Forecasting pitfalls – Facebook and the development of our digitized world

#socialmedia

While I am writing down this blog post, there probably is a tense atmosphere in the offices of Facebook in the United States. Facebook is struggling. Struggling to not negatively affect the US presidential elections, struggling to prevent misinformation, voters’ suppression, and foreign manipulations. After harsh critiques on the role …

Internet.org: Facebook’s approach to “connecting the world”

#digitalfailure / #socialmedia

On the website of Internet.org, Facebook and its partners display their noble goals: Internet.org was founded to bring internet to all people, to connect them and to improve their lives by offering online access. But not all projects by internet.org are actually welcomed in the Global South.

A catalyst for good? – How Thai pro-democracy activists struggle with and benefit from Facebook

#ict.gov / #movements / #recently / #socialmedia

If you travel to Thailand as a tourist, you should know some basic rules. The probably most famous one: Don’t do or say anything that might seem to criticize the monarchy. The strict lèse-majesté law affects peoples’ lives and political changes in Thailand. And it affects the way people can communicate via Facebook.

Fighting the Infodemic: Facebook and the fake news on COVID-19

#digitalfailure / #infodemic / #recently / #socialmedia

COVID-19 changed our lives. The virus entered the world, changed our working lives and our attitude towards physical closeness. For many of us, it turned the world upside down. The pandemic slowed down some parts of life but accelerated others. For example, efforts for digitalization suddenly got tail wind. Companies discovered the advantages of remote work and home office, online offers for education and leisure sprouted like mushrooms. And being quarantined, many people started spending even more time with Social Media than before. That shift from offline to online favored misinformation as well.

From online hate to offline crime: Facebook’s role in the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar

#ict.gov / #socialmedia

The Rohingya crisis – the conflict between Buddhists and a Muslim minority in the Rakhine state in Myanmar – which caused a mass exodus in 2017 is widely known. The international media has been producing stories about the refugees arriving in Bangladesh, about the conflict itself and about Human Rights and press freedom in Myanmar. Nevertheless, it took some time for the world to figure out the factors that made this centuries-old conflict escalate that extremely in 2012 and again in 2017. One of those factors is Facebook.

Welcome!

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Welcome to our blog Risky Networks!

Our world is made up of various networks that serve to improve global livelihoods. However, each network has its own set of challenges. We – four students of Malmö University – founded Risky Networks to focus on the challenges or possible dangers that could emerge in digital communication networks in the international development field, across social media, data and new media. Though often considered coined “ICT4Bad”, Risky Networks presents weekly balanced arguments on this phenomena for 6 weeks. Enjoy reading!