A few rightwing 'super-spreaders' fueled bulk of election falsehoods, study says
Tackling the most powerful social media accounts such as Donald Trumps could be key to halting false narratives, researchers say
Kari Paul in San Francisco
Fri 5 Mar 2021 05.00 EST
A handful of rightwing super-spreaders on social media were responsible for the bulk of election misinformation in the run-up to the Capitol attack, according to a new study that also sheds light on the staggering reach of falsehoods pushed by Donald Trump.
A report from the Election Integrity Partnership (EIP), a group that includes Stanford and the University of Washington, analyzed social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok during several months before and after the 2020 elections.More:
It found that super-spreaders responsible for the most frequent and most impactful misinformation campaigns included Trump and his two elder sons, as well as other members of the Trump administration and the rightwing media.
The studys authors and other researchers say the findings underscore the need to disable such accounts to stop the spread of misinformation.
More:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/mar/05/election-misinformation-trump-rightwing-super-spreader-study
underpants
(182,271 posts)Not mentioned once
Ford_Prefect
(7,817 posts)The significant original sources are a key, but the coded language repeaters run by Putin's troll farm are nearly as important. They inject energy into the spread of the meme by making it appear there are many more people who assert the "truth" of the meme and amplify the seeming significance of it. They add to and steer the speculative expansion of the meme and its association with other memes in specific and directed ways to feed and agitate particular target groups like the Proud boys, three percenters, and boogaloos.
I don't know how we counter this and it may be something only the NSA or some other ABC agency can actually interfere with on a substantial level.
We do need a MSM that is cognizant and educated about the dog whistle machine and how NOT to amplify it.
We need to put James OKeefe and his entire crew out of business and behind bars... AND we need to expose the financial and organizational links between him and the Dark Money cabal.