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<DIV
style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; LINE-HEIGHT: 21px; FONT-FAMILY: 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial; COLOR: #202124; FONT-SIZE: 14px"><EM><SPAN>Some
weeks ago, we wrote to you about how Avaaz
helped shape a groundbreaking new law to combat
the spread of online disinformation - well, we
have an update! <B>This week, the European
Parliament voted overwhelmingly in favour of the
Digital Services Act, the world’s first
meaningful attempt to rein in Big Tech!
</B></SPAN><BR><BR>Thank you so much for being
with us on this crucial journey to defend
democracy and digital rights. <SPAN
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #fff95f"><B>Now, join
us as we celebrate and help spread our ‘David
and Goliath' story of how people power took on
Big Tech…and won. </B></SPAN></EM><BR><BR>
<DIV style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><A
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Avaaz </SPAN></A></DIV><BR><EM>Or, if
you’re not on Twitter -- you can
click </EM><A
href="https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https://secure.avaaz.org/campaign/en/global_disinfo_reportback_april_2022/?bUSymfb&v=141225&cl=19560563734&_checksum=363f56fe124cab234762d0cc2885b4a8851a5a899b38c9f5e1de46cab7556da0 style="
color:#ff0099;?><EM>here</EM></A><EM> to
share our story on Facebook and </EM><A
href="https://wa.me/?text=Thought%20you%20might%20be%20interested%20in%20this!%0A%0AThe%20European%20Parliament%20just%20approved%20the%20Digital%20Services%20Act%2C%20the%20world%E2%80%99s%20first%20meaningful%20attempt%20to%20rein%20in%20the%20tech%20giants!%0A%0ARead%20the%20story%20of%20how%20people%20power%20took%20on%20Big%20Tech%20%20and%20won%3A%20https%3A%2F%2Fsecure.avaaz.org%2Fcampaign%2Fen%2Fglobal_disinfo_reportback_april_2022%2F"
color:#ff0099;?><EM>here</EM></A><EM> on
Whatsapp.</EM>
<HR>
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<DIV
style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; LINE-HEIGHT: 21px; FONT-FAMILY: 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial; COLOR: #202124; FONT-SIZE: 14px">Dear
friends,<BR><BR><STRONG>This might just be the
most impactful thing Avaaz has ever
done.<BR></STRONG><BR>For years, mega tech
platforms like Facebook, YouTube and TikTok have
been making billions while flooding the world
with disinformation, hate speech and other
harmful content. But after years of incredible
campaigning, the European Union has just agreed
on a historic law that will force Big Tech to
change – and this could be the start of a global
revolution to protect us all!<BR><BR><STRONG>We
can honestly say Europe’s new Digital Services
Act wouldn’t look like it does without
Avaaz.</STRONG> We ran massive investigations
into the harms caused by social media and shared
our findings everywhere. Then we drafted
groundbreaking legislative proposals on how to
protect our societies as well as freedom of
speech, and ran a huge push to get key lawmakers
on board! And it worked!<BR><BR>
<DIV style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><IMG
style="MAX-WIDTH: 80%" class="fr-fic fr-dii"
src="https://avaazimages.avaaz.org/Schaldemose%20quote%20new%20EN.png"></DIV><BR>EU
Commission Vice-President Margrethe Vestager
endorsed our call for a <A
style="COLOR: #ff0099"
href="https://mobile.twitter.com/vestager/status/1501979002226888707"
rel="noopener noreferrer" target=_blank>“Paris
Agreement of the Internet”</A>. And EU
Commissioner Thierry Breton was so convinced by
our research that he went on TV to talk about it
the day after we met him!<BR><BR>
<DIV style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><IMG
style="MAX-WIDTH: 70%" class="fr-fic fr-dii"
src="https://avaazimages.avaaz.org/2-MEPs-Twitter-E.gif"></DIV>
<DIV style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><EM>EU leaders
publicly thanking Avaaz and its
members</EM></DIV><BR>For over four years, our
movement - together with an inspiring civil
society coalition – has been at the forefront of
this battle to protect citizens and democracy.
