Fact, fiction and politics in a post-truth age | David Patrikarakos | TEDxAthens
-
0:09 - 0:12I first met Vitaly
in the spring of last year. -
0:13 - 0:15He spoke little English,
-
0:15 - 0:17but he was very charming.
-
0:17 - 0:22On his left arm he had a tattoo
of the singer Marilyn Manson. -
0:22 - 0:25On his right leg,
he had a tattoo of Winnie-the-Pooh. -
0:25 - 0:26(Laughter)
-
0:26 - 0:29It was a rather strange experience.
-
0:29 - 0:30I was there to hear his story,
-
0:31 - 0:34and it was a story that
I would never have believed, -
0:34 - 0:40had I not myself spent eight months
in the year of 2014 -
0:40 - 0:43in Ukraine covering the war
between Moscow and Kiev. -
0:45 - 0:48Now, at around the same time,
in August 2014, -
0:49 - 0:52Vitaly found himself
in St. Petersburg without a job. -
0:52 - 0:53Vitaly was a journalist.
-
0:53 - 0:56But the website he worked for
had lost its funding. -
0:57 - 0:59So he sent out endless applications.
-
0:59 - 1:00Heard nothing.
-
1:00 - 1:02Eventually something came back.
-
1:02 - 1:03He'd sent out so many,
-
1:03 - 1:06he couldn't even remember
which job it had been for. -
1:07 - 1:09He went for an interview,
he duly got the job. -
1:11 - 1:13It was at - sorry -
-
1:14 - 1:16OK - Let me just - Yeah -
-
1:16 - 1:19It was at a nondescript building
in the centre of St. Petersburg, -
1:19 - 1:2155 Savushkina Street.
-
1:22 - 1:24And when Vitaly started,
-
1:24 - 1:28he realized it wasn't quite
your every day media company. -
1:28 - 1:32He was assigned to a project
called "Ukraine 2". -
1:33 - 1:40His job was to essentially write
articles about Ukraine - -
1:40 - 1:41which was fair enough,
-
1:41 - 1:44I mean, it's a subject
of interest for Russians - -
1:44 - 1:46with some slight differences.
-
1:47 - 1:49His job was to write articles
-
1:49 - 1:53from websites ending in ".ua".
-
1:53 - 1:57That is to say, websites
that pretended to be Ukrainian. -
1:57 - 2:01So he would take for example a newspaper
called the Donetsk News, -
2:02 - 2:06an Eastern city in Ukraine
occupied by pro-Russian separatists. -
2:06 - 2:08And he would write articles about it.
-
2:08 - 2:09It wasn't too bad.
-
2:09 - 2:12He would stick to the basic facts.
-
2:12 - 2:15But he wasn't allowed to use
the word terrorist or separatist. -
2:15 - 2:16He had to call them militia.
-
2:16 - 2:19The Ukrainian army, on the other hand,
-
2:19 - 2:22had to always be referred to
as volunteer battalions -
2:23 - 2:24or national guards.
-
2:24 - 2:28These are battalions
that still exist today, -
2:28 - 2:30that have well-deserved reputations
-
2:30 - 2:33for containing far-right
or thuggish elements. -
2:33 - 2:35Now, as time passed,
-
2:35 - 2:37it became clear to Vitaly
-
2:37 - 2:40that he was working in what
later would become known to the media -
2:40 - 2:44as a "troll factory" or a "troll farm".
-
2:44 - 2:47And the farm had a very clear structure.
-
2:47 - 2:51On the first floor was Vitaly
writing fake news websites, -
2:51 - 2:53and his colleagues.
-
2:53 - 2:55The second floor
was a social media department. -
2:55 - 2:58Here cartoons and memes were created
-
2:58 - 3:02to spread across all forms of platforms,
social media platforms, -
3:02 - 3:05promulgating the Kremlin line on Ukraine.
-
3:05 - 3:07On the third floor were the bloggers.
-
3:07 - 3:09Now, there were two types of bloggers.
-
3:09 - 3:12The first were the "Ukrainian" bloggers
-
3:12 - 3:15who would blog about how terrible
the situation in Kiev was, -
3:15 - 3:17how parts of the city
didn't have electricity, -
3:17 - 3:20how the kindergartens
were running low on food. -
3:20 - 3:24The second were the "American" bloggers.
-
3:24 - 3:28They would write about how the whole
of America supported Putin's actions, -
3:28 - 3:30that Ukrainians were fascists,
-
3:30 - 3:32all sorts of things like this.
