Victoria Fox's Blog, page 127

Bertelsmann study: Majority sees disinformation as a threat to democracy

The majority of Germans see the spread of disinformation on the Internet as a significant social risk. This was the result of a study commissioned by the Bertelsmann Foundation. According to this, 81 percent of the population see false information as a threat to democracy and social cohesion. The study participants were confronted with false information, particularly in connection with controversial topics such as immigration, health, war and the climate crisis.

Respondents most often perceive disinformation on social media, followed by blogs and messenger services. Two thirds suspect protest and activist groups as the source of the misinformation, followed by bloggers and influencers (60 percent), foreign governments (53 percent) and politicians and parties from Germany (50 percent).

For the representative study according to the Bertelsmann Foundation, the opinion research company pollytix surveyed 5,055 people over the age of 16 in Germany online between October 4th and 17th, 2023. According to the study, awareness of the risks of deliberate misinformation for democracy has increased among large parts of the population. However, what respondents perceive as intentional misinformation online and what authors and motives they suspect behind it also depends on the respondents’ trust in the media landscape and politics as a whole.

Almost a third have little trust in the media

While those surveyed with high media trust believe that disinformation is spread primarily with the aim of weakening trust in politics and democracy (93 percent), according to the study, people with low media trust believe this much less often (68 percent). In contrast, 91 percent of respondents in this group believe that false information is being spread to distract from scandals and political ineptitude, which only 63 percent of people with high media trust believe.

The study sorts almost a third of those surveyed into the group with low media trust. AfD voters are disproportionately represented in this. Dissatisfaction with democracy is also widespread here. 43 percent of respondents have a high level of trust in the media. The rest are assigned to the group with medium media trust. Evidence of similar polarizations can be found at several points in the study. Green voters tend to believe that manipulation comes from the right, while AfD voters more often see the left spectrum as the originators of disinformation.

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Further “Danger of increasing polarization of society”

“The survey results also show a growing distrust of the media and politics and at the same time uncertainty,” said Cathleen Berger, co-author of the study and digital expert at the Bertelsmann Foundation. “If more and more people withdraw from the discourse, there is a risk of increasing polarization in society,” is their fear. Despite attention to the phenomenon, many people lack orientation on how to react to manipulation, Berger continued.

Berger also called for political countermeasures. “We need better guidance – social networks should be required to include fact checks and trust ratings,” she said. It must be made easier for users to check information and report it if necessary.

The majority of Germans see the spread of disinformation on the Internet as a significant social risk. This was the result of a study commissioned by the Bertelsmann Foundation. According to this, 81 percent of the population see false information as a threat to democracy and social cohesion. The study participants were confronted with false information, particularly in connection with controversial topics such as immigration, health, war and the climate crisis.

Respondents most often perceive disinformation on social media, followed by blogs and messenger services. Two thirds suspect protest and activist groups as the source of the misinformation, followed by bloggers and influencers (60 percent), foreign governments (53 percent) and politicians and parties from Germany (50 percent).

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"Glovo would have a serious problem without Delivery Hero"

The founder and CEO admits that without the sale to the German group he would not be able to provide an outlet for old investors or satisfy the expectations of new ones.

The co-founder and CEO of Glovo , Oscar Pierre , spoke openly yesterday about one of the key episodes experienced by the home delivery company: its sale to the German group Delivery Hero on the last day of 2021.

In a brief intervention

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Ban on cell phones in schools: "There are people who say: We don't need to write anymore anyway"

Great Britain wants to ban private smartphones from the classroom, in Germany, Schleswig-Holstein’s Education Minister Karin Prien (CDU) is in favor of a ban on cell phones and in Denmark they even want to equip schools with more books again: Has the digitization in schools that has been postulated for years failed? ZEIT ONLINE asked Hendrik Drachsler, who, among other things, researches the question at the Leibniz Institute for Educational Research and Information – and whose daughter goes to a school in the Netherlands where there has been a ban on smartphones since the beginning of the year.

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Media use: According to the study, children's social media use is often problematic

According to a study, almost one in four young people uses social media such as messenger and video services to a problematic extent. This is shown by a study of usage behavior in 2023 by the health insurance company DAK-Gesundheit and the University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE). The use of social media such as messenger and video services by 10 to 17 year olds is taken into account.

It is estimated that 1.3 million children and young people use digital media at risk, which is three times as many as in the pre-Corona year of 2019. In 2022, the proportion jumped significantly to 22.2 percent and is now rising further to 24.5 percent at. “Risky” use is defined as frequent and long-term use with an increased risk of harmful consequences for physical or mental health.

An estimated 360,000 children and young people currently meet addiction criteria with their usage behavior, the study data shows, according to the dpa news agency. That is 6.1 percent, less than the 6.7 percent in the 2022 survey. At the same time, the proportion is almost twice as large as in 2019.