Read on for the full story of how a few dozen
activists, researchers, and hundreds of
thousands of Avaaz members across the world took
on some of the most powerful corporations that
have ever existed – and won!<BR><BR>
<DIV
style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: 30px; COLOR: #00afec">
<H2 style="COLOR: #ff0099">2018: A Hundred
Zuckerbergs (yikes!)</H2></DIV>It all started
almost exactly 4 years ago, in 2018:
disinformation was creating havoc in
democracies, and hate speech was being
weaponised around the world. In April that year,
we launched our first global call to platforms
and regulators to "Fix Fakebook" and rein in big
tech.<BR><BR><A style="COLOR: #ff0099"
href="https://secure.avaaz.org/campaign/en/facebook_open_letter_loc_/"
rel="noopener noreferrer" target=_blank>Over 1
million people joined that call</A>, and we
flooded Washington and Brussels with over a
hundred cardboard cutouts of Facebook CEO Mark
Zuckerberg. The image landed in media all over
the world, including on the front page of the
New York Times.<BR><BR>We travelled to Silicon
Valley to meet with top executives from
Facebook, Twitter and Google, trying to convince
them to act. But we were banned from some of
their offices, and had to hold meetings in the
car park!<BR><BR>
<DIV style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><IMG
style="MAX-WIDTH: 100%" class="fr-fic fr-dii"
src="https://avaazimages.avaaz.org/RE%20UPLOAD%20FB%20Zucks.jpg"></DIV><BR>It
was clear that the companies weren’t serious
about tackling the toxicity on their platforms.
We needed to change the laws that governed
them.<BR><BR>Next stop: the European Union.
<DIV
style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: 30px; COLOR: #00afec">
<H2 style="COLOR: #ff0099">2019: Diagnosing the
Problem, and Defining the Fix</H2></DIV>In 2019,
many EU lawmakers didn’t really understand the
problem. The idea that lies and conspiracy
theories going viral online were having a
serious impact on our democracies was contested
– and without proof, the regulators wouldn’t
act.<BR><BR>So,<A style="COLOR: #ff0099"
href="https://www.euronews.com/2017/09/28/lithuania-has-a-volunteer-army-fighting-a-war-on-the-internet"
rel="noopener noreferrer"
target=_blank> inspired by a Lithuanian
project</A>, we hired researchers we called
“elves” to investigate internet “trolls” and
reveal the scale of the disinformation problem,
especially the impact it was having in
Europe.<BR><BR>Working from a war room in
Brussels, our team of 30 “elves” uncovered what
30,000 Facebook monitors and their team of
experts seemed to have missed: huge networks,
using fake accounts and inauthentic pages,
spreading toxic lies and hatred across Europe
ahead of crucial elections.<A
style="COLOR: #ff0099"
href="https://avaazimages.avaaz.org/EU%20Disinfo%20Report.pdf"
rel="noopener noreferrer"
target=_blank> Following our
investigation</A>, Facebook took down networks
that could reach an estimated 3 BILLION (!!!!)
views in a single year!!<BR><BR><IMG
style="MAX-WIDTH: 100%" class="fr-fic fr-dii"
src="https://avaazimages.avaaz.org/Office.jpg">
<DIV style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><EM>A glimpse
into our anti-disinformation war room in
Brussels</EM></DIV><BR>As election day
approached, top EU politicians, journalists and
security experts were coming to our war room
almost every day for information and briefings.
Our work made headline news all over the world
warning millions of Europeans of the
disinformation threat just before the elections.
