The New Statesman

“The social media platforms have created an information ecosystem that kills the best of human nature. They want you to keep scrolling, and how do they do that? By making you angry and afraid and paranoid, by making it ‘us against them’.”

The Nobel Peace Prize-winning journalist, Maria Ressa, on why Big Tech rewards disinformation, and how to fight back.

Read the full interview: https://www.newstatesman.com/the-weekend-interview/2022/12/maria-ressa-interview-defence-of-democracy

#disinformation #twitter #journalists

Maria Ressa: “We are in a person-to-person defence of democracy. It’s hand-to-hand combat”

On a Wednesday afternoon in February 2019 Maria Ressa was giving a presentation to a group of Facebook executives in a glass-walled office at the back of her Manila newsroom. Suddenly, the co-founder

New Statesman
Dec 17, 2022 at 11:19amWeb
Show threadJackie GardinaDec 17, 2022
@newstatesman This is such an important piece. It is also where the U.S. #FirstAmendment can be democracy’s Achilles heel. Sowing disinformation is constitutionally protected speech (in most instances). The answer used to be drown out “bad” speech with “good” speech. But with #BigTech elevating “bad” speech to maximize profits, it is difficult to combat it. There is no longer a level playing field. #law #fedilaw #politics #disinformation
Show threadEduardo Pelegri-LlopartDec 17, 2022
@newstatesman Mastodon is much better at that. The down side is that there are fewer visible signs of reader's engagement.