TechNews

Larian Studios have introduced the next big update for their big early access D&D RPG Baldur’s Gate 3. This one calls up the Druid class and their eight animals forms for you to play around with along with other game changes and improvements. Larian have just shown off lots of details about Druids in their second Panel From Hell event.

Update: Larian CEO Swen Vincke declared pretty emphatically at the start of the livestream that Patch 4 is “releasing today” though I’ve since gotten word from Larian that “he goofed.” Patch 4 is actually arriving “soon, when it’s ready.”

[Read more…] about Baldur’s Gate 3’s Patch 4 will add the Druid class

When Michael Marom steers his Telstra-branded company car past the site of a planned 5G tower on the streets of Mullumbimby, it draws a now predictable response.

Someone is watching, always, and news of his presence quickly ripples through the faithful.

“They call themselves the protectors of the tower,” Marom says.

“They have someone there all the time, so what happens is that as soon as you drive past in a Telstra vehicle, within about 15 minutes there’ll be four or five other cars there.”

Among the protectors will most likely be those who, despite all evidence to the contrary, believe 5G’s electromagnetic energy is harming babies, or interfering with bee populations, insects and birds, which are suddenly falling out of the sky.

The more extreme might believe 5G is spreading Covid-19, or that face masks have been equipped with 5G antennas.

There’s no aggression. No abuse.

But a lesson lies in the sheer speed of the response.

These are the diehards. They are well connected and organised. Fervent in their belief of the evils of 5G and ready to act on it with little notice.

Marom has come to learn that these minds aren’t for changing. The battle lies elsewhere.

“The job that we see in front of us is to make sure that people who do want information, and are rational about receiving that information, that they’re communicated to effectively,” he says.

Marom has amassed a surprising level of expertise in countering misinformation. His view is shared by every expert who spoke with the Guardian about strategies to counter conspiratorial thinking and disinformation.

It was never in the job description, he jokes.

But he, and Telstra more broadly, have found themselves devoting significant time and energy to tackling misinformation and conspiracy head-on.

Last year, Telstra deployed a specific communications campaign through advertisements and social media content, blending a mixture of levity and fact, using comedian Mark Humphries as its spokesperson.

The aim, much like Marom’s, was to target the fence-sitters, those who are unsure about the facts, not those who are hardened in their conspiratorial thinking.

The fact that Telstra needed to mount such a campaign, though, raises a question.

In an age of eroding trust, entrenched institutional scepticism and uninhibited social media amplification of untruths, should we be leaving this fight to workers like Marom and companies like Telstra?

Or does the federal government need to step into the ring? And how does it do so effectively?

When should government get involved?

In early 2020, as Covid-19 took hold, the world was ripe for conspiracy. Anti-5G theories began to flourish.

In the UK, groups convinced of a link between 5G and the spread of the virus set fire to dozens of telecommunications towers in April. The mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson, also received threats over the theory, and cabinet secretary Michael Gove described it as “dangerous nonsense”.

In early May, rallies took place on streets of most major Australian cities, including in Melbourne, where protesters sought to link the Cedar Meats Covid-19 outbreak to a nearby telephone tower.

Prof Axel Bruns, an expert with the Queensland University of Technology’s digital research media centre, says the Australian government’s response was flawed.

It put out a five-paragraph statement in mid-May, disputing the link between Covid-19 and 5G, accompanied by a YouTube explainer on electromagnetic energy. That video has so far failed to attract even 2,500 views.

Similar media releases were issued by the communications minister, Paul Fletcher, and then-chief medical officer Brendan Murphy.

The response came an entire month after the UK arson attacks and a week after Australia’s nationwide protests. It was far too late to stop the conspiracy taking hold, Bruns says.

“Of course I’m saying this with the benefit of hindsight, and there will have been at least some ad hoc statements in press conferences and from tech companies before the official releases, but these late responses enabled the conspiracy theory to circulate for weeks without definitive official comment.”

United States Studies Centre research associate Elliott Brennan, who is studying government responses to conspiratorial thinking, says Australia is not alone in misjudging its response.

Governments, he says, must transition from viewing the issue as trivial, or a silly import from the US, to “a fundamental threat to the social fabric of the country”.

“There doesn’t appear to be a government in the world that has not underestimated the threat these conspiracy theories pose,” Brennan says. “Unfortunately, this attitude has allowed their reach to creep into elections and within the institutional halls of government. That has been very clear in the United States and Australia.”

