Czech Republic to fight 'fake news' with specialist unit
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/dec/28/czech-republic-to-fight-fake-news-with-specialist-unit
Summary: The Czech government is to set up a specialist “anti-fake news” unit as officials attempt to tackle falsehoods, predominantly about migrants, which they claim are spread by websites supported by the government of Russian president Vladimir Putin. The new unit will aim to counteract interferences in the Czech government forthcoming general election, to be held in October, amid polling evidence that online disinformation is influencing public opinion and threatening to destabilise the country’s democratic system, established after the fall of communism in 1989. The Czech fears echo those voiced by Germany’s domestic intelligence chief that Russia-linked “fake news” sites could interfere with its election. The specialists will scrutinise disinformation and attempt to counter it, via a dedicated Twitter account and a new section of the interior ministry website devoted to communicating the government viewpoint. The centre will also train civil servants to avoid blackmail and resist foreign lobbying. Claims have also been made of Russian cyber activity aimed at influencing last month’s US presidential election in favour of Donald Trump. “Ensuring free and fair elections is a basic aim,” said a senior official in the unit, speaking on condition of anonymity.
[] Kremlin is behind about 40 Czech-language websites presenting radical views, conspiracy theories and inaccurate reports
Everybody now are noticing the impact of fake news and seeing how big of issues it is creating. Countries are noticing that since Facebook aren't taking a big action on it, the countries want to protect themselves and are coming up with solutions to this problem, as there are elections coming up and no country wants to become like America. The "anti-fake news" can be successful but it would be tricky to see the websites that are supported by the government of Russian's president as they may not want to tackle the problem or take the website down.
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