From Pine View Farm

The Disinformation Superhighway 0

At Psychology Today Blogs, Paul Thagard argues that the success of fascist movements depends on misinformation. After outlining five specific types of misinformation that fascist movements of the 20th Century relied on, he goes on to suggests practices for inoculating ourselves against mis- and disinformation.

What particularly caught my eye, though, was this nugget, which illustrates why “social” media isn’t (emphasis added):

Misinformation spreads because politicians exploit people’s susceptibility to motivated inference and thought-distorting emotions such as fear, anger, and hatred. Early twentieth-century fascists could only spread misinformation slowly, through print, radio, movies, and rallies, but today misinformation is rapidly and effectively transmitted by social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube, whose algorithms value emotional engagement and advertising revenue over truth and democracy.

I commend the article to your attention.

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