Ah yes. Lies. That's why it was the first place I learned about just how bad the atrocities in Gaza were; just how bad the damage of Hurricane Helene was; about the murder of George Floyd.
Social networks are the most democratized ways of spreading information to date. Some of that information is lies, but a lot of people spread fact.
I’m not sure that citing three things that the traditional media has been happy to report on too is a very good way of making your point. The real danger is the content you don’t see:
“A [Rutgers Univerity] study […] asserts TikTok’s algorithms promote Chinese Communist Party narratives and suppress content critical of those narrative“
Is that the same article that Last Week Tonight brought up in their expose on TikTok where they brought up some very valid questions about the method used in that study?
Fox News and OAN has taught us that even news agencies and journalism aren't the way to guarantee fact or truth.
Yellow Journalism is a term for over 100 years ago. People lying with a broad audience is nothing new.
addendum: and how many times have you read a news article from the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal that's in your area of expertise that's made you go "wow, everything they've said here is wrong, said with an agenda, misinterpreted or other propaganda"?
Sure, news agencies aren't a way to guarrantee truth. That has always been a problem.
But social networks have increased that problem by an order of magnitude. And we're seeing the results - the rise of dictatorships all around the world, that use the lie spreading capability of social networks.
I forget where I heard it last night; but yes, that is something to consider. Every time there's been a new way for a new and different wave of people to communicate with the masses that there has been a rise in populism and dictatorships around the world. Happened with the printing press, radio, with television and now it's social media's turn, yes.
We as a collection of societies, worldwide, have not grown our broad-range antibodies/protections against such things, yet.
bingo, and this is why I'm spending more time watching local news than national/global news or social media posts from other nations. there's a higher trust factor with stuff you can see and touch.
you can easily find which of your local stations are owned by sinclair. for example, in seattle sinclair owns KOMO, which is quite annoying because that channel plays jeopardy/seahawks special segments.
Social networks are the most democratized ways of spreading information to date. Some of that information is lies, but a lot of people spread fact.