So when is the right time for government to act?

Wading in too early risks attracting unwanted attention to a conspiracy and, perversely, giving it a legitimacy it might not otherwise enjoy.

Responding too late can allow the fence-sitters, the ordinary citizens, to be exposed to misinformation and dragged into the conspiracy quagmire.

“So the challenge – and it’s a significant one – is to hit that spot where you can deter the wider spread of conspiracist claims by making it clear to ordinary people that there’s no merit to the claims, and that spreading them would cause harm to others,” Bruns says.

“There may be a need here to invest in more media monitoring – social and mainstream – in order to detect emerging misinformation and formulate responses early so they’re ready to be rolled out when the time comes.”

It’s not the only challenge.

Who can be won over and how?

Governments, it can be safely assumed, are bereft of trust among those perpetuating conspiracies.

Experts broadly agree that it is near pointless trying to convince the diehards.

Bruns says the aim instead must be to protect ordinary citizens from exposure and stop them sharing misinformation.

Others say the government’s target should be trusted figures who have a relationship with those engaging in conspiratorial thought: friends and family, or doctors, for example.

“This is where government-funded advertising and education campaigns, despite the inherent scepticism of conspiracy theorists themselves, could be most valuable,” Brennan says. “Armed with the right information, those who share strong social bonds with an affected individual are the most likely to get through to them.”

Even then, such an approach is reactive only.

It does nothing to get to the root cause of the problem: the societal conditions that allow conspiracy to fester.

University of Technology Sydney lecturer Francesco Bailo, an expert on the use of digital and social media in politics, is working with colleagues Amelia Johns and Marian-Andrei Rizoiu on strategies to protect online communities from disinformation.

Bailo says conspiratorial thinking is fundamentally a trust problem. But distrust is complex and varying.

The cause of distrust differs greatly from person to person, a result of their individual experiences and belief systems, and may be outwardly directed at different institutions or individuals.

“In line with what [has been] found elsewhere, we are beginning to notice that even if online communities do emerge around a shared sense of distrust … alternative narratives can still attract different people, that is, people who possibly have different justification for their lack of trust,” he says.

The point of this, Bailo says, is that any government intervention must be designed to address the specific trust issues of the target audience.

In the US, Black Americans may oppose vaccination for a range of complex reasons, including personal experiences with public authorities and a history of institutional racism.

“And yet this can clearly not explain why wealthy, white Californian parents might have developed very strong opinions against the same vaccine,” Bailo says.

Bailo sees value in government intervention, saying it can find “a receptive audience in the people located on the most moderate side of that spectrum”.

“And there is also a very significant value in framing the message based on the specifics of the target audience,” he says. “So, what does motivate their lack of trust? And who – what kind of public personality – can help strengthen their trust or reduce their distrust?”

There are other roles for government, too.

Regulation of social media companies – which have effectively incentivised conspiracies – is a clear and obvious policy lever, Brennan says.

A broader prevention campaign, promoting e-safety education for adults, rather than just through primary and secondary education, would also be beneficial.

Striking the right tone

The fight, as Bruns sees it, is asymmetrical. The two sides are fighting on different battlegrounds.

Government, serious media, and experts are speaking to one specific audience.

Influencers, gullible celebrities, conspiracy theorists, populist politicians, and the tabloid and entertainment media that report on them, are speaking to another.

Bruns believes government needs to insert itself directly into the spaces where the conspiracist claims are circulating unchecked among mainstream audiences.

“This doesn’t mean getting into hardcore conspiracist groups – they’re too far gone to be reached by factchecks and similar content – but it’s critically important to ensure that tabloid, celebrity, entertainment, sports, and related media cover the correct information as much as they cover celebrities and influencers spouting mis- and disinformation, because that’s where ordinary, non-conspiracist people are most likely to encounter these conspiracy theories,” he says.

That might mean, for example, government enlisting celebrities or influencers to create humorous and shareable content such as memes.

There might be a tendency by governments to view such an approach as beneath them. But Bruns says that just “cedes the field to the other side”.

Telstra’s campaign is illustrative here. It attempted precisely the kind of approach Bruns speaks of, using short clips featuring a respected celebrity, which blended humour and direct, factual messaging that addressed common myths about 5G.

