New MENA influencer platform to link creators, brands
Takefluence targeting up to 3m users within 2 years
Brands can discover influencers to host ad campaigns using ‘dynamic ecosystem’
Updated 31 January 2024
Arab News
LONDON: German tech firm Mitgo Group on Wednesday launched Takefluence, a platform that connects brand owners and content creators in the Middle East and North Africa.
Mitgo is aiming for the platform to host 1 to 3 million users within two years.
Takefluence CEO Archie Rudyuk said that the unique blend of creators and brands in MENA creates an exciting opportunity for the platform.
“We already witnessed a surge of interest in Takefluence from creators and local brands. They sign up for an annual partnership, launch their ambassador programs with us, and start getting first results,” Rudyuk said.
The platform aims to create a “dynamic ecosystem” where content creators can connect with brands and earn from ad campaigns that promote shopping discounts.
Takefluence will offer content creators a streamlined process including the distribution of promotional codes, engagement in brand campaigns and access to fast withdrawal methods.
Mitgo said the platform has has already formed partnerships with more than 150 brands, including Noon, Namshi, YallaHub, Truegamers, Lifemost, ToysBrand, Geardoor and GetOutfit.
The company will offer its services to offline and online brands, malls, event planners, online marketplaces, sellers and emerging artists.
The launch follows Dubai’s allocation of $41 million to support content creators and influencers. The MENA influencer marketing sector is estimated to be worth more than $1 billion.
Industry reports forecast a steady uptick in influencer ad spending, with an annual growth rate of 10 percent expected from 2023 to 2027.
Takefluence aims to capitalize on the growth by focusing on the micro and nano influencer market, which can produce greater engagement than mega influencer campaigns, according to research.
Fake celebrity endorsements, snubs plague US presidential race
A database from the nonprofit News Literacy Project has so far listed 70 social media posts peddling fake “VIP” endorsements and snubs
Elon Musk-owned X has emerged as a hotbed of political disinformation after the platform reinstated accounts of known purveyors of falsehoods, researchers say
Updated 20 September 2024
AFP
WASHINGTON: Taylor Swift did not endorse Donald Trump. Nor did Lady Gaga or Morgan Freeman. And Bruce Springsteen was not photographed in a “Keep America Trumpless” shirt. Fake celebrity endorsements and snubs are roiling the US presidential race.
Dozens of bogus testimonies from American actors, singers and athletes about Republican nominee Trump and his Democratic rival Kamala Harris have proliferated on social media ahead of the November election, researchers say, many of them enabled by artificial intelligence image generators.
The fake endorsements and brushoffs, which come as platforms such as the Elon Musk-owned X knock down many of the guardrails against misinformation, have prompted concern over their potential to manipulate voters as the race to the White House heats up.
Last month, Trump shared doctored images showing Swift threw her support behind his campaign, apparently seeking to tap into the pop singer’s mega star power to sway voters.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump posted on social media this AI-generated image claiming to show his Democratic rival Kamala Harris addressing a gathering of communists in Chicago. Trump accuses Harris of being a communist. (X: @realDonaldTrump)
The photos — including some that Hany Farid, a digital forensics expert at the University of California, Berkeley, said bore the hallmarks of AI-generated images — suggested the pop star and her fans, popularly known as Swifties, backed Trump’s campaign.
What made Trump’s mash-up on Truth Social “particularly devious” was its combination of real and fake imagery, Farid told AFP.
Last week, Swift endorsed Harris and her running mate Tim Walz, calling the current vice president a “steady-handed, gifted leader.”
The singer, who has hundreds of millions of followers on platforms including Instagram and TikTok, said those manipulated images of her motivated her to speak up as they “conjured up my fears around AI, and the dangers of spreading misinformation.”
Following her announcement, Trump fired a missive on Truth Social saying: “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!“
A combination image posted by Trump haters on social media shows a doctored picture of Bruce Springsteen campaigning against Donald Trump (right frame). The image was apparently a tampered version of a real picture shared on social media (left). (Social media photos)
A database from the News Literacy Project (NLP), a nonprofit which recently launched a misinformation dashboard to raise awareness about election falsehoods, has so far listed 70 social media posts peddling fake “VIP” endorsements and snubs.
“In these polarizing times, fake celebrity endorsements can grab voters’ attention, influence their outlooks, confirm personal biases, and sow confusion and chaos,” Peter Adams, senior vice president for research at NLP, told AFP.
NLP’s list, which appears to be growing by the day, includes viral posts that have garnered millions of views.
