Explore the fascinating world of online fact-checking as Meta shifts its approach on social media. Discover efforts to preserve our digital heritage deep beneath the Arctic, ensuring future generations have access to cultural artifacts. Delve into LinkedIn's battle against fake profiles with innovative verification tools. Plus, learn how digital mapping is evolving from simple navigation to a tool for autonomous technologies, transforming our understanding of geography. This tech-filled discussion unveils the complexities and innovations shaping our digital landscape.
Meta's transition to a community notes system for fact-checking on social media aims to involve users but risks misinformation due to varying participant qualifications.
The Arctic World Archive in Svalbard seeks to preserve vital cultural and technological information for future generations against growing data threats.
Deep dives
Meta's Shift Towards Community Notes
Meta's recent decision to eliminate professional fact-checkers on Facebook and Instagram in the U.S. has sparked significant discussion about misinformation on social media. The company plans to replace this model with a community notes system, where users can flag content and provide explanations for their assessments. While this approach leverages user engagement and allows for collective monitoring of misinformation, it raises concerns about the qualifications of those participating in the process. Research indicates that while some community members can effectively identify falsehoods, there’s a risk of correct information being flagged as incorrect, leading to further confusion among users.
Digital Preservation in the Arctic
Efforts to preserve valuable digital information for future generations have led to the establishment of the Arctic World Archive in Svalbard, Norway. This secure vault, housed in a former coal mine, aims to safeguard a wide array of cultural heritage, history, and technology amid growing threats to data from various sources. Some notable items in the archive include manuscripts from religious libraries and surveys of historical landmarks, all intended to provide a snapshot of current civilization. The archive's unique location, combined with advanced preservation techniques, is designed to ensure that crucial information remains intact despite future technological obsolescence.
TomTom's Strategic Transformation
With the rise of smartphone navigation, TomTom has shifted from consumer-facing satellite navigation devices to supplying mapping services for other companies. The need for maps to be constantly updated in real time has become crucial, particularly for safety-critical information like road conditions. TomTom is leveraging partnerships with tech companies and the open community to enhance the detail and richness of their maps while focusing resources on areas that will yield the most benefit, such as 3D mapping for autonomous vehicles. They are also utilizing AI and machine learning to improve mapping accuracy and incorporate data from smart vehicles, ensuring that their services remain competitive in a rapidly evolving tech landscape.
In this edition we discuss ways of checking facts on social media. This is after Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg announced Facebook and Instagram will change the way facts are checked.
Also in Tech Life, data is being saved for the future, deep underground in the Arctic Circle. Our reporter Adrienne Murray visits the Arctic World Archive in Svalbard. LinkedIn tell us how they are verifying their users are real. And find out why online mapping has become more than getting from A to B.
We’re always keen to hear from you. You can email us: techlife@bbc.co.uk, or send us a text message or voice note on Whatsapp at +44 330 1230 320.
Presenter: Imran Rahman-Jones
Producer: Tom Quinn
Editor: Monica Soriano
(Image: A photo image of Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg. Credit: Getty Images)
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