Where do we go from here?
I think it's really important that we understand that the actions that we may take as individuals should not preclude systemic action. I think it's really a both and type situation.
—Deen Freelon
In the first seven episodes of Does Not Compute season 1, we’ve explored how disinformation plays on our biases, fuels our anger, and even nudges us to find only what we wanted to learn. The mess is daunting.
Building a healthier, informed democracy is not an individual project, but it’s one we begin imagining in our wrap-up episode. Given what we know about the problem, how do we begin to fix things?
Recent publications and appearances
“By going beyond assessing claims about candidates as true or false, and focusing on racial and social hierarchies undergirding disinformation and propaganda, researchers and the public would become more aware of the patterns, and power, of attacks directed against nondominant groups.”
Daniel Kreiss and Madhavi Reddi explore how identity propaganda undermines the political power of marginalized groups.
“By taking a historical and contextual view of disinformation, we argue that both the content and framing of disinformation reproduce whiteness in the United States. White supremacy is built upon assumptions that elevate and empower white perspectives as normal and standard.”
Rachel Kuo and Alice Marwick advocate centering questions of power and inequality in disinformation research.
"Mainstream media outlets like The New York Times are still approaching the internet as a collective space in which you could potentially learn about anything, from ‘research’ or ‘science’ to ‘family and relationships.’ But if you’re saying, ‘We only want to target people who are interested in conservatism in America,’ that creates this bifurcated or dual internet, and that allows for information to circulate unchecked.”
Francesca Tripodi spoke to the Markup about how the Daily Wire uses Facebook’s targeted advertising to build its brand.
“The C.D.C. faces three major problems. The first is reality: a sustained campaign of misinformation against vaccines and other public health measures, originating mostly with right-wing commentators and politicians, and a new media environment that has upended traditional information flows.”
Zeynep Tufekci summarizes the CDC’s ongoing communication failures.
Coming soon
October 12: Tressie McMillan Cottom will appear live with Kate Bowler and Kelly Corrigan at Durham’s Carolina Theatre.
Rest of Web
Digging into Facebook’s new Widely Viewed Content Report:
The frustrations of agenda-setting in critical disinformation studies:
🚨 New dataset alert!
New call for papers for a special issue of Social Media + Society: