RE: Misinformation drops dramatically after Trump gets banned from Twitter
January 17, 2021 at 7:10 pm
(January 17, 2021 at 1:57 pm)TaraJo Wrote: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technolog...p-twitter/
As much as I loathe right wing politicians and the angry extremists who act on their behalf, it alarms me that there's so little attention being paid to the right wing propaganda machine that empowers them. The government is limited in what it can do, due to the first amendment, but I'm glad to see the private sector is successfully deplatforming them. Truth is, the riot in Washington was what they want. They've been screaming for violent revolution, they've been preaching how much they hate government and politicians and with Trumps election loss, they've been screaming about election fraud. Blame the rioters, sure, but don't forget to blame the lairs who hyped them up.
I'm sure that the number of lies on Twitter has gone down in absolute numbers, since Trump and many of his followers got banned.
But notice that the story comes from the Washington Post, which publishes lots of its own misinformation.
It's owned by Bezos, who makes billions from his contracts with the government, especially spy agencies.
So I'm not sure that the average veracity of tweets has increased -- just that certain kinds of liars are gone, while other kinds of liars remain.
Plus I think we should be wary of "private sector is successfully deplatforming them." It means that private billionaires are deciding who gets to reach an audience.
