Misinfo Nation: Misinformation, Democracy, and the Internet

[@MikaelIsaksson]

I started to learn what was misinformation when media lied about things I personally experienced in my life, things I knew to be true. Event I was at, people I have met and so on. So slowly, very slowly I started laying the puzzle. I started at my own experiences that I knew for a fact, and connected those puzzle pieces to other statements from the media, over time I found the disconnect, were the seams didn't fit, or were the statements were contradictory over time, sometimes even on the same day. That's why I found most of the mainstream media to be total liars. Biggest perpetrator in this regard at the moment is without doubt CNN. After that MSNBC. Our own Swedish media is not to be outdone. It is very very hard today to find actual true news, it is more likely to get the truth from independent journalists, such as Tim Pool for instance, than from any main stream source. Bare in mind, this took years. And took some serious digging for sources, spent about 2 hours every day checking sources and what not, most people don't take that kind of time.

[@snackman94]

Misinformation is not a new problem. It's been going on for at least a few decades. Herbert Schiller wrote about this issue in the 70's, referring to the news media as "The Mind Managers".

[@TimMer1981]

Misinformation has been around for millennia, that's the price to pay for freedom of information.

[@AmigaWolf]

@@TimMer1981 If you did not have freedom of information you only would have had the propaganda from the government there news stations, CNN, NBC, FOX, and all the others, now WE can find the real truth, if you look, and that is MUCH better then only the state propaganda called CNN, NBC, FOX, and all the others.

[@TimMer1981]

@@AmigaWolf That's what I'm saying.

[@davefiola568]

The video does a good outlining how damaging misinformation can be. But unfortunately, the author heaps all responsibility on us busy Americans to do the work to find the truth which they insist is "out there" instead of placing the responsibility on any particular media outlet. If you're old enough, you remember this below. My question is why would "they" 1) eliminate the policy that ensured some measure of a level playing field and 2) why would "they" scrub the books of the rule that implemented the policy in the first place? ***The fairness doctrine of the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC), introduced in 1949, was a policy that required the holders of broadcast licenses both to present controversial issues of public importance and to do so in a manner that was-in the FCC's view-honest, equitable, and balanced. The FCC eliminated the policy in 1987 and removed the rule that implemented the policy from the Federal Register in August 2011.[1] The fairness doctrine had two basic elements: It required broadcasters to devote some of their airtime to discussing controversial matters of public interest, and to air contrasting views regarding those matters. Stations were given wide latitude as to how to provide contrasting views: It could be done through news segments, public affairs shows, or editorials. The doctrine did not require equal time for opposing views but required that contrasting viewpoints be presented. The demise of this FCC rule has been considered by some to be a contributing factor for the rising level of party polarization in the United States.[2][3]

[@Kishmond]

And the top liked comments here are a perfect example of why so many feel hopeless about the situation. Anything that even hints that their viewpoint might be wrong gets shuffled into the "Lies from the Other Side" folder and ignored.

[@JeliuJelev]

Haha, I live for years in propaganda media owned by politicians. I am used to this. Some facts you can't check either there is no information or it's classified or something else. So the internet private amateur propaganda has been also since long time ago. My truth is ( not expecting everyone to agree ) that there is not one source of truth and universal truth for everybody is almost impossible. And yet democracy works (kind of in Bulgaria).

[@watertriton]

A big part of the problem is the media in this country does not do any fact checking and changes or manipulates the storage to make it more interesting. Most News equals entertainment not information.

[@13sophh]

Ok Mozilla, I have a question...

[@UCjNrKLyRJI-abFA8qiNo92Q]

why the window animation are macos frame? I feel like in 1997

[@Honorthe343]

We live in a democracy?? Funny, last time I checked we are a constitutional republic. Oh well, like she said. Misinformation is everywhere.

[@JamesFox1]

PEOPLE DONT TUNE OUT OF WHAT IS MOST PREVALENT IN THEIR LIVES - HENCE WHY THE REDIRECT CONTINUES - PER THINK TANK DIRECTIVES

[@ricdaguiar]

Great video! Congrats! Beautiful design, outstanding. I feel a reference to The Shoes' "Drifted" music video - very elegant take on that principle.

[@vhjmvn]

Why do some peeps (as Mozilla here) confound real and unreal, fact and fiction, truth and lie? And then, in their newsletter, the threw in "subjective" for good measure; as if subjects or objects have much to do with the problems of information, deception, beliefs and ideologies. What a mess.

