General Discussion

Dennis Donovan

(18,770 posts) Mon Jun 17, 2019, 06:57 AM Jun 2019

Ben Wittes tweet: six steps you can take to help control the problem of political disinformation

Link to tweet

Nicely laid out.

11 replies

= new reply since forum marked as read

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Ben Wittes tweet: six steps you can take to help control the problem of political disinformation (Original Post) Dennis Donovan Jun 2019 OP

Nicely laid out, and incredibly difficult to consume as a complete piece because of ... marble falls Jun 2019 #1

Twitter only defeats ctrl-C. You can still sweep and copy ... unless you have an Apple Bernardo de La Paz Jun 2019 #2

Just will not work for me on twitter. All I get is the url. marble falls Jun 2019 #3

#$%ERYT$#W!!! That has never worked before. marble falls Jun 2019 #4

You can't sweep-highlight text? In the body, not the address bar. Try the ALT key. Bernardo de La Paz Jun 2019 #5

Good info thanks for posting Farmer-Rick Jun 2019 #6

Great Advice. Justice Jun 2019 #7

the most effective kremlin/gop propaganda piggybacked established memes - and most of that certainot Jun 2019 #8

Excellent, thanks. I'm saving this. Hortensis Jun 2019 #9

Thank you, for posting. wendyb-NC Jun 2019 #10

kick Blue_Tires Jun 2019 #11

marble falls

(57,112 posts)

1. Nicely laid out, and incredibly difficult to consume as a complete piece because of ...

Reply to Dennis Donovan (Original post)

Mon Jun 17, 2019, 07:47 AM

Jun 2019

twitter's small format and its maddening policy of not allowing copy and past.

Its extreme love/hate for me and twitter. I like being able to tell the "president" my opinion, but I hate the dance required to see and share what you said to the "president" when your comments go on past the character limit.

BTW, thanks for the quality and content of your posting here on DU. You beat me to it every time. Thank goodness I can see the entire posts on one page without having to open eight links, and be able to copy and paste to share unless twitter is involved.

Bernardo de La Paz

(49,010 posts)

2. Twitter only defeats ctrl-C. You can still sweep and copy ... unless you have an Apple

Reply to marble falls (Reply #1)

Mon Jun 17, 2019, 08:18 AM

Jun 2019

(if I understand it, Apple is adamant a mouse should have a single button, not two and not the three I learned the mouse with.)

Left click, sweep, right click, select copy. (Ordinarily I would edit the pasted text for extraneous verbiage.)

Benjamin Wittes
?Verified account @benjaminwittes

Here are six easy steps you can take to help control the problem of political disinformation:
5:45 AM - 16 Jun 2019

3,929 Retweets
6,355 Likes
pringlesADT
Judi Golden
Robyn Roberts
Aditya
elizabeth tronoski
Karen Schymanski
Doe-Eyed Mullet Boy
Dot
D-face

207 replies 3,929 retweets 6,355 likes

New conversation
Benjamin Wittes
?Verified account @benjaminwittes
23h23 hours ago

(1) Pause a moment--just a moment--before you share something on social media to ask whether you are being someone's dupe and whether you mind.
16 replies 332 retweets 2,391 likes
Benjamin Wittes
?Verified account @benjaminwittes
23h23 hours ago

(2) Don't share content you haven't actually read. The headline is not the article. Know WHAT you are sharing. This isn't asking a lot, people.
31 replies 384 retweets 2,996 likes
Benjamin Wittes
?Verified account @benjaminwittes
23h23 hours ago

(3) Don't share content of whose origin you have no idea. You wouldn't go on TV and broadcast something you heard from any old rando. That's exactly what you're doing when you retweet material from people you don't know and have no reason to trust.

Know WHOM you are sharing.
13 replies 264 retweets 2,178 likes
Benjamin Wittes
?Verified account @benjaminwittes
23h23 hours ago

(4) Pause before sharing attacks on people. A huge amount of disinformation involves mindless ad hominem. When you share such material, you're generally just amplifying the cacophony--often about a specific person. Ask yourself whether you're adding signal or noise.
10 replies 264 retweets 2,032 likes
Benjamin Wittes
?Verified account @benjaminwittes
23h23 hours ago

Ask yourself why this person is being attacked, and ask yourself whose interests you are serving by turning up the amplifiers on the attack.
8 replies 218 retweets 1,800 likes
Benjamin Wittes
?Verified account @benjaminwittes
23h23 hours ago

(5) Edited video is dangerous stuff. Even before you get to deep fakes, very time there's a cut, someone has removed something. Ask yourself whether you have enough context to evaluate the shared material and whether you know and trust the entity or person that made the cuts.
14 replies 247 retweets 1,906 likes
Benjamin Wittes
?Verified account @benjaminwittes
23h23 hours ago

(6) All of this boils down to something we might call the "finding candy on the street" rule. If you found candy on the street, you wouldn't eat it. If someone gave you candy on the street, you might eat it depending on what it was and who gave it to you.
11 replies 337 retweets 2,192 likes
Benjamin Wittes
?Verified account @benjaminwittes
23h23 hours ago

Information is like candy obtained in public. Ask yourself this question: if this were candy and I were walking down the street, would I eat this? And would I give it to my kids and friends?
20 replies 454 retweets 2,511 likes
Benjamin Wittes
?Verified account @benjaminwittes
23h23 hours ago

That's all I got.
121 replies 138 retweets 2,082 likes

marble falls

(57,112 posts)

3. Just will not work for me on twitter. All I get is the url.

Reply to Bernardo de La Paz (Reply #2)

Mon Jun 17, 2019, 08:21 AM

Jun 2019

marble falls

(57,112 posts)

4. #$%ERYT$#W!!! That has never worked before.

