the country, image copyrights are greatly abused as individuals, institutions and other reputable bodies extract people’s images from the internet and use them without their consent.

TinEye can be used to find out where an image came from or get more information about it and research or track the appearance of an image online. One can also find higher resolution versions of an image, locate web pages that make use of an image, discover modified or edited versions of an image, debunk an image or help with attribution.

Access wise, there is a paid and free version of TinEye. The former allows for virtually unlimited search by prepaid bundles while the latter gives room for one to do 100 searches per day and up to 300 per week.

Conclusion:

TinEye is a peculiar and unique search engine in that this technology takes an image file and goes through the internet scanning it with the help of crawlers and making sure it looks for matched images or the source of the image as inserted or based on the option one has input in the search bar. Given the fact that it possesses a Reverse Image Search option or Reverse Search Engine, it is used to find plagiarised work, lost connections, suspicious characters and much more. 

Recommendations To Journalists:

  • TinEye is an effective open source image search engine. Journalists can therefore use it amidst others mentioned above to be able to minimize the spread of images of doubtful origin.

To Tineye:

  • Tineye should find a way to alert its clients when their content is being used.
  • There should be sensitization on the application and its usage so that many more people can easily use the app.
  • Some images are not copyright protected and there are difficulties tracing the originator. Tineye may find a way to protect these images.
  • Tineye should make it possible to search images greater than 10mb.

Fact-check: These photos do not show ammunition confiscated by the national security yesterday

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By 211 Check Desk

Photos shared on Facebook and WhatsApp of a massive amount of ammunition and guns being transported in a casket allegedly to Pibor have been found to be FALSE.

Misleading Facebook Post

A google reverse image search on the photos show that in 2016, the photos were circulated in Nigeria media depicting a massive amount of weaponry and ammunition allegedly concealed in a casket.

It was falsely reported that a Nigerian army unit had intercepted an arms trafficking syndicate travelling between Ondo and Lagos States.

At that time, Nigeria army spokesperson said the photos were actually taken from a training exercise in 2012.

“The photos circulating were taken from a training exercise held in 2012 and it is normal to have other security agencies represented in all internal security trainings at schools or in barracks by army units,” Nigerian Army spokesman SK Usman told the Sahara Reporters on 30th March 2016.

There have also been no credible media reports in South Sudan about the photos as of Tuesday, February 1, 2022.

Conclusion:

211 Check has looked into photos allegedly of members of South Sudan national security confiscating ammunition being transported to Pibor and finds them to be FALSE

#FactsMatter, Don’t be a victim of fake news; instead, let’s fight misinformation on both mainstream and alternative media. To avoid spreading false information, don’t share content you’re not sure about or don’t know where it came from.

To learn more about our fact-checking process, go to https://211check.org/how-to-fact-check/ or send us a WhatsApp message at +211 917 298 255 to present a claim, and our team will immediately fact-check it and respond.