Even Facebook <A style="COLOR: #ff0099"
href="https://tg24.sky.it/politica/2019/05/12/chiuse-pagine-facebook-sostegno-lega-m5s"
rel="noopener noreferrer" target=_blank>publicly
thanked us</A>!<BR><BR>
<DIV style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><IMG
style="MAX-WIDTH: 50%" class="fr-fic fr-dii"
src="https://avaazimages.avaaz.org/RE%20UPLOAD%20Eu%20media.gif"></DIV><BR>Exposing
these networks helped Europe <A
style="COLOR: #ff0099"
href="https://avaazimages.avaaz.org/EU%20Disinfo%20Report.pdf"
rel="noopener noreferrer" target=_blank>dodge a
bullet in the elections</A>. But top EU
officials were shocked by what we had found and
asked us: what could be done?<BR><BR>So, working
with social media insiders, academics and
lawmakers, we developed research-backed
proposals to clean up social media while
protecting freedom of speech:<BR><BR>
<OL>
<LI><STRONG>Detox the
algorithm. </STRONG>Stop platforms from
making dangerous disinformation and harmful
content go viral just to keep us hooked to our
screens
<LI dir=ltr aria-level=1><STRONG>Correct the
record.</STRONG> Show every single person who
sees disinformation a correction from an
independent fact-checker right in their news
feeds. TIME Magazine called it a <A
style="COLOR: #ff0099"
href="https://time.com/5540995/correct-the-record-polling-fake-news/"
rel="noopener noreferrer" target=_blank>‘radical
new proposal that could curb fake news on social
media’</A></LI></OL>But with a new virus
emerging in Wuhan and the US elections looming,
we were about to see some of the most terrifying
impact of disinformation yet.
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<H2 style="COLOR: #ff0099">2020: Social media
vs. Democracy and Public Health</H2>As Covid-19
spread across the world, lies and conspiracy
theories about it also went viral. Our
researchers released <A style="COLOR: #ff0099"
href="https://secure.avaaz.org/campaign/en/facebook_coronavirus_misinformation/"
rel="noopener noreferrer" target=_blank>a
bombshell investigation</A> showing how Facebook
was an epicentre of Covid misinformation. On the
same day, Facebook <A style="COLOR: #ff0099"
href="https://about.fb.com/news/2020/04/covid-19-misinfo-update/"
rel="noopener noreferrer"
target=_blank>announced</A> that they would
direct anyone who engaged with Covid
misinformation to fact-checks on the World
Health Organisation’s website. This was the
first time Facebook had EVER done
this!<BR><BR><STRONG>Politico wrote: <EM>“Thing
is, it wasn’t the globe’s most powerful tech
regulator that forced Facebook to acknowledge
flaws in its policy — it was campaign group
Avaaz...”<BR></EM></STRONG><BR>We didn’t stop
there, and in another hard-hitting report showed
how Facebook’s algorithm itself became a global
threat to public health - spreading our findings
all over the media and presenting them directly
to key EU and US officials.<BR><BR>
<DIV style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><IMG
style="MAX-WIDTH: 50%" class="fr-fic fr-dii"
src="https://avaazimages.avaaz.org/3-HEADINGS_cut.gif"></DIV>2020
was also the year of the US presidential
election. A year before the vote, we’d found <A
style="COLOR: #ff0099"
href="https://secure.avaaz.org/campaign/en/disinfo_report_us_2020/"
rel="noopener noreferrer" target=_blank>there
was already more disinformation</A> on Facebook
than found in the three months ahead of the 2016
elections! We hired a dedicated team of US
researchers, and in the run up to the election,
we produced over 40 investigations on the
rampant <STRONG>disinformation, hate, violence
and extremism that was spreading
online, </STRONG>pushing Facebook to act on
many harmful networks that had spread dangerous
content to millions.<BR><BR><STRONG>And just
around the elections, Facebook launched
emergency measures</STRONG>, throttling the
spread of many of the pages we had identified as
repeat misinformers, making it harder for them
to flood social media with lies and hatred
before the vote.<BR><BR>
<DIV style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><IMG
