Thread by @Justin_Ling

Oh my god, this.

News outlets in Canada, probably more than anywhere else, have raced towards the already-occupied ground of reporting on misinformation. And yet this focus seems honestly misguided.

https://twitter.com/dgardner/status/1148029679951056896

Do regular folks fall for clickbait misinformation? Yes. But, generally speaking, this happens infrequently, in a relatively innocuous way. And, even then, people Google the issue at hand and realize it's nonsense (i.e. 'Canada is letting in 1m Nigerian immigrants.')

Misinformation is dangerous when it spreads amongst people who don't want to believe reality. People uncomfortable with Muslims, Jews, queer folks, etc or who are so sure in their position they'll glob on to obvious propaganda. (See: Telesur's defence of the Venezuelan regime.)

To that end, it's absurd that we're trying to lecture the mainstream news-reading public about needing to step up to counter misinformation when its Members of Parliament, news pundits, and TV personalities who are helping this stuff go viral.

Honestly, I think two strategies would go a long way:
1. Naming and shaming all foreign entities who promulgate or promote fake news, so we know who is, and isn't, doing it.
2. Censuring public figures who peddle misinfo and foreign propaganda

But fundamentally, we're treating a symptom. Folks' propensity to dig into nonsense is a product of extreme partisanship and alienation from the mainstream dialog. Politicians and pundits are to blame for that. Putting the onus on citizens to do better is wrong-headed.

This isn't to say we shouldn't report on big, troubling, or pertinent issues of misinformation. We should (and, hey, I have!) But I'm worried an established class of misinfo reports will lose perspective. (Ditto for how I feel about the emergence of fact-checking.)