Session Three- Social Media and Misinformation

Session Three: Social Media and Misinformation

Music: 

• "Four Strong Winds," Neil Young,  from Neil Young: Heart of Gold, documentary,  2006 Link to Site

• "I'm the Slime," Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, Roxy Theater, 1973 Link to site

Essential Questions:

• What role have the social media and misinformation played in the prevalence of extremism?

• What are the current conversations between the government and the private social media companies?

• Should there be more regulatory oversight of social media?

• What would be sensible regulatory policies regarding social media and misinformation?

• What is Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996?

• What was the Fairness Doctrine? Should it be brought back?

• What has the recent Facebook Files expose revealed?

• What are some possible remedies to address the spread of misinformation?

Gathering: "A question that I have for the speaker is..."

Speaker: Lindsay Hoffman, Associate Professor, Dept. of Communications, University of Delaware

Homework

• video, Ken Burns, "Misinformation, Paranoia and Conspiracy," 11th Hour with Brian Williams, MSNBC, 7/17/21 Link to Site

• Francis Haugen Interview, "How Did Facebook Contribute to Jan.6th," Amanpour & Co., 1/12/22 Link to Site

• "Sacha Baron Cohen's Keynote Address at ADL's 2019 Never is Now Summit on Anti-Semitism and Hate," AntiDefamation League, 11/21/19 Link to Site

• Hannah Gais, "Has Accountability for Big Tech Come to Late?  from The Year in Hate and Extremism 2020, Southern Poverty Law Center, 2021, pp.20-23 Link to Site

• Hannah Gais & Megan Squire, "How an Encrypted messaging Platform is Changing Extremist Movements,"  from The Year in Hate and Extremism 2020, Southern Poverty Law Center, 2021, pp.27-30 Link to article

Resources:

• video, "Tech CEO's questioned on misinformation spreads on social media platforms, CBSN, 3/25/21 Link to Site

• "Sweden combats fakes news with new agency," Optimist Daily, 1/20/22 Link to Site

• "Why Facebook Whistle-Blower Francis Haugen Thinks She'll Outlast Mark Zuckerberg," Kara Swisher/The Sway, 12/20/21 Link to Site

• video, "Whistleblower says Facebook needs to declare Moral bankruptcy,"  Francis Haugen interview, "60 Minutes," CBS , 10/3/21, Link to site

• "The Facebook Files, Part 4: The Outrage Algorithm," The Journal, podcast,  9/18/21 Link to Site

• Rob Reich, Mehran Salami, Jeremy Weinstein, "Democracy is Losing its War with Disruption ," The Atlantic, 9/5/21 Link to site

•,"Sacha Baron Cohen Has a Message for Mark Zuckerberg,  transcript from"Kara Swisher/The Sway, New York Times, 2/25//21 Link to Site

•Max Fisher, "Disinformation for Hire, a Shadow Industry, is Quietly Booming," NYTimes, 7/25/21Link to site

• Stuart Thompson & Charlie Warzel. "How Facebook Incubated the Insurrection," NYTimes, 1/14/21 Link to site

• "Fairness Doctrine, " Wikipedia, Link to Site

• Media Bias Chart,  adfontes media, accessed 9/2021 Link to site

• Jacob Sweet, "Can Disinformation Be Stopped?, Harvard Magazine, 7/15/21 Link to site

• Piero Falci, "The Pernicious Effects of Misinformation,"Pace e Benne, Link to Site

• Cade Metz, "Feeding Hate With Video: A Former Alt-Right YouTuber Explains His Methods," NYTimes, 4/15/21 Link to site

• "Fake: Searching for Truth in the Age of Misinformation," Conn. Public Television, 2/14/20 Link to site

• "Fighting Extremism Online: New Resources  Help Parents Combat Radicalization of Youth on the Web," Southern Poverty Law Center, 6/30/21 Link to Site

This moment of all these intersecting viruses, of novel coronaviruses and of racial injustice (a) a 402 year old virus. And it's an age-old human virus of lying and misinformation and paranoia and conspiracy. This is the pill that will kill us unless we do something.

                                        Ken Burns, Washington Post  6/24/21