style="MAX-WIDTH: 40%" class="fr-fic fr-dii"
src="https://avaazimages.avaaz.org/RE%20UPLOAD%20-%20US%202020%20-%20500x300.jpg"></DIV><BR>But
shortly after election day, Facebook withdrew
some of the measures they’d put in place! It was
a disaster. A tsunami of lies claiming that the
election had been stolen flooded Americans’
social media feeds.<BR><BR>We investigated many
of <A style="COLOR: #ff0099"
href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/n7vqgb/steve-bannon-urged-facebook-followers-to-take-action-on-eve-of-capitol-riot"
rel="noopener noreferrer" target=_blank>the
networks</A> making these lies go viral, and one
of the <A style="COLOR: #ff0099"
href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/11/09/facebook-steve-bannon-misinformation/"
rel="noopener noreferrer"
target=_blank>biggest</A> we found, tied to
Trump's former chief strategist Steve Bannon,
was banned from Facebook for spreading false
claims about the vote.<BR><BR><STRONG>But the
damage was already done. </STRONG>On
January 6th, protestors convinced that the
election had been stolen violently stormed the
US Congress.<BR>
<DIV
style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><STRONG><BR></STRONG>
<DIV style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><IMG
style="MAX-WIDTH: 40%" class="fr-fic fr-dii"
src="https://avaazimages.avaaz.org/RE%20UPLOAD%20-%20FB%20from%20election%20to%20Insurrection_500x300.jpg"></DIV></DIV><BR>Our
researchers jumped into action and within days
were able to show to show how Facebook had been
used to stoke the violence. Our <A
style="COLOR: #ff0099"
href="https://secure.avaaz.org/campaign/en/facebook_election_insurrection/"
rel="noopener noreferrer"
target=_blank>report</A> was covered in a slew
of outlets, from <A style="COLOR: #ff0099"
href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-violence-misinformation-a3dc1c9479e7677d6d34b4bae7dc9680"
rel="noopener noreferrer" target=_blank>AP</A>
to <A style="COLOR: #ff0099"
href="https://time.com/5949210/facebook-misinformation-2020-election-report/"
rel="noopener noreferrer"
target=_blank>Time</A>, <A
style="COLOR: #ff0099"
href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/03/24/technology-202-top-tech-watchdogs-want-school-congress-extremism-ahead-ceo-hearing/"
rel="noopener noreferrer"
target=_blank>Washington Post</A>, and <A
style="COLOR: #ff0099"
href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2021/03/facebook-misinformation-avaaz/"
rel="noopener noreferrer"
target=_blank>more</A>, and our research was
mentioned repeatedly in a <A
style="COLOR: #ff0099"
href="https://www.congress.gov/117/meeting/house/111407/documents/HHRG-117-IF16-Transcript-20210325.pdf"
rel="noopener noreferrer"
target=_blank>Congressional hearing</A> at which
Zuckerberg and other tech executives testified.
</DIV></TD></TR>
<TR>
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<H2 style="COLOR: #ff0099">2021 and Beyond:
Towards a "Paris Agreement for the
Internet"</H2>There was no longer any doubt
about the threat that disinformation posed. But
we still didn’t have the laws we needed. Then
came a chance – the EU was developing the
Digital Services Act, a new law to govern
digital technology. As we met with
decision-maker after decision-maker to argue
that the legislation should focus on holding
platforms accountable for harms created by their
algorithms, slowly the idea started to gain
traction.<BR><BR>And we didn’t let go – showing
up at every single meeting, event or video call
with our findings, and publishing ever more
evidence exposing how platforms were failing. <A
style="COLOR: #ff0099"
href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8gEKtyKizU&ab_channel=Avaaz"
rel="noopener noreferrer" target=_blank>We even
organised a conference on disinformation</A>
bringing together some of the most influential
EU politicians and executives from Facebook and
Twitter to make our case!<BR><BR>Despite frantic
lobbying by the social platforms, things began
to move in our direction. But it wasn’t a done
deal – so to show public support, we