The content was easily shareable and is understood to have reached millions.

On the ground, Marom says his approach is never to ignore or laugh off concerns about 5G. Instead, he attempts to build community support and understanding – simply by talking with those who are willing to listen.

“Everybody’s entitled to an opinion, but what we do want to do is rationally and calmly say ‘these are the facts’.”

From anti-vaxxers to 5G conspiracists, the Web of lies series explores the growth and spread of misinformation and conspiracy thinking in Australia.

The last time two women did this list, they split it into two halves and said while they are both girls, they are not the same. Well, Naomi Higgins and Humyara Mahbub are both girls and we’re exactly the same. We refuse to be separated from the comforting monolith of girlhood. If you like these videos, you’re a girl too. Welcome. Mark Samual Bonanno, pictured above, is a boy and has been silenced for this article.

The three of us recently created and wrote a sitcom called Why Are You Like This and the whole thing is up on ABC iView right now (and coming to Netflix for the rest of the world soon).

1. Twilight thoughts

This is our favourite TikTok account. We almost got into a fist fight trying to decide which of her videos we were going to choose. Luckily we are separated by state border restrictions at the moment. Nosebleed Fitz really speaks to us by way of being somehow chaotic, aggressive and nonchalant all at once. She also has a lot of great videos of her dancing to Church Bells by Carrie Underwood that are Actual Art. She’s just really funny!!!!

2. Tyler, the Creator’s tweet about cyberbullying

It’s rare that a tweet is so correct and incorrect at the same time. Tyler, the Creator is somehow right … but also, completely missing the point here.

Hahahahahahahaha How The Fuck Is Cyber Bullying Real Hahahaha Nigga Just Walk Away From The Screen Like Nigga Close Your Eyes Haha

— Tyler, The Creator (@tylerthecreator) December 31, 2012

3. I wore a pair of pants yesterday

Naomi is a regular panellist on a show called Gamey Gamey Game, which is where comedians go to talk about games … but more often than not, the game in question gets discussed for about two minutes. In this clip, comedian and writer Kate Dehnert tells a story about a pair of pants she wore yesterday. It is impossible to get across how funny it is without just watching the clip. She is so, so funny and we love her so much.

4. This commemorative pictures of us

Our friend Tom Walker commissioned artist Goblin Snacks to do these drawings of us to celebrate the show coming out. This is funny in the way when you are silent for a time and then you scream, which is a kind of laughing.

So excited for my friends ahead of the premiere of Why Are You Like This?, so proud of them I could just eat them up – in fact, it looks like I have! Congratulations to @nomstrositi, Hum, Mark and the whole team 🤗🤗 pic.twitter.com/x3lTgw5gl0

— TOM (@tomwalkerisgood) February 16, 2021

5. My agonies

This tweet is relevant to us due to our agonies.

DOCTOR: It says here you took 3 years off to “soak in tub” ?
ME: (pleasantly) Yes, due to my agonies.

— Brooks Otterlake (@i_zzzzzz) March 28, 2019

6. Mark explaining a board game

We are lucky to be tangentially associated with the only non-problematic group of straight white men in comedy. This video from Aunty Donna features Mark Samual Bonanno, who is the third co-creator and writer of our show. The thing about this video is that it is a documentary and not exaggerated in any way. Mark is like this.

7. ‘Where does terrorism begin?’

Here we have some girls turning a trope on its head to the point of being offensive. This is incredibly in keeping with the TV show we wrote, and also all of the things we were gently told would probably make a lot of people angry if we kept them in the script. We changed … some of them.

8. ‘I went to the Coinstar and it wasn’t working’

Again, we could not decide which Gabriel Gundacker video to post, but Naomi got to choose the twilight one so Hum wins here.

It’s amazing how many ways Gabriel can say he went to the Coinstar and it wasn’t working. He tweaks it until it feels like a cohesive bit which is a great case study for comedy being meaningless and stupid. It is from here that we would like to put a case forward for standup comedians to not have any rights.

9. ‘Put a finger down’ brown hair edition

One brilliant thing about the internet is how art iterates on itself until it is inscrutable to an outside observer. There is a TikTok format called “put a finger down”, kind of like never-have-I-ever, where you put a finger down if you relate to what they’re saying. Fast-forward until you have this, a grotesque distortion of a video about ~relatable brunette things~.