NO: These images portraying Democratic nominee Kamala Harris as a member of the Communist Party are not genuine. They are examples of AI-generated, doctored & fabricated content. pic.twitter.com/28ub82GkH6
Among them are posts sharing a manipulated picture of Lady Gaga with a “Trump 2024” sign, implying that she endorsed the former president, AFP’s fact-checkers reported.
Other posts falsely asserted that the Oscar-winning Morgan Freeman, who has been critical of the Republican, said that a second Trump presidency would be “good for the country,” according to US fact-checkers.
Digitally altered photos of Springsteen wearing a “Keep America Trumpless” shirt and actor Ryan Reynolds sporting a “Kamala removes nasty orange stains” shirt also swirled on social media sites.
“The platforms have enabled it,” Adams said.
“As they pull back from moderation and hesitate to take down election related misinformation, they have become a major avenue for trolls, opportunists and propagandists to reach a mass audience.”
In particular, X has emerged as a hotbed of political disinformation after the platform scaled back content moderation policies and reinstated accounts of known purveyors of falsehoods, researchers say.
Musk, who has endorsed Trump and has over 198 million followers on X, has been repeatedly accused of spreading election falsehoods.
American officials responsible for overseeing elections have also urged Musk to fix X’s AI chatbot known as Grok — which allows users to generate AI-generated images from text prompts — after it shared misinformation.
Grok, the AI chatbot of X (formerly known as Twitter), allows users to generate AI-generated images from text prompts.
Lucas Hansen, co-founder of the nonprofit CivAI, demonstrated to AFP the ease with which Grok can generate a fake photo of Swift fans supporting Trump using a simple prompt: “Image of an outside rally of woman wearing ‘Swifties for Trump’ T-shirts.”
“If you want a relatively mundane situation where the people in the image are either famous or fictitious, Grok is definitely a big enabler” of visual disinformation, Hansen told AFP.
“I do expect it to be a large source of fake celebrity endorsement images,” he added.
As the technology develops, it’s going to become “harder and harder to identify the fakes,” said Jess Terry, Intelligence Analyst at Blackbird.AI.
“There’s certainly the risk that older generations or other communities less familiar with developing AI-based technology might believe what they see,” Terry told AFP.
MCN Academy fosters talent development in Saudi through program for graduates
The 6-month program includes various disciplines
Updated 20 September 2024
Zaira Lakhpatwala
DUBAI: Regional advertising group Middle East Communications Network’s talent hub MCN Academy has launched a new graduate program in Saudi Arabia to attract and train young local talent.
The six-month program includes various disciplines such as advertising, media, PR, strategy, data, and social and digital media.
It will combine learning with hands-on experiences and behavioral guidance, including critical thinking and problem-solving. Students will be trained across the network’s agencies in Saudi Arabia, which include FP7 McCann, UM, MRM, and Weber Shandwick.
The first five months of the program focus on technical and behavioral skills training across disciplines and agencies, while the sixth month sees students work on a project that could result in an employment offer.
An MCN spokesperson told Arab News: “Based on the quality, engagement and project output, the objective is to offer talents an employment contract.”
The first edition of the program launched in the summer and the second is due to launch in February 2025.
The spokesperson added: “The courses run continuously every six months so a new cohort of graduates will begin in February, and so on.”
Shoaa Salman Alawni, who is part of the program, said that it marked “an important step” in her professional journey by allowing her to explore different fields within media and advertising before deciding on one.
After graduating from the College of Media and Communication at Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University, MCN Academy’s program had allowed her to “find professional support that enhanced my skills and gave me confidence in my choices,” she added.
Yazan Farrash, a marketing graduate from Prince Sultan University, said that she chose to enroll as part of her co-op program, which required students to work at a company as part of the course.
She told Arab News: “I have been exposed to the many fields and functions of MCN’s agencies and, more importantly, I was given the opportunity to grow in each of these environments.”
The program is open to all Saudi graduates, who can apply through their universities, job fairs, or by emailing [email protected].
X update allows app to bypass Brazil ban: Internet providers
A Brazil Supreme Court judge last month ordered X's shutdown in a bitter legal standoff with Elon Musk
The shutdown has infuriated Musk and has fueled a fierce debate on freedom of expression
Updated 19 September 2024
AFP
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil: Elon Musk’s X social network carried out an automatic update on phone applications that allowed it to bypass a ban in Brazil, an association of Internet providers said Wednesday.
Some Brazilian users were surprised to have access again to the platform, formerly Twitter, from their phones Wednesday after a Supreme Court judge last month ordered its shutdown in a bitter legal standoff with Musk.
