Disinformation Is a Problem of Real People Sharing Their Real Opinions

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"We turned a blind eye to this for so long, and that, in some cases, this has really managed to create an architect real communities," he says. "It's kind of like the, you know, the trellis, at some point there's a real plant on it, and you can remove it, but the plant is still there." 'The disinformation around the idea that the vote was stolen and that the election was stolen, absolutely this was driven by real domestic actors,' adds Mr Boulden.

Disinformation researchers have been fighting two battles over the last decade: one to combat and contain harmful information, and one to convince the world that these manipulations have an offline impact that requires complex, nuanced solutions. Camille François, Chief Information Officer at the cybersecurity company Graphika and an affiliate of the Harvard Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society, believes that our common understanding of the problem has recently reached a new level. In this interview, she catalogues the key changes she observed between studying Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election and helping convene and operate the Election Integrity Partnership watchdog group before, during and after the 2020 election. “I'm optimistic, because I think that things that have taken quite a long time to land are finally landing, and because I think that we do have a diverse set of expertise at the table,” she says. Camille and Tristan Harris dissect the challenges and talk about the path forward to a healthy information ecosystem.