-
3:33 - 3:37Hilariously, or perhaps
bitterly hilariously, what would happen is -
3:37 - 3:40the bloggers on the third floor,
-
3:40 - 3:42their output would become sources
-
3:42 - 3:45for the fake news articles
on the first floor. -
3:45 - 3:47So, it was a merry-go-round of lies.
-
3:48 - 3:51Now, on the fourth floor
were the big time, big time trolls. -
3:51 - 3:53These were the guys and women
-
3:53 - 3:55tasked with commenting
on Facebook, Twitter, -
3:56 - 3:57and most of all, VKontakte,
-
3:57 - 3:59which is the Russian version of Facebook,
-
3:59 - 4:03a very, very popular
social media platform -
4:03 - 4:05for the Kremlin
and the Russian government. -
4:05 - 4:08Now, after a month of working
on the fake websites, -
4:08 - 4:12Vitaly was sent
to the social media section. -
4:12 - 4:15And his work began
to take a different turn. -
4:16 - 4:17So, what he would have -
-
4:17 - 4:19When Vitaly was sent to this section,
-
4:19 - 4:22he was first given
a load of different SIM cards. -
4:22 - 4:26To register on VKontakte,
you have to have a phone number. -
4:26 - 4:28And the troll farm had
an inexhaustible supply. -
4:28 - 4:31And his job was just to spam
-
4:31 - 4:34every, but every, page
you could think of with this - -
4:34 - 4:40I mean often group pages
that have nothing to do with politics. -
4:40 - 4:43One example, he spammed the site
-
4:43 - 4:46devoted to couples meeting up for sex
in a small Russian town. -
4:46 - 4:47There was no logic to it.
-
4:48 - 4:50He always had to use female profiles,
-
4:50 - 4:55as females were seen to be
more trusted than male profiles. -
4:55 - 4:57The second thing he had to do,
-
4:57 - 5:02and this is central to the dissemination
of information in the social media age, -
5:02 - 5:04is it had to be visual.
-
5:05 - 5:06This is something I have learned
-
5:06 - 5:09from the State Department
to the Israeli Defence Forces, -
5:09 - 5:11that if you want information,
-
5:11 - 5:14if you want people
to look at what you have to say, -
5:14 - 5:15it has to be visual.
-
5:16 - 5:17And, in fact,
-
5:17 - 5:21people, even when they look at your link,
they probably won't click on it. -
5:21 - 5:26So what you do, is you leave your message
in the meme, in the visuals. -
5:26 - 5:28So here we have
a tearful looking picture of Obama. -
5:28 - 5:33He's saying, "I want to start a war,
but none of my friends will join me." -
5:34 - 5:39Here we have
a two-panel picture of Obama. -
5:39 - 5:44On the first, he is looking very serious,
saying: "We don't talk to terrorists." -
5:44 - 5:46The second panel, he is shown smiling:
-
5:46 - 5:48"We only sponsor them!"
-
5:49 - 5:50The goal was to attack
-
5:50 - 5:54people seen as hostile
to the Kremlin's war in Ukraine. -
5:54 - 5:59That was Barack Obama, Angela Merkel
and leading Ukrainian politicians. -
5:59 - 6:01Now, after a while, this got to Vitaly.
-
6:02 - 6:03He felt dirty,
-
6:03 - 6:05he didn't like the work he was doing,
-
6:05 - 6:07he was having problems with his nerves.
-
6:07 - 6:09So, in the end, he decided to quit.
-
6:09 - 6:12His boss, Anna, asked him why,
and he told her the truth. -
6:12 - 6:14He said, "I don't believe in
what we're doing." -
6:14 - 6:15So, he left.
-
6:15 - 6:18But still he couldn't get
the experience out of his mind. -
6:18 - 6:21He felt like he had to make amends.
-
6:21 - 6:25So, he decided to write
an article about his experiences. -
6:26 - 6:28He wrote it anonymously,
-
6:28 - 6:31and he presented it as if he were female.
-
6:31 - 6:34Because the majority of the
trolls farms' [employees] were [females]. -
6:34 - 6:36It came out, and it did well.
-
6:36 - 6:37It got a lot traction.
