THREAD. One of the long-term impacts of disinformation on a society is the steady erosion of peoples' trust in institutions they used to count on for truth/information. That distrust makes people more likely to gravitate toward conspiracy theories that promise the *real* truth.
That's true especially if one's government can no longer be trusted to provide accurate information. I wrote last year about the steady mainstreaming of conspiracy theories into political discourse & how foreign governments are leveraging them in the US. https://www.thecipherbrief.com/disinformation-and-the-threat-posed-by-conspiracy-theories
As conspiracy theories work their way into political discourse to where now in the US, politicians are actually raising them as legitimate talking points, social media platforms need to update their approach to conspiracy theories, too.
Now, most social media platforms treat conspiracy theories as political beliefs or opinions. And while freedom of speech must absolutely be safeguarded, platforms can't ignore the fact that some gaining ground right now promote and encourage violence. That's not political belief.
You can follow @CindyOtis_.
Tip: mention @twtextapp on a Twitter thread with the keyword “unroll” to get a link to it.

Latest Threads Unrolled: