Treading the Sea of Misinformation

Life Guards to Keep Us Safer

I just read an article from the AP about the volume of misinformation on YouTube. They’re reporting on how it has been spread by the internet like a plague and virally viewed by literally tens of millions of people.

As I digest what I read, I suddenly gain an incredible gratefulness for the FCC, who in the past, have been watchdogs of public media. Unfortunately, in the age of cyberspace, the organization cannot adequately do that job due to the internet’s volume and lack of self-regulation.

Historically, the FCC has taken some heat as a “censor.” And at times, that moniker has been deserved, which I’m sure influences people toward being hesitant about granting the FCC greater powers over the internet and social media. But censorship is not what is being sought.

What people are looking for is a better internet, one where they feel less suspicious of what is read and unthreatened by the actions or inactions of those misled by internet content. And in this time of COVID, when misinformation poses dangers to public health, there is a desperate need for better regulation.

As everyone knows, or should know, (don’t you read the internet?) COVID is a global, public threat. The push for greater media provider responsibility rides on that keyword, public. Without tighter controls, there is a clear danger to citizenry in the U.S. and abroad since cyberspace is borderless.

In the AP article, the unregulated information could have been posted by, well, anyone, but in this case the misinformation was “legitimized” because it was provided by a medical doctor and spread to a known ten million viewers.

The threat in this case isn’t just about freedom of speech and laws though. The threat posed comes from the likelihood that some of those ten million following his misinformation will react to it by not taking precautions and very possibly become infected, infect someone else, and end up in a hospital ICU.

And there they often die. Which if not tragedy enough, there’s also the probability they’ve endangered their families, placed an exhausted medical community at higher risk and again, threatened the public at large.

I am not anti-internet. I love it, and obviously since I’m posting this on the internet through Medium, I am not afraid of it. However, just like any information source, it can be used well, poorly, or dangerously.

Then, why am I saying anything? Do I want YouTube censored or shut down? Not really. I’m just trying to make it easier to tread the flood of information. I believe there can be better controls, like those mentioned in this article, appearing in the Brown Political Review. which calls for tighter media self-control.

Currently, there are no U.S. laws requiring YouTube or other providers to police content. They do self-control/censor some since moral obligations call for it. But a start to solving the problem of misinformation would be to give some teeth to regulation and legally mandate media outlets to at least police themselves.

Why worry about this at all? Isn’t the internet supposed to be anarchic and free? Well, history reminds us that freedom rides on a razor’s edge.

Free speech can be used to maintain freedom and challenge the status quo. For example the Voice of America, which often broadcasts into repressed regions.

Also, paradoxically, free speech can threaten itself and be used to start a fascist movement. It’s been done before. It’s actually being done on the internet right now. Propaganda is one of the oldest tools in the political book.

Now the frustrating part.

Just like you, I cannot exercise power I do not have. There’s little I can do except be a tiny voice in an ocean of voices. The most immediate action I can take is to control my own behavior and be thorough and methodical in my evaluation of information.

For the time being, I am going to continue to write my political representatives, raise my voice on social media, and I’m going to take some wise advice from Dory, star of Pixar’s, Finding Nemo, “just keep swimming.”

I hope each of you do too.