-
6:37 - 6:41Even [Alexei] Navalny,
the Russian opposition leader, tweeted it. -
6:42 - 6:46Unfortunately, Vitaly's attempts
at anonymity had been less successful. -
6:46 - 6:47An hour after it came out,
-
6:47 - 6:49he got a text from his boss Anna -
-
6:49 - 6:50or ex-boss -
-
6:50 - 6:52telling him that he thought he was a hero
-
6:52 - 6:55but he was, in fact,
a little son-of-a-bitch, -
6:55 - 6:58who couldn't do anything for himself
but could only spoil the work of others. -
6:59 - 7:00Then the phone calls started.
-
7:01 - 7:03"What the hell do you think you're doing?"
-
7:03 - 7:06a gruff male voice
called him up one night, -
7:06 - 7:09"Don't you know people can get punched
in the face for this sort of thing?" -
7:09 - 7:13For a while, Vitaly was afraid
to walk the streets alone. -
7:16 - 7:17Now ...
-
7:17 - 7:18if you are tempted -
-
7:19 - 7:20Sorry, that's just Putin.
-
7:20 - 7:23I never get over that picture,
it kills me every time. -
7:23 - 7:26If you are tempted
to dismiss Vitaly's story -
7:26 - 7:30as just a bunch of internet nerds
playing around ... don't, -
7:31 - 7:33because it is effective.
-
7:33 - 7:35I saw it for myself on the ground,
-
7:35 - 7:41in Eastern Ukraine as I travelled
through the cities, the occupied cities, -
7:41 - 7:43that spring and summer of 2014,
-
7:43 - 7:46as they fell almost daily
to pro-Russia separatists. -
7:47 - 7:50Now, Marshal McLuhan,
the Canadian philosopher said: -
7:50 - 7:55"All media are extensions of some
human faculty, psychic or physical." -
7:55 - 7:58Travelling through
Eastern Ukraine in 2014, -
7:58 - 8:03it was as if Putin's
central nervous system were on display. -
8:03 - 8:08The content that had come
from Vitaly's pen, directly, -
8:08 - 8:10was all around me.
-
8:10 - 8:14The online world had seeped
into the offline reality. -
8:15 - 8:17On the ground in Eastern Ukraine,
-
8:17 - 8:20old men parroted geopolitical concepts,
-
8:20 - 8:22like Novorossiya,
-
8:22 - 8:26a Czarist term referring to part
of Eastern Ukraine as belonging to Russia, -
8:26 - 8:28that they barely understood.
-
8:28 - 8:29Teenagers, laughingly, showed me
-
8:29 - 8:32racist memes of Barack Obama
on their smartphone, -
8:32 - 8:34knocked up in the troll factory.
-
8:35 - 8:38The belief that Kiev was a fascist junta,
-
8:38 - 8:42and that it genuinely wanted to destroy
the speaking of Russian in the East, -
8:42 - 8:44was sincerely held.
-
8:44 - 8:47This was not, I realized, mere propaganda,
-
8:47 - 8:49it wasn't narratives;
-
8:49 - 8:51it was the reinvention of reality.
-
8:53 - 8:57Now, we have to ask:
How did we get here? -
8:58 - 9:02Putin's information age could only
be possible in a post-truth age. -
9:03 - 9:05And what has created this age
is social media. -
9:06 - 9:08Now, social media brings
people together, we know this. -
9:08 - 9:10It's transnational.
-
9:10 - 9:13You can speak to your friend
in India or... well, not China - -
9:13 - 9:16India or the UK or America or wherever.
-
9:16 - 9:19But it does something else
that is less discussed: -
9:19 - 9:22it shatters unity, and it divides people.
-
9:22 - 9:25It does this in two overarching ways.
-
9:25 - 9:26The first is obvious:
-
9:27 - 9:30it facilitates direct confrontation.
-
9:30 - 9:33If you are a Hillary supporter
during the election campaign, -
9:33 - 9:36you can row with Trump supporters online.
-
9:36 - 9:37I've seen it happen over Brexit,
-
9:37 - 9:41I've seen friends unfriend
each other on Facebook over Brexit, -
9:41 - 9:43it facilitates direct confrontation.
-
9:43 - 9:46But it does something else more subtle:
-
9:46 - 9:51it creates what was called homophily,
love of the like-minded. -
9:51 - 9:54Now, when you are on Facebook,
you have your friends - -
9:54 - 9:57we understand "friends", OK? -
-
9:57 - 10:02and most of your friends are likely
to broadly share similar worldviews. -
10:02 - 10:04Now, I am not saying
that everyone votes your party, -
10:04 - 10:06there are left, there are right,
-
10:06 - 10:08but it's unlikely
that anyone in this audience -
10:08 - 10:10is going to be friends
with a bunch of Nazis ... -
10:10 - 10:12I would hope anyway.
