[Goose]

All of this thread reminds me how deeply the Trump movement, social media campaigns masquerading as real people, and other organized misinformation have cut into public confidence and our sense of knowing what the hell is going on. The president announced his Covid first by himself, on Twitter. White house doctors have confirmed. But I’m still not sure it isn’t just a campaign stunt. And millions of others have similar doubts.

Unfortunately, I think real people on social media are a much bigger problem than social media campaigns. In the past, we didn't hear/read about every crackpot idea, wishful thinking, speculation, rumor, biased evaluation etc of the entire world populace. Now we do, and the noise level has risen to the point finding the signal, if any, is very very difficult. On top of that, real people on social media amplify the noise generated by other people (real or bots). It becomes positive feedback of misinformation.

Organized misinformation campaigns are a problem, but I think a much greater problem is generated by organizations that are genuinely trying to report facts, but are actually so selectively biased that they don't actually do that. The population embraces reports/media that share their biases and trust other reports/media not at all. Thus unless one of their approved sources reports it, it isn't true.

[Goose]

All of this thread reminds me how deeply the Trump movement, social media campaigns masquerading as real people, and other organized misinformation have cut into public confidence and our sense of knowing what the hell is going on. The president announced his Covid first by himself, on Twitter. White house doctors have confirmed. But I’m still not sure it isn’t just a campaign stunt. And millions of others have similar doubts.

Unfortunately, I think real people on social media are a much bigger problem than social media campaigns. In the past, we didn't hear/read about every crackpot idea, wishful thinking, speculation, rumor, biased evaluation etc of the entire world populace. Now we do, and the noise level has risen to the point finding the signal, if any, is very very difficult. On top of that, real people on social media amplify the noise generated by other people (real or bots). It becomes positive feedback of misinformation.

Organized misinformation campaigns are a problem, but I think a much greater problem is generated by organizations that are genuinely trying to report facts, but are actually so selectively biased that they don't actually do that. The population embraces reports/media that share their biases and trust other reports/media not at all. Thus unless one of their approved sources reports it, it isn't true.