10. This tweet about Why Are You Like This

Should I render myself insensate by permanently damaging my eyes and ears using sharp objects and dangerous chemicals or merely take my own life so I can spare myself the agony of encountering even a single frame of this show? https://t.co/pJGkQqCL55

— Master negotiator (@chorkpopp) January 19, 2021

We found this tweet about our show and it made us laugh a lot. If you too are feeling this way, our advice is this: Hahahahahahahaha How The Fuck Is Hating Our Show Real Hahahaha Just Walk Away From The Screen Like Close Your Eyes Haha.

• Follow Humyara Mahbub and Naomi Higgins on Instagram and watch Why Are You Like This on ABC iView (and soon on Netflix)

The US justice department has accused three North Korean military intelligence officialsof a campaign of cyber-attacks to steal $1.3bn in crypto and traditional currencies from banks and other victims.

“North Korea’s operatives, using keyboards rather than guns, stealing digital wallets of cryptocurrency instead of sacks of cash, are the world’s leading bank robbers,” said the assistant attorney general John Demers in a statement.

The three created malicious cryptocurrency applications, opening backdoors into victims’ computers; hacked into companies marketing and trading digital currencies like bitcoin; and developed a blockchain platform to evade sanctions and secretly raise funds, the department said.

The case filed in federal court in Los Angeles builds on 2018 charges against one of the three, Park Jin Hyok, who was charged at that time with the hack of Sony pictures four years earlier, the creation of the WannaCry ransomware, and the 2016 theft of $81m from the central bank of Bangladesh.

The new charges add two more defendants, Jon Chang Hyok and Kim Il, with the allegations saying the three worked together in the North Korean military intelligence hacking group, the Reconnaissance General Bureau.

Among the cybersecurity community, that body is also known as the Lazarus Group and APT 38.

In addition to the earlier charges, the three engaged in operations out of North Korea, Russia and China to attempt to steal $1.3bn by hacking computers using spearfishing techniques and promoting cryptocurrency applications loaded with malicious software that allowed them to access and empty victims’ crypto wallets, the charges said.

They also allegedly hacked into and robbed digital currency exchanges in Slovenia and Indonesia and extorted a New York exchange of $11.8m.

Facebook has followed through on its threat to ban Australians from seeing or posting news content on its site in response to the federal government’s news media code.

The tech giant’s Australian and New Zealand managing director, Will Easton, said this it would block links to Australian publishers from being posted, while all Australian users would not be able to share or see content from any news outlets, both Australian and internation.

“The proposed law fundamentally misunderstands the relationship between our platform and publishers who use it to share news content,” he said in a blog post published on Thursday morning. “It has left us facing a stark choice: attempt to comply with a law that ignores the realities of this relationship, or stop allowing news content on our services in Australia.

“With a heavy heart, we are choosing the latter.”

News sites, including Guardian Australia, show no posts on their Facebook page as of Thursday morning.

Users on Thursday reported seeing a pop-up error window when they attempted to post links to news, stating these cannot be posted in response to the news media code.

Easton said publishers stood to gain more from sharing content on Facebook than Facebook does, with news content accounting for less than 4% of all content shared, and the company was willing to support news, but only with “the right rules in place”.

“We hope that in the future the Australian government will recognise the value we already provide and work with us to strengthen, rather than limit, our partnerships with publishers,” he said.

Fact-checking and Covid-19 information will remain in place to combat misinformation on the platform, but the ban will mean people will not be able to post links from news sites in response to seeing misinformation on the platform.

Australia’s communications minister, Paul Fletcher, said the move raised questions about the credibility of information now available on Facebook.

“The decision they’re taking … is [to] remove all authoritative incredible news sources from the platform,” he told 2GB radio.

“And now that is a decision that they’ve announced today. Obviously the Australian government will consider that very carefully but it certainly raises issues about the credibility of information on the platform.”

Facebook’s move is in contrast to the approach from the other major platform subject to the code, Google.

Although Google had threatened to withdraw its search engine from Australia if the code went ahead, in the past week, Google has signed agreements with some of Australia’s biggest publishers, including News Corp, Nine Entertainment and Seven West Media, for payment for its News Showcase product. The Nine deal is reportedly worth $30m a year.

Guardian Australia is also in negotiations with Google over Showcase.