The truth is, it’s getting harder to describe the extent to which a meaningful percentage of Americans have dissociated from reality. As Hurricane Milton churned across the Gulf of Mexico last night, I saw an onslaught of outright conspiracy theorizing and utter nonsense racking up millions of views across the internet. The posts would be laughable if they weren’t taken by many people as gospel. Among them: Infowars’ Alex Jones, who claimed that Hurricanes Milton and Helene were “weather weapons” unleashed on the East Coast by the U.S. government, and “truth seeker” accounts on X that posted photos of condensation trails in the sky to baselessly allege that the government was “spraying Florida ahead of Hurricane Milton” in order to ensure maximum rainfall, “just like they did over Asheville!”
As Milton made landfall, causing a series of tornados, a verified account on X reposted a TikTok video of a massive funnel cloud with the caption “WHAT IS HAPPENING TO FLORIDA?!” The clip, which was eventually removed but had been viewed 662,000 times as of yesterday evening, turned out to be from a video of a CGI tornado that was originally published months ago. Scrolling through these platforms, watching them fill with false information, harebrained theories, and doctored images—all while panicked residents boarded up their houses, struggled to evacuate, and prayed that their worldly possessions wouldn’t be obliterated overnight—offered a portrait of American discourse almost too bleak to reckon with head-on.
Even in a decade marred by online grifters, shameless politicians, and an alternative right-wing-media complex pushing anti-science fringe theories, the events of the past few weeks stand out for their depravity and nihilism. As two catastrophic storms upended American cities, a patchwork network of influencers and fake-news peddlers have done their best to sow distrust, stoke resentment, and interfere with relief efforts. But this is more than just a misinformation crisis. To watch as real information is overwhelmed by crank theories and public servants battle death threats is to confront two alarming facts: first, that a durable ecosystem exists to ensconce citizens in an alternate reality, and second, that the people consuming and amplifying those lies are not helpless dupes but willing participants…
… “The primary use of ‘misinformation’ is not to change the beliefs of other people at all. Instead, the vast majority of misinformation is offered as a service for people to maintain their beliefs in face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary”…
… As one dispirited meteorologist wrote on X this week, “Murdering meteorologists won’t stop hurricanes.” She followed with: “I can’t believe I just had to type that”…
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Given that most of the horseshit seems to come from within the US, maybe the rest of us should isolate ourselves from them.
This is spraying everywhere that speaks English and poisoning discourse around the world.
Speaking as a Brit, I really wish we could filter out almost everything American at this point.
The coverage of their elections has been daily global news damn near every day since Trump first announced he’d be running back in 2015. Biden won the last election, and literally the day after he took office, Trump announced he’d be running again, and it’s been daily coverage ever since. Over here Rishi Sunak called an election, then six weeks later it was done.
I’m so, so tired of the bullshit and misinformation that spews from over there. From bankrupt Alex Jones still being funded to yell nonsense over the internet, to Fox News providing ‘entertainment’ masquerading as news, riling up their viewers. It’s exhausting. And there’s no way to block it beyond simply abandoning the internet.
SEEMS to come from “within the US”. Might be, might not
Edit in response: fair, there are plenty USers. I guess I was thinking of disinfo sources who might get paycheques from abroad
Alex Jones. Elon Musk. Donald Trump. The entire GOP…
Last time I checked these were all US citizens. Might be convenient to blame Russia, and for sure they’re standing there with a big stick stirring the pot and laughing at all the mayhem, but you’ve got a whole load of traitors right there. A whole bunch for whom the civil war was never really concluded or accepted. And in this brave new connected world, they’ve got the money and power to sling their waste far and wide.
completely wild garbage is not limited to the anglosphere.
you do have a point, it seems to first emerge in the states. Every single stupid shitshow non-issue or wild outlandish conspiracy thats running in america is directly translated and presented no matter if it fits locally or not.
Alas there are localised shitbrew flavours as well. So don’t you worry, it’s not you.
or do worry
worry a lot
Who’s going to do the regulating?
Sure, a liberal could impose sane regulation, but what happens next time the US elects a Trump?
You want Trump (or any other fascist wannabe dictator) to have the ability to control what people say on the Internet? He’s already calling to take down ABC for fact checking him!
So just like gun control (as in an all-out ban), regulation of free speech/communication is just so risky.
I do think platforms should be doing more to remove disinformation from the mainstream, no matter who it pisses off. Unfortunately that does end up leading to echo chambers when what Americans need is to hear (truth) from all points of view.
Very complex situation that AI is only making worse.
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That’s why you use the courts for this, not some government censorship bureau. We need to make the social media platforms themselves liable for misinformation posted on them. If you’re seriously harmed in some way by misinformation posted on Facebook, then you should be able to sue Facebook itself.
Courts operate on high standards of proof and are deliberately separated from the political process. They are the proper venue for this. There are other things we already criminalize, like criminal harassment, that are just ad subject to that same kind of slippery slope concern as regulation of social media. “Who’s to say what harassment is?..”
Personally I think the best bet is to rule that you cannot have rules in terms of content serving. When serving up content your allowed algorithms are: New, Popular (within whatever time range you want), Subscribed, and has tags that match stuff you already watch. Thats it. Back to early 2000s social media filtering where there wasn’t an active effort to force feed people the most ‘engaging’ content possible.
Its very simple anti fraud stuff: do you know what you’re saying is false? Are you trying to present it as real, despite that? Do you gain something (clout, money, political advantage etc) for spreading a knowingly false thing as true? Then you should be barred from internet access for like 6 months and barred from discussing your fraud topic on public airways
The tempation to lie/defraud people on the internet for clicks/views is a major problem created by ad agencies and political groups.
Edit: This is the difference between Joe Rogan and Alex Jones. Joe Rogan earnestly engages batshit like its true but he’s a dummy. Alex Jones pretends he knows things and presents them as true. Like a good anti fraud law that lets the state or individuals prosecute Jones for knowingly lying but leaves Rogan alone is sort of the best possible limit on free speech, because otherwisw you’re just allowing a form of fraud to run amok.