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It's merely a matter of time until disinformation leads to calamity
- amadeuspagel 3y ago> And visual images have always been more eye-catching and emotionally compelling than text. Yes, and regardless of whether they're real or false or anything in between, which is why it's such a good idea to have a forum that doesn't allow images, like HN and early twitter.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- tanseydavid 3y agoAll of the hang-wringing about disinformation causes me to think their true worry is that existing modes of disinformation will get drowned out by newer ones.
- kjkjadksj 3y agoWe already have people believing disinformation to the point of storming the Capital and dying by gunfire. I’d say the calamity has already arrived.
- grotted 3y agoAnd one million dead from a pandemic!
- jfengel 3y agoYeah. Article reads to me as "Eventually, a calamity that will affect me". Lots of people are already suffering: women who can't get medically necessary abortions, trans people who can't get care they need, etc. It's a calamity for their lives. It's the marginalized people who suffer first.
- ElijahLynn 3y agocalamity an event causing great and often sudden damage or distress; a disaster. "the journey had led to calamity and ruin"
- jurassicfoxy 3y agoIt's always surprised me how the governments in power have done almost nothing to counteract this, given how political the misinformation can be. As an example, the federal liberal government in Canada is facing an onslaught of very right wing American-style propaganda. Why not actually take steps to minimize this?
- Steven420 3y agoDo you have any examples of this propaganda? I live in Canada and I'm not sure what you are talking about
- snakeyjake 3y agoDidn't a bunch of q-anon wierdos take a ton of money from american conservatives to organize "grass roots" anti-vax protests a while back, which led to some kind of plot to assassinate canadian cops?
- jurassicfoxy 3y agoI believe that a significant quantity of right-wing posts, on Reddit, Facebook, etc. are not only shared by idiots, but are in fact blatant political cyber-warfare. Just as an example: https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN1CZ2OF/ https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN1CZ2OF/ Things like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romana_Didulo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romana_Didulo didn't emerge in a vacuum. https://www.cyber.gc.ca/en/guidance/cyber-threats-canadas-democratic-process-2023-update https://www.cyber.gc.ca/en/guidance/cyber-threats-canadas-de...
- _kulang 3y agoAlso a bunch of extreme/obnoxious fake far left and right wing posts, basically rage bait. But it’s difficult to separate what’s fake and what’s not. Some people genuinely adopt the positions of the fake posters which is completely baffling and sad
- _kulang 3y agoHonestly with targeting and algorithmic curation you might never see any of it unless you are the desired audience. That’s certainly the case for me. Once, I watched some reels of a comedian (who apparently was popular on the right) that I found funny, and then for a few days my feed included this American super macho type content