commissioned a huge poll that found <A
style="COLOR: #ff0099"
href="https://secure.avaaz.org/page/en/media/pressreleases/1034.html"
rel="noopener noreferrer" target=_blank>83% of
people</A> in Germany, France, Italy and Spain
wanted platforms to change their algorithms if
they were found to be amplifying harmful
content. We even delivered messages to
politicians from Avaaz members across Europe in
beautifully made books!<BR><BR>
<DIV style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><A
href="https://avaazimages.avaaz.org/Thierry%20Breton.pdf"
rel="noopener noreferrer" target=_blank><IMG
style="MAX-WIDTH: 60%" class="fr-fic fr-dii"
src="https://avaazimages.avaaz.org/DisinfoRB_BretonBookStatic.png"></A></DIV>
<DIV style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><EM>Click on the
image to read the book!</EM></DIV><BR>And then,
after years of work, months of negotiations, and
a final stretch of over 16 hours of non-stop
discussions in Brussels, it happened: officials
and lawmakers agreed upon<STRONG> a
historic law that holds platforms accountable
for the harms caused by their
algorithms.</STRONG><BR><BR>Here’s what the law
will do when it goes into effect:<BR>
<UL>
<LI dir=ltr aria-level=1><STRONG>Detoxify the
algorithm</STRONG> → Online platforms like
Facebook will have to take responsibility for
the harms they cause to our societies, for
example, for the way their systems help spread
toxic content across the internet;
<LI dir=ltr aria-level=1><STRONG>Open the black
box</STRONG> → Allow independent auditors,
researchers and civil society to scrutinise
platforms’ actions and uncover their
wrongdoings.
<LI dir=ltr aria-level=1><STRONG>Impose big
sanctions</STRONG> → Platforms will face fines
up to 6% of their global income (yes we're
talking billions of dollars here) if they don’t
comply with the rules.
<LI dir=ltr aria-level=1><STRONG>A step closer
to s</STRONG><STRONG>topping surveillance
advertising</STRONG> → Ban the targeting of
people with ads based on their political beliefs
or gender, and end the exploitation of
children’s data entirely.</LI></UL>This is a
massive step forward for the future of the
internet and democracy. It could be the tipping
point to help us restore the dream of an
internet that makes us more connected, better
informed, and more empowered as citizens. Of an
internet that is FOR US and not AGAINST
US.<BR><BR>We’ve been on the forefront of this
fight alongside an incredible set of
organisations, researchers, whistleblowers and,
yes, politicians. But changing how these huge
corporations operate will not happen overnight.
Our movement will celebrate this massive win,
and then keep fighting for the internet that the
world needs, and our people deserve.<BR><BR>With
deep gratitude for being part of this historic
effort to shape a better future for all of
us,<BR><BR>Luca, Sarah A, Nadia, Rosie, Joana,
Luana, Rebecca, Fadi, Christoph, Antonia, Nate,
Barbara, Mat, Banafshe, Giulia, Isabella, Manou,
Gizem, Adela, Ine, Mo, Ana, Fra, Marco, Ruth,
Christine, Nick, Vanessa, Kaitlin, Andy L, Lily,
Luis, Arber, Steve, Sam, Camille, Chase,
Martyna, Alice, Samir, Pascal, Ahmed, Fey, Mike,
Mario, John, Sarah M, Leon, Aloys, Chris M,
Daniel, Julie, Luciana, Mario, Muriel, Will,
Raul, Jameelah, Patricia, Andrew S, Nell,
Bert....and the entire Avaaz team<BR><BR><EM>PS:
If you want to know more about the Digital
Services Act and the impact it will have on our
societies </EM><A style="COLOR: #ff0099"
href="https://secure.avaaz.org/campaign/en/the_digital_services_act_avaaz_explainer_may_2022/"
rel="noopener noreferrer"
target=_blank><EM>check out our analysis
here.</EM></A>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">
<DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A
title=avaaz@avaaz.org href="mailto:avaaz@avaaz.org">Luca Nicotra – Avaaz</A>
</DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, July 07, 2022 8:06 AM</DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> Done deal!</DIV></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV></BODY></HTML>