The Brazilian Association of Internet and Telecommunications Providers (ABRINT) explained that the return of X was due to an update of the app to Cloudflare software that uses constantly changing IP addresses.
The previous system used specific IPs, which act like a home address for servers or computers and could be more easily blocked.
The changes “make blocking the app much more complicated,” said ABRINT.
Many of the dynamic IPs “are shared with other legitimate services, such as banks and large Internet platforms, making it impossible to block an IP without affecting other services,” the group said.
“Internet providers are in a delicate position,” and awaiting technical analysis and instructions from Brazil’s telecommunications agency, said ABRINT.
Brazil’s shutdown of X infuriated Musk and has fueled a fierce debate on freedom of expression and the limits of social networks, both inside and outside the country.
The social media platform has more than 22 million users in Brazil.
The hashtag “Twitter is back” was one of the most used in the country on Wednesday.
Judge Alexandre de Moraes last month ordered X to be banned after Musk refused to remove dozens of right-wing accounts accused of spreading fake news, and then failed to name a new legal representative in the country as ordered.
He also ruled that those using “technological subterfuges” such as virtual private networks (VPNs) to access the blocked site could be fined up to $9,000.
Moraes has repeatedly clashed with the South African-born billionaire after making it his mission to crack down on disinformation.
Last week he ordered the transfer of some $3 million from Musk’s companies to pay fines incurred by X.
Moraes also froze the assets of X and Musk’s satellite Internet operator Starlink, which has been operating in Brazil since 2022 — especially in remote communities in the Amazon — to ensure payment of fines imposed on the social network for flouting court orders.
Musk reacted angrily to the suspension, calling Moraes a “dictator” and repeatedly targeting the judge in posts to his 198 million followers on X.
In the early hours of Wednesday, Musk took to X to write: “Any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology” — a message interpreted by national media as a direct challenge to Moraes’s ban.
Brazil’s leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva had hailed the ban but his far-right predecessor Jair Bolsonaro was staunchly against it and welcomed the technical tweak which brought X back online.
“I congratulate all those who have pushed to defend democracy in Brazil,” he wrote on the platform.
Dubai crown prince, CNN CEO discuss 2 decades of partnership
Sheikh Hamdan says ‘strong collaboration’ key to mutual growth
CNN established its regional headquarters in Dubai back in 2004
Updated 18 September 2024
Arab News
LONDON: Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, crown prince of Dubai and deputy prime minister and minister of defense of the UAE, met with CNN International CEO Mark Thompson on Monday to reaffirm their 20-year partnership and commitment to the growth of the media sector.
“Dubai has set an example for the world in turning opportunities into achievements,” Sheikh Hamdan reportedly said, emphasizing the city’s focus on innovation and sustainable development.
“We are confident that we will continue to make significant strides in diverse sectors including media, ensuring that Dubai remains a frontrunner in innovation and sustainable development.”
The crown prince highlighted the city’s longstanding relationship with CNN, which in 2004 established its regional headquarters in Dubai.
“As part of this strategy, we recognize the vital role of the media sector in sustainable growth and its immense potential to drive future progress,” Sheikh Hamdan added, underlining Dubai's commitment to fostering a supportive environment for media companies.
During the meeting, Sheikh Hamdan reiterated the city’s efforts to enhance its infrastructure and create conditions that enable media organizations to thrive.
World’s oldest Sunday newspaper, The Observer, for sale: UK owner
“The Guardian’s parent company has announced that it is in formal negotiations with Tortoise Media over the potential sale of The Observer, the world’s oldest Sunday newspaper,” a statement said Tuesday
Updated 18 September 2024
AFP
LONDON: The world’s oldest Sunday newspaper, The Observer, could be sold to an online startup media group, its owner of more than 30 years announced Tuesday.
The Guardian Media Group said in a statement that it is in talks to offload the weekly publication for an undisclosed amount to Tortoise Media, launched in 2019.
GMG added that a sale would see The Guardian, its flagship title, remain a 24/7 online offering but with greater global reach and funding by its readers.
“The Guardian’s parent company has announced that it is in formal negotiations with Tortoise Media over the potential sale of The Observer, the world’s oldest Sunday newspaper,” a statement said Tuesday.
GMG said the offer “was significant enough to look at in more detail.”
GMG chief executive Anna Bateson said a sale “provides a chance to build The Observer’s future position with a significant investment and allow The Guardian to focus on its growth strategy to be more global, more digital and more reader-funded.”
Founded in 1791, The Observer was bought by GMG in 1993.
“Since then it has coexisted with the Guardian, which will remain a seven-day-a-week digital operation regardless of the outcome of the negotiations,” the parent group added Tuesday.
