Facebook Takes on Superspreaders
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Big internet companies are finally taking misinformation “superspreaders” seriously. (All it took was a global health crisis and the great lie of a rigged election.)
I’ve written about influential people, including former President Donald J. Trump, who have been instrumental in spreading false information online about important topics like election integrity and vaccine safety. Some of those same people have repeatedly twisted our beliefs and internet companies have largely given them a pass.
Let’s dig into why habitual misinformation peddlers matter and how internet companies have begun to focus on them including the new rules put in place by Facebook this week.
Vaccine Mandate Unleashes a Mob in a Small Polish Town
The mayor of a former mining community in Poland received death threats and was compared to a Nazi death camp doctor after trying to make coronavirus shots obligatory for adults.
City Hall in Walbrzych. The mayor, Dr. Roman Szelemej, said that his attempt to mandate inoculations had “made this small point on the map of Poland a place for all the skeptics of science and reality to focus on.”Credit.Maciek Nabrdalik for The New York Times
May 27, 2021, 10:47 a.m. ET
WALBRZYCH, Poland The mayor, a heart surgeon, had just finished overnight hospital duty when he received alarming news: a mob of protesters, some dressed in military camouflage, had gathered outside his home, screaming abuse through bullhorns and waving banners comparing him to Josef Mengele, the Nazi death camp physician.
Indian Police Visit Twitter Offices as Modi Goes on Pandemic Offense
The visit sent a clear message that India’s powerful ruling party is becoming increasingly upset with the company.
A billboard with a photo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a message in Punjabi reading, “Why did you send our vaccines abroad?”Credit.Narinder Nanu/Agence France-Presse Getty Images
May 25, 2021, 3:39 p.m. ET
The officers from India’s elite antiterrorism police unit descended after dusk on the New Delhi offices of Twitter, with television news cameras in tow. Their mission: Start an argument over fake news.
The offices sat empty, closed amid India’s devastating coronavirus outbreak. And the police acknowledged that they were there to deliver nothing more legally binding than a notice disputing a warning label that Twitter had assigned to some tweets.
Florida, in a First, Will Fine Social Media Companies That Bar Candidates
The new law, a direct response to Facebook’s and Twitter’s suspensions of former President Donald J. Trump, affects candidates for statewide offices.
Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida last year. He said the new law meant state residents would be “guaranteed protection against the Silicon Valley elites.”Credit.Anna Moneymaker for The New York Times
May 24, 2021Updated 2:31 p.m. ET
WASHINGTON Florida on Monday became the first state to regulate how companies like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter moderate speech online, by imposing fines on social media companies that permanently bar political candidates for statewide office.