Researchers at New York University have concluded that social media is not an accurate reflection of society, but more like a funhouse mirror distorted by a small but vocal minority of extreme outliers. It's a finding that has special resonance this election season. John Yang speaks with psychology professor Jay Van Bavel, one of the authors of the paper that reported the research, to learn more.

Researchers at New York University have concluded that social media is not an accurate reflection of society, but more like a funhouse mirror distorted by a small but vocal minority of extreme outliers. It’s a finding that has special resonance this election season. John Yang speaks with psychology professor Jay Van Bavel, one of the authors of the paper that reported the research, to learn more.

  • azuth@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    63·
    3 days ago

    Who are this “we” that should not allow political discussions online ? How would that be enforced?

    Would Lemmy.world (the “foreign” social media) have to apply these US restrictions (via political pressure on it’s host countries) or will the US block access to it?

    Or your home instance sh.it just.works?

    Do you even remotely realize how authoritarian your position is?

    • Habahnow@sh.itjust.works
      1·
      1 day ago

      What I mean by that is no anonymous posting. A big issue is that you have thousands of bots pushing fake messages. It’s worse with algorithms where the company can control how many people certain messages reach. But places like Lemmy and reddit aren’t immune either. I still remember seeing how crazy reddit went during 2016 elections. All of a sudden a ton of pro Trump people were there. I couldn’t trust a lot of news, pro or against Trump, because there would be false information posted (false anti information I bet also posted by Russian bots for this reason as well.)

      As of now, we’re basically allowing Russia, China and Iran to influence our citizens. That’s partially why MAGA has such a an alternate view Trump. They don’t ever hear the bad news about him, or just don’t believe it.

      • azuth@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        2·
        1 day ago

        No anonymous posting means what? Credit card verified accounts? Mobile number verified accounts? On all websites or just ones that meet a threshold like Facebook and Twitter?

        What happens to sites hosted outside the US like the lemmy instance you use? Are they blocked? Does the US try to prosecute them and get them extradited like they do with pirate sites?

        • Habahnow@sh.itjust.works
          1·
          15 hours ago

          For larger website that allow political discussions and reach a lot of people, yes I think verification would help tackle disinformation. Same thing that happens to websites that don’t follow GDPR is what I would imagine.

          If you have suggestions for dealing with foreign disinformation, I’m all ears