Press release
LCFP starts publishing the results of hate speech and fake news monitoring (first quarter – 2020).
Tripoli, May 26 / The Libyan Center for Freedom of the Press is beginning to publish the results of the monitoring of professional violations related to “hate speech and false news” in 15 Libyan media outlets for the first quarter of 2020, through Falso platform for monitoring hate speech and false news.
The monitoring process depends on the daily monitoring and follow-up of press content in all social media accounts/ websites of 15 media outlets that have been targeted as the most followed, while entertainment channels are excluded, the violations are documented and entered into a tailor-made database.
Observations from professional breaches have demonstrated the phenomenon of excessive use of incitement, hate speech and fake news from both parties who manage these media outlets and are of course linked to states and political figures. 12,576 professional breaches were documented between January and March 2020, with a rate of 71.7% Hate speech and 28.3% fake news. Falso platform website launched on 3rd of may 2020 is ranked 1,491,386 globally, and the content published until this moment has reached over 408,410 people on social media.
The research methodology that falso platform relies on to monitor and verify daily news and what is published through websites and social media accounts (mainly Facebook) is a methodology designed according to accurate scientific research criteria, and that the primary goal is to help the media to self-organize and control media discourse against Hate speech and the spread of false news, we will allow all media outlets to obtain a copy of the monitoring database for each media outlet separately, and this work comes as part of our efforts in the structural and legal reform of the media sector in Libya.
We closely monitor the situation of fanaticism, intimidation, publication of misleading information, and fraudulent facts in which the Libyan media supporting the two parties are directly involved in, we recognize the accompanying serious professional decline in media engagement in the ongoing armed conflict in the country and we renew our call to all media outlets to stop these catastrophic practices in covering the armed & political conflicts and to avoid misinformation and slander.
