Disinformation

#Burst the Bubble

#BurstTheBubble: Disinformation Roadmap

FILTER BUBBLE ART GALLERY

Want to know what Disinformation is? Start here.
Want to see the IDH's submission to
Stanford's disinformation fighting initiative?
That's here.
IDH TV and IDH Podcast episodes on disinformation:
Coming soon (2022).

IDH TV: FILTER BUBBLE 101

IDH JOURNALISM NETWORK

#BURSTBUBBLE: Election 2020

#BURSTBUBBLE: PUBLIC HEALTH

#BURSTBUBBLE: DISINFORMATION

#BURSTBUBBLE: MEDICAL COMMUNICATION

What is Disinformation?

Disinformation is false news, designed to misinform. That's a simple definition for a complex problem.

Who should decide whether news
is "false" or "designed to misinform?"

Increasingly that job is being trusted to algorithms.

But algorithms struggle to make judgments about facts.

If a government agency classifies the January 6th protest
at the U.S. Capitol as a "riot,"
while a politician describes it as a "protest,"
is either characterization "false news"
which should be censured.

Algorithms also struggle with context. Is a story that is obviously false meant to be a parody or a satire or is it just false? Should a story from The Onion be censored because an algorithm doesn't get the joke?

Filter bubbles exacerbate the dangers of disinformation. If a person is exposed to too many self-reinforcing stories without being presented contrary information, they will become confused as to what is truth and what is fiction.