Call for more education and prevention

DAK boss Andreas Storm said that social media has become an integral part of everyday life. There is a need for more information about the appeal and risks of Instagram or TikTok and more prevention campaigns and offers of help for those affected. Use with loss of control in terms of duration and frequency, increasing prioritization compared to other everyday activities and continuation despite negative consequences are considered “pathological” with addiction criteria.

For the study, a representative group of children between the ages of 10 and 17, each with one parent from around 1,200 families, was surveyed by the Forsa Institute. The new survey is from September 2023 and is the sixth wave of the survey. The frequency of use of social media and digital games was examined.

According to a study, almost one in four young people uses social media such as messenger and video services to a problematic extent. This is shown by a study of usage behavior in 2023 by the health insurance company DAK-Gesundheit and the University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE). The use of social media such as messenger and video services by 10 to 17 year olds is taken into account.

It is estimated that 1.3 million children and young people use digital media at risk, which is three times as many as in the pre-Corona year of 2019. In 2022, the proportion jumped significantly to 22.2 percent and is now rising further to 24.5 percent at. “Risky” use is defined as frequent and long-term use with an increased risk of harmful consequences for physical or mental health.

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Study on TikTok: Underage TikTok users regularly see problematic content

More than 60 percent of all underage TikTok users in Germany regularly come across content that makes them uncomfortable. This is the result of a representative study commissioned by the North Rhine-Westphalia Media Authority. To do this, two researchers from the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich surveyed young TikTok users between the ages of ten and 16.

Most of the young people said that they were videos that made them feel disgusted. However, more than half also reported videos in which others were intentionally hurt. Almost 40 percent said they had encountered extremist ideas.

The researchers also came to the conclusion that around 30 percent of the so-called challenges on TikTok were potentially harmful, and one percent were even potentially fatal. To do this, they evaluated the content of more than 2,500 TikTok videos. Content that is absolutely inadmissible according to the State Treaty on the Protection of Minors in the Media is a rare exception.

Pain representations during challenges

In most cases, these were depictions of pain, for example when participants accidentally injured themselves during a challenge. This also includes intentionally painful depictions – like the “Hot Chip Challenge”. Participants were asked to film themselves eating particularly spicy chips. The manufacturer has since recalled the chips because they are too sharp.

The study cites such challenges as a negative example of how TikTok has little or no regulation of potentially health-endangering content and can therefore spread quickly. However, TikTok takes a consistent approach to potentially fatal challenges. However, the authors of the study criticize the lack of transparency regarding the criteria used to regulate TikTok.

Parents and teachers are also responsible

In view of the results, Tobias Schmid, director of the North Rhine-Westphalia State Media Authority, called on TikTok to do more to protect minors. He admitted that this was a challenge given the large number of contents. Parents and teachers also have a responsibility, he said. “It’s not enough to just know how the child gets home after physical education class, but also who they hang out with virtually and what they encounter there.”

For the representative online survey, 755 young people between the ages of 10 and 16 were interviewed in October 2023, divided by age and gender. The analysis of the TikTok challenges took place based on 2,533 videos between October 13th and November 5th, 2023. Both German and English language videos related to a TikTok challenge were selected.

More than 60 percent of all underage TikTok users in Germany regularly come across content that makes them uncomfortable. This is the result of a representative study commissioned by the North Rhine-Westphalia Media Authority. To do this, two researchers from the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich surveyed young TikTok users between the ages of ten and 16.

Most of the young people said that they were videos that made them feel disgusted. However, more than half also reported videos in which others were intentionally hurt. Almost 40 percent said they had encountered extremist ideas.

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Telefónica reviews its strategy against 'Big Tech' and opts to achieve traffic reductions

Telefónica and other large European telecommunications companies are little by little transforming their strategy against large technology companies or Big Tech such as Google or Meta. Instead of trusting everything to achieving fair share, that is, Big Tech co-financing investments in telecom networks, an increasingly difficult objective and one that even Brussels has not wanted to support in its White Paper – the germ of the new regulation -, now they choose to try to get these technological giants to moderate the emission of traffic and become disciplined, which would allow the telecommunications companies to save millions by not having to invest so much in giving more capacity to their networks.

Telefónica and other large European telecommunications companies are adapting their approach to a more possibilist one in their strategy related to fair share or fair contribution. Fair share is an initiative sponsored by the large European telecommunications companies through which

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Europe defends the same rules for telecoms and Big Tech and a new digital network with 200 billion investments

The Commissioner for Internal Market of the European Commission, Thierry Breton, defends a single digital market in the EU and accelerate the deployment of 5G on the continent.

In the midst of the debate on fair share , by which European telecoms are demanding large technology groups or Big Tech , such as Meta, Google, Amazon or Tik Tok, to contribute to investments to increase the capacity of the networks, the

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Sánchez meets at the MWC with senior executives from Ericsson, Meta and Nokia

The President of the Government will hold meetings with the presidents and CEOs of Ericsson and Nokia, Börje Ekholm and Pekka Lundmark, and with Meta’s number two, the Spanish Javier Oliván.

