Misinfo Weekly

In this episode, we talk about the surprise hit film, The Sound of Freedom. We look at expert takes on the film's presentation of child trafficking, and we also discuss some of the conspiracy theories surrounding the distribution of the movie.

After some time has passed, we discuss just how much the Twitter platform has changed, and we look forward to how the spread of misinformation in 2024 on Twitter could be very different from what we have seen previously. We cover persons on the platform, moderation policies, and how users are likely to encounter misinformation.

Misinformation and issues of content moderation go hand in hand. And there are some lessons to be learned from the current Twitter debacle. We go over some key changes in the platform, and we review some of the ways that Twitter may invite future misinformation. We also review some data about activity on other alt-tech platforms to get a sense of what Twitter and its CEO may represent to other communities online. Finally, we explore some parallels in the Twitter acquisition and the 45th Presidency.

In this episode, we talk about some early trends and analyses of Twitter under Elon Musk, and we pay particular attention to trends in content moderation, users, and how Twitter stacks up to other platforms during election season. We also think about the cyclical aspects of some social media use.

In this brief SNAP episode we discuss the role of mis/disinformation in the 2022 US Midterm elections. While many election deniers were not successful in their bids for election, that did not stop misinformation from playing a prominent role leading up to and on the day of the election in the US. We briefly discuss our different experiences voting at the polls in Arizona, the role of surrogates in saying testing content and saying what candidates cannot, and how the ground had been softened for more misinformation in the next election.

We talk about the resurgence of an election conspiracy film leading up to the 2022 mid-term elections, and we also discuss the changing landscape of misinformation surrounding the election in Arizona and nationwide. Shawn introduces the term "disinfomentary," and we pitch the idea of "Smokey the Election Integrity Bear."

In this episode, we discuss the impact of the alternative social media platform, Parler, on the January 6th, 2021 attack on the Capitol of the United States. We go through some of the results of our recent data analysis of the archived platform materials, as well as talk about some lessons learned for content moderation and de-platforming. We reference a report for which we both served as contributing authors: https://www.newamerica.org/future-frontlines/reports/parler-and-the-road-to-the-capitol-attack/

In this episode, we take a look at why a viral video from an Indiana school board meeting starring Dr. Dan Stock was so appealing to those opposing masking and vaccination. We discuss the method of argumentation as well as some of the evidence he presents, returning to the theme about the limited efficacy of factual information for combating mis-and dis- information. While Dr. Stock presents himself as a family medicine doctor, he did his residency in Ophthalmology and is not board-certified. So not as to spread misinformation, we do not link directly to any content discussed. Transcript can be found here