News Review - Russian Propaganda Unit Appears to Be Behind Spread of False Tim Walz Sexual Abuse Claims

“A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes.” – Mark Twain

Generative AI technology and social media algorithms precipitate the generation and dissemination of misinformation. ChatGPT is known to deliver content with great confidence and persuasiveness even though it’s incorrect. The lack of uncertainty signals between lines makes it a strenuous process for humans to distinguish between facts and false news, especially when some disinformation is also accompanied by Deepfake images or audio. Meanwhile, social media algorithms continuously feeding people with eye-grabbing content for retention purposes actually worsen the situation. “Authenticity” barely matters on social media platforms, given the authoritative truths (which are largely hidden behind paywalls these days) and misinformation are equally accessible to people online, who tend to believe the stories that match their preconceptions or trigger strong emotions through exaggeration or fabrication, and in turn enhance their bias and become more vulnerable to disinformation.

On the other hand, the current solutions for disinformation are not effective so far to keep up with the spreading speed of lies. Mechanically censoring, hiding, and deleting misinformation can cause the Streisand effect which unintendedly reinforces the public’s temptation to search for and propagate disinformation instead. To cultivate critical thinking skills and mental 'immunity' to fake news among the mass online audience is arguably practical. However, we normally tend to seek appealing content and interesting communities to accommodate emotional desire instead of conducting scientific research on social media. Just like the quote with which this article begins is misattributed to Mark Twain, while we can trace the quote’s origin in detail on the website QuoteInvestigator, I wonder how large the proportion of people is willing to spare some time to query the source of that information.

Nevertheless, the influential capability of generative AI technologies on social media in these cases is worth noticing. They possess unlimited potential even at this early stage of development if used ethically.

News Link: https://www.wired.com/story/russian-propaganda-unit-storm-1516-false-tim-walz-sexual-abuse-claims/

(Image Source: Wired.com)