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I find the whole convoluted whack-a-mole approach to the problem of spreading misinformation to be so pathetic. Much like drugs, so long as there is demand for
by kolbe 6y ago
I find the whole convoluted whack-a-mole approach to the problem of spreading misinformation to be so pathetic. Much like drugs, so long as there is demand for misinformation, we will always have a supplier. It doesn't matter how many regulations you throw at the problem of spreading it. Elections are won and lost on misinformation, and some elections can be "worth" tens of billions of dollars to the winner.
If you want to stop the effects of spreading misinformation, attack the demand side. Educate people. Or, on the more draconian side, don't let uneducated people vote.
- mschuster91 6y agoYou don't need to do a whack-a-mole with irrelevant trolls, just go after the biggest public figures spreading propaganda: Trump, Alex Jones and other alt-right figureheads. Their names are known, their online presences are an easy target. German-Austrian alt-right organization "Identitäre Bewegung" all but collapsed once they were booted off social media.
- kolbe 6y agoThis is not partisan to the right. And if you think it is, you're part of the problem. Trump and Alex Jones do not accurately represent reality, I agree. And America suffers because of it. But just yesterday, the hottest trending topic was "Make Whites Great Again," because someone found a photo of a guy who looked like the Minnesota cop wearing a MAGA hat, and edited America to White, and Twitter went ballistic thinking it was the cop who killed that guy. Buildings burned down and people got injured (maybe died) yesterday because of it.
- soylentcola 6y agoI don't typically keep track of Twitter drama so I had to look this up. Apparently, the photo in question wasn't a 'shop, but rather a well-known troll specifically looking to stir shit up.
- kolbe 6y agoI'm not particularly sucked into the drama either, but I just want to note that this is a problem that transcends partisan politics. And if someone says the solution is to ban specific partisan targets, then they're more likely people who are part of the problem than people who are genuinely looking to fix it. This will never be fixed by people who think their side's misrepresentations of reality are for the greater good, but the other side's is destroying the world.
- mschuster91 6y ago> Buildings burned down and people got injured (maybe died) yesterday because of it. Buildings burned down because four cops murdered a black person.