points by morkalork 1 day ago | 0 comments
It's baffling how western countries have left themselves completely open to information warfare. It's completely negligent. It's not some new thing and yet the door is open to TikTok, Facebook, X, whatever social media that is at the beck and call of foreign governments.
[–] raddan 1 day ago
Sure, but what do you propose governments do to stop it?
[–] morkalork 1 day ago
Pivot to domestic alternatives and encourage them to root out bot accounts and foreign influence campaigns.
[–] ElevenLathe 1 day ago
That sounds a lot like "censor foreign media and domestic anti-regime media". I'm of the opinion that if foreigners can convince me and my countrymen of something just by posting, we probably didn't really need the convincing anyway. Even if it turns out my position on something was changed 180 degrees by foreign posters (even Chinese intelligence employing cutting edge propaganda AI, or whatever bogeyman you want to employ), then: Fine. Whatever. Persuasion of citizens in a democracy is just how a free society works.
[–] morkalork 1 day ago
How do you feel about the FCC. Should it be abolished? Otherwise, why should social media broadcasting be exceptional vs over the airwaves?
[–] ElevenLathe 1 day ago
Spectrum is finite and must be shared. In the absence of a functioning world government, it makes sense to treat it as a national resource. And no, I don't think the FCC should be in the business of policing the content of what is broadcast on the public's spectrum, only that it is done in an orderly way.
[–] red-iron-pine 1 day ago
regulate the shit out of social media.
they know. Facebook, Tiktok, Twitter -- it's not hard to figure out who and how this is happening.
it's like how Twitter goofed and made accounts show the country they were posting from. Turns out most of the Real American Patriot influencers were posting from India. Twitter immediately freaked out and ended that visibility.
They know. They're the problem.
Governments and special interests have always spread propaganda, and they've frequently made criticizing it illegal.
Most people still end up believing some version of the truth. The ones that don't would likely never have believed the truth.
Nations should not coddle their citizens. People should be trusted to hear information and choose to believe it or not - that's a key aspect of our shared humanity and a fundamental human right.