-
10:12 - 10:14So, what happens is,
-
10:14 - 10:17first of all you are cocooned
with like-minded individuals, -
10:17 - 10:20who post articles that tend
to slant to your point of view. -
10:20 - 10:24Second, even more insidious,
is the Facebook algorithm. -
10:24 - 10:28People think social media platforms
are these impartial mediums, -
10:28 - 10:29but they are not.
-
10:29 - 10:33They are capitalist enterprises
and their product is us, their users. -
10:34 - 10:35The algorithm is designed
-
10:35 - 10:38to keep us on their platforms
for as long as possible -
10:38 - 10:41by feeding us content
that we know we like. -
10:41 - 10:43So, if you're a Hillary supporter
-
10:43 - 10:46and you're clicking on pro-Hillary links
during the campaign, -
10:46 - 10:49the algorithm is going to feed you
more and more pro-Hillary content, -
10:49 - 10:51and vice versa.
-
10:51 - 10:56Thus are our prejudices reaffirmed
and hatred of the other exacerbated. -
10:58 - 10:59There he is
-
10:59 - 11:01in all his splendiferous stupidity!
-
11:02 - 11:04So how did we get here, part 2.
-
11:05 - 11:10The rise of social media has coincided
with a crisis of faith in the West -
11:10 - 11:12and, critically, its institutions.
-
11:12 - 11:14From the 2003 Iraq war,
-
11:14 - 11:17in which our politicians
took us to war on a lie, -
11:17 - 11:20to the 2008 global financial crisis,
-
11:20 - 11:25in which the bankers
took us into the Great Recession, -
11:25 - 11:27to the NSA Snowden spying revelations,
-
11:27 - 11:31combined with long-term declines
in media trust, -
11:31 - 11:36means that the fundamental institutions
upon which the West is based -
11:36 - 11:38have been discredited.
-
11:38 - 11:40As a result,
-
11:40 - 11:43we see the rise of populist demagogues,
nationalist demagogues, -
11:43 - 11:44Geert Wilders in Holland,
-
11:45 - 11:47Nigel Farage with Brexit,
-
11:47 - 11:50Marine Le Pen, recently
in the French elections, -
11:50 - 11:52and of course the apotheosis of it:
-
11:52 - 11:53Mr. Trump.
-
11:53 - 11:56Sorry, there we go again.
-
11:59 - 12:02So, what is the end result of all this?
-
12:02 - 12:05The end result of all this is
that we now live in a post-truth age. -
12:05 - 12:07Now, this has been defined.
-
12:07 - 12:11This was Oxford Dictionaries'
word of the year 2016, -
12:11 - 12:14and I am going to read out its definition
-
12:14 - 12:16because I think
it is worth thinking about. -
12:17 - 12:22It was defined as an adjective
relating to or denoting circumstances -
12:22 - 12:23in which objective facts
-
12:23 - 12:26are less influential
in shaping public opinion -
12:26 - 12:29than appeals to emotion
and personal belief. -
12:29 - 12:32This was supplemented by the president
of the Oxford Dictionaries, -
12:32 - 12:37who said: "It is not surprising
that our choice reflects a year -
12:37 - 12:41dominated by highly charged
political and social discourse. -
12:41 - 12:45Fuelled by the rise
of social media as a news source -
12:45 - 12:50and a growing distrust
of facts offered up by the establishment, -
12:50 - 12:56post-truth as a concept has been finding
its linguistic footing for some time." -
12:58 - 13:00Now, what are the problems?
-
13:00 - 13:02The problems are that
in both Europe and the US, -
13:02 - 13:05public broadcasters
have to adhere to guidelines. -
13:05 - 13:11And these regard balance, impartiality,
professional journalists, etc, etc, etc. -
13:11 - 13:15No such regulation
exists for social media. -
13:15 - 13:18And the cost is plain to see.
-
13:18 - 13:20Facebook, which has been named
-
13:20 - 13:23as the platform most conducive
to the spread of false stories, -
13:23 - 13:27has recently announced that is going to
start using third-party fact-checkers, -
13:27 - 13:29people like Full Fact or Snopes.
-
13:29 - 13:31It's going to self-police,
-
13:31 - 13:34it's going to try in some way -
imperfectly, in my opinion - -
13:34 - 13:36to combat the phenomenon.
-
13:37 - 13:39But what are the results?