Reply to marble falls (Reply #3)

Mon Jun 17, 2019, 08:26 AM

Jun 2019

Benjamin Wittes
?Verified account @benjaminwittes

Here are six easy steps you can take to help control the problem of political disinformation:
5:45 AM - 16 Jun 2019

3,961 Retweets
6,406 Likes
sudha
Cory Ewing
Winnie Man
Megan McConnell
nancy sorrells
Jeff
Phil Burton
Shane Zurbrigg
Christine Collins

209 replies 3,961 retweets 6,406 likes

New conversation
Benjamin Wittes
?Verified account @be

But, of course, images are still reduced to a link.

Bernardo de La Paz

(49,010 posts)

5. You can't sweep-highlight text? In the body, not the address bar. Try the ALT key.

Reply to marble falls (Reply #3)

Mon Jun 17, 2019, 08:29 AM

Jun 2019

Are you on an Apple? Dunno if it would work on Windows XP, but it works on Windows 7 (and presumably up). What is your browser?

Alternatively, in this browser (Firefox and all have similar mechanisms I'm sure), you can sweep-highlight text and then press the ALT key on its own to get the menu bar. You can then use the menu bar to copy, in the Edit menu item.

Farmer-Rick

(10,187 posts)

6. Good info thanks for posting

Reply to Dennis Donovan (Original post)

Mon Jun 17, 2019, 08:54 AM

Jun 2019

Number 4 is something I find is not practiced much on most posting sites. Everyone is quick to post a negative story especially if it involves a candidate they don't like. Then everyone joins in bashing them, only to find out a week later the whole thing was a lie.

But just wait, that same poster will do it all again in a few weeks. And many of the same posters who joined in the bashing last time are at it again this time. It's as if they learn Nothing.

Justice

(7,188 posts)

7. Great Advice.

Reply to Dennis Donovan (Original post)

Mon Jun 17, 2019, 09:35 AM

Jun 2019

certainot

(9,090 posts)

8. the most effective kremlin/gop propaganda piggybacked established memes - and most of that

Reply to Dennis Donovan (Original post)

Mon Jun 17, 2019, 09:54 AM

Jun 2019

had been established with weeks, months, years of talk radio repetition

that makes a lot of sense since radio propaganda goes way back and there's circumstantial evidence russians have been using rw talk radio here/limbaugh/ hannity since at least 2008 (mccain> manafort/limbaugh >palin)

trump team took notes on 1000's of hours of talk radio in 2014, the same year a russian troll said "we got a list of topics to write about"

the most effective propaganda doesn't just get made up. they wouldn't waste time just throwing shit against a wall as long as they could piggyback talk radio.

the easy way to stay ahead of them is to digitize talk radio and look for it in social media activity

Hortensis

(58,785 posts)

9. Excellent, thanks. I'm saving this.

Reply to Dennis Donovan (Original post)

Mon Jun 17, 2019, 09:54 AM

Jun 2019

"The finding candy on the street rule" goes right back to #1. Such a knee-jerk reaction in that case. Intrigued but automatically cautious.

With all the discussion of political candidates, #4's going to be constantly in play.

(4) Pause before sharing attacks on people. A huge amount of disinformation involves mindless ad hominem (attacks on the person himself). When you share such material, you're generally just amplifying the cacophony--often about a specific person. Ask yourself whether you're adding signal or noise. Ask yourself why this person is being attacked, and ask yourself whose interests you are serving by turning up the amplifiers on the attack.

It comes to mind because I was just discussing the amplified attention to Biden's old-fashioned joke to a girl's older brothers: "You've got one job here, keep the guys away from her." Surely an old-fashioned protective attitude toward girls in a 77-year-old candidate may generate reasonable discussion in those interested about old-fashioned humor, what it might reveal or not, and how and if that might affect political decisions? Imo,the candy's okay.

But of course this was also quickly weaponized into an assertion that it shows Biden is hostile to empowering females, even misogynistic, and would try to reestablish patriarchal culture. My disposition is to see that as poisoned, some believe an important truth is revealed. And this is a discussion forum, of course. But that cacophony that developed around it is a huge warning to all to think before biting.

Even when a fact employed is real as in this example, how valid are the interpretation and what's being said about the candidate himself or herself? Are they honest and just to the candidate? And decent? (We're Democrats, not trumpsters.) Is whatever truth is at the center of the noise proportionate to the reaction, or is it being amplified out of proportion?

Which of course bring us all back to #1: Instead of being distracted into fussing about those we disagree with, we need to "ask whether you are being someone's dupe and whether you mind."