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I think having massive, mainstream social media sites acting as onboarding for lunacy is a major contributing factor. Competitors trying to capitalize on the f
by ryan29 6y ago
I think having massive, mainstream social media sites acting as onboarding for lunacy is a major contributing factor. Competitors trying to capitalize on the fringes wouldn't have a viable market to capture if Facebook et al wouldn't have created it in the first place.
- ubertaco 6y agoThe antivaxxers of the world might be a counterexample here; for example, here's [0] a newspaper cartoon from the 30s showing "misinformation" as a cliff which "antivax" and "anti-fad" and others willingly walk right off. The antivax movement, fueled by misinformation at every step, long pre-dates Facebook or the internet, instead living on backwater gossip and sketchy snake-oil salesmen, who have since moved on to running their own websites and TV shows (see also: "Dr. Mercola" and "Dr. Oz"). The internet didn't create the market for crazy fringe beliefs; like most markets, the internet just accelerated and connected it. [0] "Here's What A Depression-Era Cartoonist Had To Say About The Anti-Vaccination Movement" https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/6608366/amp https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/6608366/amp