Author: WITNESS

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22 Oct Polly Fields joins WITNESS as Interim Executive Director

News and Events | WITNESS

Polly Fields joins WITNESS in the role of Interim Executive Director following  Sam Gregory’s decision to step down. She will lead the organization while the Board conducts its search for a permanent Executive Director.  Polly has deep knowledge of WITNESS having served on its Board for the past seven years, including as co-Chair from 2021 to 2024 and most recently as Board Secretary. She stepped down from the Board on taking up her new role. In this role, Polly will work closely with WITNESS’s Senior Leadership Team to deliver on our existing strategy and priorities. She will also strengthen our relationships with the communities we serve, our allies and our funders, and help prepare the way for WITNESS’s next permanent leader. Polly brings over 30 years of leadership in philanthropy, global health and human rights. At Dropbox, she founded the Dropbox Foundation and built its human rights portfolio, providing trust-based, unrestricted support to human rights organizations worldwide. Earlier in her career, she worked to expand access to treatment for life-threatening diseases across the Global South and was the first Chief of Staff for President Clinton’s HIV/AIDS Initiative. “Polly has been a champion of WITNESS for many years, and she understands

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DRRF_Brazil

24 Sep WITNESS Launches Its First Regional Deepfake Rapid Response Force in Brazil

News and Events | WITNESS

The new initiative brings together Brazilian fact-checkers and forensic experts with WITNESS’ expertise to detect AI-manipulated media before it can distort the 2026 election in the country Read this text in Portuguese here. To safeguard Brazil’s 2026 elections, taking place in October, WITNESS is adapting its Deepfakes Rapid Response Force (DRRF) model for the country’s fast-moving information landscape. Since 2023, the organization has led the first initiative of its kind globally: a Deepfakes Rapid Response Force connecting frontline journalists, human rights defenders, and fact-checkers in real time with leading AI detection and media forensics experts. The DRRF has helped identify and expose synthetic media in high-stakes moments around the world, protecting the integrity of information when it matters most. Earlier this year, Brazilian fact-checking organization Aos Fatos identified at least 50 TikTok videos simulating street interviews and testimonials about two of Brazil’s presidential candidates, Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro. None of the “voters” in them were real. The videos had accumulated millions of views, illustrating the scale and speed at which synthetic content can spread during an election. The DRRF in Brazil marks the first time WITNESS has adapted this model at a regional level. Developed in collaboration with Brazilian fact-checking

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REVIDE

10 Sep WITNESS Backs Indigenous Youth in Brazil to Document and Defend Their Territories Through Visual Investigations

News and Events | WITNESS

Brazil is the fourth deadliest country in the world for environmental defenders, according to Global Witness’s most recent report. Despite these threats, Indigenous communities across the country continue to fight for their rights, increasingly up against coordinated disinformation campaigns designed to discredit the realities they face. In this environment, visual evidence has become an essential tool of resistance. In 2026, WITNESS supported 30 young Indigenous people in Brazil through REVIDE (Video School for the Defense of Territories), a training program in audiovisual and digital technologies for Indigenous communities in the North and Northeast of the country. REVIDE means “to fight back” in Portuguese, and that is precisely our focus: equipping Indigenous communities with the tools they need to effectively defend their territories. The program supports communities in documenting environmental and human rights violations and using audiovisual evidence for advocacy, accountability, climate justice and reparation. REVIDE participants documented threats including illegal soy and cattle production, logging, illegal mining that contaminates rivers, and violence and persecution against those defending their lands. On territories that have not yet been demarcated, participants also documented occupation by large agribusiness companies, including transnational corporations such as Cargill, affecting artisanal fishing and communities’ ability to move freely

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AIgeneratedNCII

23 Jun Consent at the Centre: Meta’s Oversight Board Decision Reflects WITNESS’ Key Concerns on AI-generated Sexualized Impersonation

News and Events, Tech and Advocacy | WITNESS

The Meta Oversight Board, an independent body that reviews the company’s content moderation decisions, today overturned Meta’s decision to keep online an AI-generated sexualized video that had been reported by users, citing concerns about the enforcement of its policies on non-consensual intimate imagery (NCII). The ruling aligns with recommendations submitted by WITNESS in a public comment to the Board earlier this year. The case involved an Instagram video depicting a woman that was reported as pornographic but only age-restricted by Meta, which determined that it did not violate the platform’s “Adult Nudity and Sexual Activity” policy. In its decision, the Oversight Board reversed Meta’s determination and raised broader concerns about the company’s handling of non-consensual intimate imagery and its reliance on user reports to identify and remove harmful content, reflecting points raised by WITNESS in its submission. WITNESS Recommendations to the Board WITNESS’ submission argued that Meta’s current approach is structurally insufficient because it fails to recognize AI-generated NCII as a form of technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV), relies too heavily on automated systems that under-prioritize harm, and and overlooks the central issue of consent. The submission also highlighted the need for the Oversight Board to reiterate its 2024 recommendations, many

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