-
13:39 - 13:42The results are,
and this is very dangerous, -
13:42 - 13:46that the post-truth world
has created the post-truth leader. -
13:47 - 13:51From Vladimir Putin, who reinvents
reality in Eastern Ukraine, -
13:51 - 13:52to Donald Trump,
-
13:52 - 13:54whose White House will tell you
-
13:54 - 13:57his inauguration crowds
were bigger than Obama's -
13:57 - 13:59when you can see that they weren't.
-
14:00 - 14:02Now, they are different, let's be fair.
-
14:02 - 14:04One is a dictator in all but name;
-
14:04 - 14:06the other leads the world's
most powerful democracy. -
14:06 - 14:09But, in each case, the goal is the same:
-
14:09 - 14:14the more doubt you can sow
in people's minds about all information, -
14:14 - 14:18the more you will weaken their propensity
to recognize the truth when they see it. -
14:19 - 14:21The goal is not to twist the notion,
-
14:21 - 14:23twist the truth,
-
14:23 - 14:24like the politicians of old:
-
14:25 - 14:27"I did not have sexual relations
with that woman", -
14:27 - 14:31but to subvert the very notion
that an objective truth exists at all: -
14:31 - 14:34"My crowds were bigger!" -
"That's just an alternative fact." -
14:36 - 14:38So this is all very cheerful.
-
14:38 - 14:40So I'd like to end
on a slightly happier note. -
14:40 - 14:44What can we do to survive
in this post-truth age? -
14:44 - 14:46Now, I believe, in the end,
-
14:46 - 14:50change is going to have to come
at the legislative level: -
14:50 - 14:52governments are going
to have to intervene. -
14:52 - 14:56But I have put together, in the interim,
a post-truth survival kit -
14:56 - 14:59to surviving, negotiating,
-
14:59 - 15:00and trying to make your way
-
15:00 - 15:04through this sick information environment,
this unhealthy information environment, -
15:04 - 15:05in which we live.
-
15:05 - 15:07One.
-
15:07 - 15:09Go out of your way
to friend or follow people -
15:09 - 15:11that don't necessarily
agree with your worldview. -
15:11 - 15:14Please, don't go out and friend
a bunch of Golden Dawn supporters, -
15:14 - 15:17but generally try and broaden
your circles a bit. -
15:17 - 15:18Two.
-
15:18 - 15:22Go directly to the websites
of trusted news sources, -
15:22 - 15:25or, better still,
buy the newspaper itself. -
15:25 - 15:27Read all of its reporting;
-
15:27 - 15:31don't cherry-pick articles with a slant
that appeals to your preexisting belief. -
15:32 - 15:33Three.
-
15:33 - 15:35Read articles form publications
-
15:35 - 15:38whose political views
you don't agree with. -
15:38 - 15:39You will learn things.
-
15:39 - 15:41Trust me.
-
15:41 - 15:42Four.
-
15:42 - 15:43Read books.
-
15:43 - 15:44Yes, they still exist.
-
15:44 - 15:48In fact, I would recommend
you read one book in particular. -
15:48 - 15:50It's called: "War in 140 Characters:
-
15:50 - 15:55How Social Media Is [Reshaping] Conflict
[in] the Twenty-First Century." -
15:55 - 15:57It's available on Amazon,
by your humble servant. -
15:57 - 16:00Well worth $30 of anybody's money.
-
16:01 - 16:02Five.
-
16:02 - 16:04Log off.
-
16:04 - 16:07Get off Facebook, it will suck your life.
-
16:07 - 16:09Leave the house.
-
16:09 - 16:10Go and meet friends.
-
16:10 - 16:11Have fun.
-
16:11 - 16:12You will benefit.
-
16:12 - 16:14Thank you very much!
-
16:14 - 16:16(Applause)
-
16:17 - 16:18Thank you! Thank you!
-
16:18 - 16:20(Applause)
- Title:
- Fact, fiction and politics in a post-truth age | David Patrikarakos | TEDxAthens
- Description:
-
In this talk, David analyses the trend of fake news worldwide. From Russia to the American Elections and beyond, from Twitter to Iran.
David Patrikarakos is an international author, journalist and producer with an extensive track record in high-end international affairs. As a foreign correspondent, he has reported from across the world for a variety of leading US, UK and international publications.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDxTalks
- Duration:
- 16:27
Panagiota Prokopi
Whoever is going to review this English transcription, please, email me so I can give you his word docx, which unfortunately arrived in my box after I submitted.