With modernized rules that limit data collection and restrict how it can be used, we can weaken the machine of disinformation. And this data feeds an automated system of information curation (what we used to call the work of the newsrooms) that is programmed to service the advertiser, not the public. The sins of digital media monopolies start in the massive dragnet of data collection they perform every day that in turn informs audience profiling and content targeting. The starting point for restoring a healthy relationship between media and democracy will be rules governing data and algorithms. Realigning the commercial incentives of Big Tech with the values of democracy and social welfare does not mean a government-imposed standard for truth or draconian limits on free speech. False accusations about migrants carrying COVID-19, fake remedies and cures, attacks on adversaries to blame them for the pandemic, and good old-fashioned conspiracies circulate unabated.Īs we reimagine the world post-COVID, we believe that we will see a wholesale rethinking of our information ecosystem. The ad tech keeps pushing forward harmful content. The platforms - to their credit - have made some efforts to push back against the public-health-harming noise cascading over their systems. They are structural flaws in our information ecosystem. ![]() This means that misinformation, disinformation, online hate, state propaganda and partisan news are not simply unfortunate byproducts of an open internet. It turns out replacing newsroom editors with advertising technology is terrible for democracy and society. The result is that conspiracy theories about the pandemic are flooding Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. The editorial role is now played by complex algorithms devoid of local context, culture and histories. Internet platforms are not designed to give us quality information they are calibrated to maximize attention capture and corporate profit. For better and (mostly) worse, that role is now played by digital media platforms like Google and Facebook. But they are no longer the gatekeepers of information in our society. Newspapers and broadcasters dedicated to public service journalism remain central to our media landscape. The search for trusted information in a crisis exposes the architecture of power at the intersection of media, society and government. One of the most acute and pernicious problems the COVID-19 pandemic has surfaced is the danger of undermining the reliability of information in our democracies. Taylor Owen and Ben Scott - Special to Montreal Gazette ![]() ![]() The reliability of information in our societies should not be left to the incentives of the attention economy. Opinion: Algorithm ‘gatekeepers’ undermine democracy and health
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