Over the past few years, we have been told relentlessly by Serious Journalists and Very Important People that action must be taken to stop the spread of misinformation and fake news, namely on major social media platforms.
The Aspen Institute, a prestigious think tank that hosts the trendy annual Aspen Ideas Festival, described as “the nation’s premier, public gathering place for leaders from around the globe and across many disciplines to engage in deep and inquisitive discussion of the ideas and issues that shape our lives and challenge our times,” and which features such high-profile attendees as Bill and Hillary Clinton, Eric Holder, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Mitt Romney, Joe Biden, Stephen Breyer and Bill Gates, put out an article last year entitled “How to Stop the Spread of Fake News on Social Media.”
A few weeks after the 2016 election, The New York Times published a roundtable debate on how to stop the spread of fake news:
NYT felt so strongly about fighting fake news that it ran a major advertising campaign called “Truth” to show how serious it was:
According to NYT, “the truth is under attack” and is “more important now than ever.”
The Brookings Institution also published a long essay on how to combat the spread of fake news and disinformation.
Everyone who’s anyone agrees: fake news is bad, and we need to figure out how to stop it from spreading.
Facebook, the entity possessing perhaps the most influence over the spread of fake news and misinformation, weighed in on the matter in April 2017:
“We know people want to see accurate information on Facebook – and so do we. False news is harmful to our community, it makes the world less informed, and it erodes trust.”
I agree.
“It’s not a new phenomenon, and all of us — tech companies, media companies, newsrooms, teachers — have a responsibility to do our part in addressing it.”
I totally agree.
“When it comes to fighting false news, one of the most effective approaches is removing the economic incentives for traffickers of misinformation. We’ve found that a lot of fake news is financially motivated. These spammers make money by masquerading as legitimate news publishers and posting hoaxes that get people to visit their sites, which are often mostly ads.”
I think you get where I’m going with this: we have “spammers” masquerading as legitimate news publishers and bombarding people with hoax stories. . .
. . . Trying to get people to visit their sites, which are mostly just ads:
And not only were news outlets pushing fake news and misinformation for clicks and ad revenue, they were doing so knowing full well it was a hoax:
I think it’s clear by now: action must be taken against CNN and its partners in crime who spent the past two years knowingly pushing a hoax story about high treason and Russian Collusion for ratings and clicks.
By Facebook’s own criteria, CNN should be given the Alex Jones Treatment.
And it wasn’t just CNN that pushed the Russia Hoax. Every major “news” outlet in America did so as well, from WaPo to NYT to NBC and MSNBC as well.
The New York Times had its own section dedicated to the Hoax entitled, “Trump and the Russians.” I have to post it in multiple screenshots because a large advertisement takes up most of the first shot:
I’m starting to think NYT was just kidding with all the “Truth” grandstanding:
The Washington Post was even worse than the New York Times and arguably even worse than CNN if we just go by the level of hyperbole in their headlines:
Facebook, Twitter and all the major social media providers must deplatform CNN, Washington Post and the New York Times immediately for their role in spreading false news and misinformation.
What sort of message would they be sending if they allowed these phony news outlets to spread all this fake news and misinformation without holding them accountable? After all the Serious Rhetoric and hand-wringing about fake news and misinformation?
And it wasn’t just the news outlets that fanned the flames of the conspiracy. There were major politicians and officials involved:
Adam Schiff should be deplatformed.
Former CIA head John Brennan as well:
The list goes on and on and on. Virtually all the biggest names in the Democratic Party and in the “mainstream media” peddled this debunked conspiracy theory, knowingly deceiving the American public and perpetrating the greatest hoax in history.
We must take steps to ensure they are never able to do so again.
Boston Herald’s Adriana Cohen sums it up:
“So now what? For starters, Twitter, Facebook, Google and other Silicon Valley tech companies should remove all Russian collusion conspiracy theorists from their platforms.
After all, social media networks didn’t hesitate to ban Alex Jones of Infowars and others for spreading misinformation and/or conspiracy theories, so why not ban House Majority Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Maxine Waters, Hillary Clinton, James Comey, Andrew McCabe, Schiff, Eric Swalwell, John Brennan, Beto O’ Rourke and scores of media hacks who’ve all done the same?
And what about Google? Will it continue to allow search results that yield now-debunked conspiracy theories surrounding Russian collusion and the Trump campaign? Or will they do the right thing and scrub misinformation and lies to stop the hoax from perpetuating?”
Ban them all.