Researchers at New York University have concluded that social media is not an accurate reflection of society, but more like a funhouse mirror distorted by a small but vocal minority of extreme outliers. It's a finding that has special resonance this election season. John Yang speaks with psychology professor Jay Van Bavel, one of the authors of the paper that reported the research, to learn more.

Researchers at New York University have concluded that social media is not an accurate reflection of society, but more like a funhouse mirror distorted by a small but vocal minority of extreme outliers. It’s a finding that has special resonance this election season. John Yang speaks with psychology professor Jay Van Bavel, one of the authors of the paper that reported the research, to learn more.

  • Habahnow
    1·
    24 days ago

    For larger website that allow political discussions and reach a lot of people, yes I think verification would help tackle disinformation. Same thing that happens to websites that don’t follow GDPR is what I would imagine.

    If you have suggestions for dealing with foreign disinformation, I’m all ears

    • azuthEnglish
      1·
      23 days ago

      GDPR violations result in fines. It also applies to entities engaged in commercial activities.

      You are foreign to me and in fact a lot of misinformation and propaganda comes from the US. I would not block access to US media.

      You still haven’t answered what would to the Lemmy instances you currently use and allow anonymous (email as verification is not very hard) posting.

      • Habahnow
        1·
        22 days ago

        I agree that a lot of disinformation comes from snd is aimed at the US.

        For Lemmy, idk. On one hand, it could also be restricted. I can imagine restrictions being dependent on the size of the website in terms of traffic and posting.

        On the other, if there isn’t such a huge impact because of it’s size, then restrictions aren’t necessary.