After attending the inaugural conference of the MWC , the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez , planned to meet with a representation of senior managers from the technology industry. The chief executive will meet with the president and council

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Pallete warns technology companies: "We must promote the sustainable use of networks and not have abusive positions"

The president of Telefónica, José María Álvarez-Pallete, pointed out today, at the opening of the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, that the telecom sector is promoting “responsible use” of networks, so that they consume less data and therefore less energy. And he warned big technology companies that it is time to collaborate and not “abusive positioning.”

José María Álvarez-Pallete, president of Telefónica, assured today during the opening speech of the Mobile World Congress that the telecommunications sector is promoting the responsible use of networks and innovation in new models of

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The Government creates a 'digital Sepi' that wants to control 10% of Telefónica

Minister Escrivá announces the new Technological Transformation Society, which was created with 20,000 million, to invest in strategic sectors and group stakes in ‘telecos’ and digital infrastructures and services.

The Minister of Digital Transformation and the Public Service, José Luis Escrivá, announced this Monday at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, the creation of the Spanish Society for Technological Transformation (SETT) , which aims to bring together all investments in technological matters. Escrivá explained that he will take the urgent processing of the creation of this new company to the next Council of Ministers and that the objective is to have it up and running in two or three months.

This new public business entity will start with an investment mobilization capacity of 20,000 million euros, according to the minister.

10% of Telefónica

Among other activities, the SETT will group the Administration’s stakes in telecommunications companies, and digital infrastructures and services, to seek synergies with the aim of promoting technological transformation. Because of this role of public holding of business shares, it could incorporate the participation of up to 10% of the capital that the Government has ordered the Sepi (dependent on the Treasury) to acquire . In fact, according to Escrivá himself “it makes sense” to fit the participation of the historic telecommunications operator into the SETT. This is probably one of the reasons for adopting the emergency mechanism in its constitution, so that it can incorporate the Government’s telecom package immediately.

The objectives of this public holding company are very ambitious because it also aims to support companies active in Spain, regardless of their size and ownership of capital, that commit to carrying out technological projects in the digital field and emerging sectors related to digitalization. through the granting of credits, the taking of shares or other minority participations in the share capital or the granting of subsidies, among other forms of support.

In fact, Escrivá has indicated that “the SETT is going to work by the method of co-investment with private capital in almost all modalities.”

Sum of entities

The new SETT will not be born from scratch, since it will integrate some existing structures linked to the Ministry of Digital Transformation. Thus, it will integrate the current State Society of Microelectronics and Semiconductors (SEMyS) to give a boost to the Perte Chip. According to the minister, the aim is to highlight the Spanish semiconductor industry in the different European and international programs, particularly in the field of design, skills development, pilot lines or manufacturing, especially the coordination of actions related to the EU Chips Act.

But, in addition, SETT is intended to provide business, consulting, technical assistance or construction and management services of infrastructure related to the semiconductor industry. Likewise, the new state group plans to have a team specialized in investment operations, capitalizing and consolidating transformative projects in the technological field, and, in particular, in venture capital aimed at promoting investment in start-up or scale-up companies with a component of technological innovation and with high traction capacity for the rest of the economy. In this way, it is intended to serve to attract investors in public-private collaboration to generate industrial capabilities in strategic sectors.

Audiovisual

Finally, it will also act with financial and promotional measures related to the actions planned in the audiovisual sector, to turn Spain into a pole of attraction for the industrial production of content.

The SETT will bring together the Perte Chip , endowed with 12,000 million for semiconductors, the NextTech fund, with 4,000 million (2,000 of them private) to invest in companies with a high innovation component or the Audiovisual Hub fund, with 1,700 million, which will It would allow an investment capacity close to 20,000 million.

A potential conflict of powers in the Government

The creation of such an ambitious state body with so many functions (from holding the State’s technological investees – including Telefónica – to consulting, from venture capital investor to subsidy manager, from construction company or manager of infrastructures related to semiconductors to manager of aid to the audiovisual sector) can generate a shock wave within the Government of Pedro Sánchez.

The reason is that in order to centralize in a single organization all those powers and resources, currently dispersed in different levels of the Public Administration, it will be necessary to “herd” them from other ministerial portfolios, which will probably not agree with this amputation of powers and resources.

The case of Telefónica’s participation is especially significant, due to the strategic nature of the Spanish telecom giant and the capacity of influence that the Government will have on the operator once it substantiates its entry into the capital and consequently into the board. So far, the only thing known is that last December the Government ordered the State Society of Industrial Participations (Sepi), controlled by the Treasury, to take up to 10% of the capital of the operator to provide “greater shareholder stability” and to ” safeguard its strategic capabilities”.

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