Renée DiResta, a technical research manager at the Stanford Internet Observatory, dives into the chaotic realm of digital misinformation. She highlights the stark difference between influence and propaganda, and how social media fosters echo chambers. The duo discusses the fallout from COVID-19 misinformation, especially regarding vaccines, and how public trust has been undermined. DiResta shares her experiences with smear campaigns and the challenges of navigating free speech amidst the complexities of today's information landscape.
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insights INSIGHT
Propaganda vs. Persuasion
Propaganda is defined as the systematic effort to shape public opinion using biased or misleading information.
It differs from persuasion, which respects audience autonomy and avoids manipulation or fakery.
insights INSIGHT
Social Media's Impact on Discourse
Social media enables niche targeting and closed communities.
This allows opinions to form within echo chambers, detached from broader public discourse.
insights INSIGHT
Asymmetry of Passion Online
Coordinated online activity creates an illusion of majority opinion.
Algorithms amplify this effect, skewing public perception.
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Renée DiResta’s investigation reveals how power and influence have been transformed by a virtual rumor mill of niche propagandists. These propagandists, despite positioning themselves as trustworthy, wield significant reach, influence, and economic power, undermining the legitimacy of institutions and reshaping politics, culture, and society. The book exposes the machinery and dynamics of the interplay between influencers, algorithms, and online crowds, and offers strategies for leaders to adapt and counter these forces.
Sam Harris speaks with Renée DiResta about the state of our information landscape. They discuss the difference between influence and propaganda, shifts in communication technology, influencers and closed communities, the asymmetry of passion online and the illusion of consensus, the unwillingness to criticize one's own side, audience capture, what we should have learned from the Covid pandemic, what is unique about vaccines, Renée's work at the Stanford Internet Observatory, her experience of being smeared by Michael Shellenberger and Matt Taibbi, Elon Musk and the Twitter files, the false analogy of social media as a digital public square, the imagined "censorship-industrial complex," the 2024 presidential election, and other topics.
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