Social Media and Competing Truths

When Nikki Haley disavowed Donald Trump this week, the media framed the story as a major turning point in the battle for control of the Republican Party. Haley, someone regarded as the future of the party, had bet against the continuation of Trumpism. While this was indeed a major moment, something Haley said in her interview struck me much more than the Trumpism quotes.

When asked about Trump’s pushing of theories that the election was rigged, Haley said: “That would be like you saying that grass is blue and you genuinely believing it. Is it irresponsible that you’re colorblind and you truly believe that?”

Haley recognizes the fundamental key to Trumpism is social media falsehoods, something that ironically Trump has seemed to fall for himself. This closemindedness is the key to Trump’s rise, and the way it propagates online is the key to the future of politics.

I hear so much about how this problem will get worse as misinformation becomes more believable, due to the rise of Deepfake videos and advances in image editing. However, this misinformation is often not realistic at all, yet this doesn’t seem to matter. I follow an acquaintance on Facebook who spends all day sharing fake information. What astounds me is that it never is believable. The images are often blurred or obviously doctored, the headlines are easily proved false with a simple Google search, and the Pro-Trump memes are always misspelled.

This is no longer misinformation. This is truth to these social media users. The only truth. Fighting against misinformation with factchecks doesn’t matter when the factcheckers are also accused of being part of the conspiracy. As we seek to eliminate this problem, we must understand it as a battle of truths, not a battle of information.