[@LookattheBiggerPic]

Hard to tell here where this presentation is going but I personally need to step up like others and state authoritatively that Free Speach is a hallowed element of the Web and MUST be protected as top priority EVEN if you do NOT like or agree with what others may be stating - No matter how far out a presentation is, I Will and Must Defend to the End another's right to speak there mind respectfully - To assume by default that most people are stupid and absurdly gullible is simply not true though I also know that it does certainly look true at times until you delve deeper into the particular dynamic in question... Mozilla Corp is a VERY important element of the entire World but MUST NOT step into POLICING it in any way save to make their products as robust as possible against digital injury to function and data - The Internet MUST stay free and open and NOT like China is doing where NOT Only is there NO Free Speach but actually now there is instant retribution to ANY expression outside the National narrative, even just reading or listening to such - that IS what is happening in America now and it MUST NOT continue - No matter how passionate YOU may be about the Right or Left, surely you MUST not be about silencing your opposition - Are You?!

[@soundhill1]

Who big is Mozilla taking donations from?

[@13sophh]

DO BETTER MOZILLA

[@Ajidirekt]

Thanks for the video.

[@jwbnscacpt]

It's not all about true vs. false, it's about ideas that we either accept or reject based on whether we agree with the outcome or not. Take for example socialism, I for one think more socialism is a terrible idea.. some others don't (let the nonprofits and churches take care of people, not the government and our taxes!). With this, it's best to argue both sides and let the people decide through voting and law. Same with climate change: you can't necessarily say for certain man-made climate change exists. There are too many other factors and not enough evidence to support 100% certainty of it's existence... so what do we have? "Most scientists agree that.." So when you say "climate deniers are spreading lies," that is the true lie. It's mob rule ideology. So when you call something "Fake News" or "False," think first whether it's because it's an opinion that has multiple sides, or whether it has no evidence or proof such as quoting someone without showing the video to prove what they said. **wink Censorship of conservative thought leaders**

[@Brindale]

I almost forgot about the fake-edited interview that crtv did to discredit Ocasio-Ortez

[@petercampbell9197]

It was what used to be called humor

[@13sophh]

LIKE WHY

[@13sophh]

WHO MADE YOUR EMOJIS

[@JamesFox1]

uighhh - NO - PEOPLE DONT SEEK OUT INFORMATION THEY ALREADY SEE AS TRUE - THEY DONT EVEN BOTHER WITH RESEARCHING IT - JUST FOLLOW ANOTHER PATH OF THE SAME REDIRECT - WHICH BY DEFINITION IS SOMETHING TOTALLY DIFFERENT FROM STATEMENT

[@13sophh]

THEY ARE SO BAD

[@fredkasten621]

I would like to be able to block Facebook from my computer. Show me how to do that, please Fk

[@13sophh]

THE 😨 FACE LITERALLY HAS ONE EAR, AND NO FACE!!! DID THE CREATOR JUST DIE WHILE HE WAS MAKING THE EMOJI AND JUST SEND IT OUT LIKE THAT

[@Admiral_AWS]

Mozilla, seriously? :-/

[@LetsJustThink]

Who fact checks the fact checkers?

[@colleylanding7570]

nasa unesco isic card

[@JamesFox1]

FROM THE POINT OF """ NOT """ FULLY GRASPING THE """CLEAR """ CONSCIOUS OF THE FACTS THAT PEOPLE """ DO NOT CLUE OUT """ DURING THESE TIMES MAKES THE REST OF THE VIDEO ABSURD TO EVEN WATCH - NO WONDER THERE IS NO VIEWERS OTHER THAN MYSELF - hmmmm - WHY DO I EVEN TRY ??? TO HELP GUIDE IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION - FOR NOW YOU HAVE BECAME MISS INFORMED AND NOW SPREADING MISS INFORMATION - """ FULL STOP """

[@randsom321]

This is a really well put togeather peice. Thank you guys for putting effort into this topic.

[@colleylanding7570]

well come unicef africa

[@VicharB]

Good one, but you should have explored further and delved deeper into the topic.

[@mihajlo961x]

Excellent video, thank you for this!

[@jaceshulgin8397]

Yes

[@FelipeMatarazzo]

This is it!

[@MrNicholas56]

It started alright but I just can't get on with the contorted voices and a croaking pitch at the end of sentences (worse in the women), in the sentences spoken by many American people these days, it isn't even natural... Please do the video again using plain English that can be understood by others than just Americans. Thank you.

[@de3481]

You try to talk a good game but your start page is filled with "stories" with an agenda. How about you abandon the trending feeds and concentrate on technology?