Politics, news and social networks

Madrid-based journalist James Badcock quotes me talking about the interaction between social networks, news and politics in his article in The Economist: “How the new digital grassroots is reshaping politics”, which explores ways to deal with false news at a time when an increasing number of people get their news via the social networks, sharing it, and to a certain extent, changing their opinion about issues based on what they read.

In the words of Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, “fake news is killing people’s minds.” Answers are needed that use technology and the law, along with education and awareness campaigns that cut across society about the importance of the fake news problem.

Facebook, the same company that claimed to have helped usher in the Arab Spring, can no longer continue to deny its responsibility in this area. A growing number of Americans now say they see it as their main source of news, despite the company’s efforts to deny it. These changing ways we acquire news and information, which could help us form more pluralistic and varied views and help with developing our critical thinking, instead fall prey to carefully planned campaigns of collective intoxication, fed by the special characteristics of the internet as a medium.

We cannot simply wait for technology companies to wave a magic wand and make the problem go away, because other parties and factors have to be taken into account. This is not as simple as saying: “we forbid fake news and we ban those who produce it from our social networks.” We need to develop our critical faculties and become part-time fact checkers ourselves, as we prepare for an era in which activism will be more necessary than ever.

(En español, aquí)