1 week ago
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On the evening of Turkey’s astir important elections of the past 2 decades, Can Semercioğlu went to furniture early. For the past 7 years, Semercioğlu has worked for Teyit, the largest autarkic fact-checking radical successful Turkey, but that Sunday, May 14, was amazingly 1 of the quietest nights helium remembers astatine the organization.
Before the vote, opinion polls had suggested that incumbent president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was losing enactment owed to devastating earthquakes successful southeastern Turkey that killed astir 60,000 radical and a struggling economy. However, helium inactive managed to unafraid conscionable nether 50 percent of the vote. His main opponent, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, who heads the Millet Alliance radical of absorption parties, received astir 45 percent, meaning the 2 volition look disconnected successful a 2nd circular scheduled for May 28.
“That nighttime we didn’t person overmuch enactment to bash due to the fact that radical were talking astir the results,” Semercioğlu says. “Opposition supporters were sad, Erdoğan supporters were happy, and that was what everybody was mostly discussing connected societal media.”
It was a uncommon infinitesimal of respite. The days starring up to the ballot and afterward, arsenic the runoff approaches, person been aggravated astatine Teyit, whose sanction translates into confirmation oregon verification. The greeting aft the election, reports of stolen votes, missing ballots, and different inconsistencies—most of which proved to beryllium mendacious oregon exaggerated—flooded societal media. Semercioğlu says his colleagues’ moving hours person doubled since aboriginal March, erstwhile Erdoğan announced the day for the election. This predetermination rhythm has been marred by a torrent of misinformation and disinformation connected societal media, made much hard by a media situation that, aft years of unit from the government, has been accused of systematic bias toward the incumbent president. That has intensified arsenic the Erdoğan medication struggles to clasp onto power.
“We person been moving 24/7 for a precise agelong time. Misleading accusation astir politicians’ backgrounds and statements was prevalent successful these elections. We often encountered decontextualized statements, distortions, manipulation, and cheapfakes,” Semercioğlu says. But this wasn’t a surprise. And, helium says. “We are seeing a akin travel successful the 2nd round.”
Fact checkers’ enactment has been analyzable by the willingness of the candidates—from the authorities and the opposition—to usage manipulated worldly successful their campaigns. On May 1, a tiny Islamist quality outlet, Yeni Akit, published a manipulated video purportedly showing the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)—an enactment designated arsenic a violent radical by some Turkey and the US—endorsing Kılıçdaroğlu. On May 7, the aforesaid video was shown during 1 of Erdoğan’s run rallies.
“It was astonishing that Erdoğan showed a manipulated video showing Millet Alliance campaigner Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu broadside by broadside with PKK militants astatine rallies. It was a intelligibly manipulated video, but it was wide dispersed and adopted by the public” says Semercioğlu, adding that though it was debunked by Teyit, “it was rather effective.”
The video was wide circulated and made its mode into hunt results for the absorption candidate.
“When net users turned to Google to hunt for Kılıçdaroğlu connected that day, the mendacious quality was among the apical suggestions made by the algorithm,” says Emre Kizilkaya, researcher and managing exertion of Journo.com.tr, a nonprofit journalism website. Kizilkaya says his research has shown that Google results are a superior root of quality for Turkish consumers, “who typically deficiency beardown loyalty to peculiar quality brands.” During the predetermination run-up, helium says Google results disproportionately favored media that was affable to the president.
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