• KalciferOP
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    1 day ago

    Well, that works if the only vector of misinformation is broadcast-based, but it’s not. […]

    Could you elaborate on what you mean?

    • MudMan@fedia.io
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      21 hours ago

      I’m saying that holding a news outlet accountable for accuracy could work in a news landscape where people get their information from a handful of outlets that all reach a broad audience. In a world where a lot of people get small pieces of misinformation from thousands or millions of tiny sources spread across social media it is much harder to keep a centralized control on accuracy for all those communications, even discounting all the issues with free speech and opinion.

      • KalciferOP
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        7 hours ago

        I’m saying that holding a news outlet accountable for accuracy could work in a news landscape where people get their information from a handful of outlets that all reach a broad audience. In a world where a lot of people get small pieces of misinformation from thousands or millions of tiny sources spread across social media it is much harder to keep a centralized control on accuracy for all those communications

        Hm, I do agree that many outlets/sources may make things “messier”, but I don’t think that it would mean that the laws could no longer apply — for example, I think, defamation laws could still apply to anyone.

        • MudMan@fedia.io
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          2 hours ago

          As I think someone else already pointed out, defamation is not a major part of the issue and it’s already in place quite strictly in many places without making a dent on the issue.

          And yes, it’s absolutely defeated by scale. You can’t start a legal process against every single tweet and facebook post (let alone every message in a Whatsapp group you can’t even see in the first place). As with paywalls, the aggregate effect ends up being that large outlets are held to a high standard while misinformation spread through social media is not just cheaper to make but less accountable.

          • KalciferOP
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            6 minutes ago

            […] without making a dent on the issue.

            “the issue” being misinformation and disinformation that’s not defamation?

          • KalciferOP
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            6 minutes ago

            […] You can’t start a legal process against every single tweet and facebook post (let alone every message in a Whatsapp group you can’t even see in the first place). […]

            Imo, theoretically one could, but I think that it would be impractical, or at least prohibitively expensive.