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In: Society

Media Manipulation

One of the most dangerous trends of our time: Harnessing the vast new possibilities of the digital age, including misuse of both mainstream and social media, malicious actors find it easier than ever to disseminate lies and conspiracy theories. With minimal effort and resources they can destabilize whole societies and even influence elections. Read these summaries and learn how they operate by distorting the messages the public receives, what damage they inflict, and how free and open societies can defend against them.

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Summaries

9 Book

Free Speech

A History from Socrates to Social Media
Jacob Mchangama
Basic Books, 2022
8 Article

The People Onscreen Are Fake.

The Disinformation Is Real.
Alan Satariano and Paul Mozur
The New York Times, 2023
8 Podcast

Digital Media Literacy

Empathizing with the Internet
Mohit Rajhans and Kara Brisson-Boivin
The Walrus, 2022
8 Article

You are probably spreading misinformation. Here’s how to stop.

A citizen’s guide to not helping trolls, bots and other online disinformers during turbulent times.
Geoffrey A. Fowler
The Washington Post, 2020
8 Article

Are Toxic Political Conversations Changing How We Feel about Objective Truth?

As political polarization grows, the arguments we have with one another may be shifting our understanding of truth itself
Matthew Fisher et al.
Scientific American, 2018
8 Article

Building Trust at the Origin

Project Origin aims to create a measure of accountability through provenance: By certifying the source of the content like a watermark, we can safeguard against manipulation.
Microsoft, 2021
8 Article
Tobias Natterer
Webby Awards, 2021
8 Book

Media Capture

How Money, Digital Platforms, and Governments Control the News
Anya Schiffrin
Columbia UP, 2021
Book

Ghosting the News

Local Journalism and the Crisis of American Democracy
Margaret Sullivan
Columbia Global Reports, 2020
8 Article

The Enduring Lure of Conspiracies

Conspiracy theories seem to meet psychological needs and can be almost impossible to eradicate. One remedy: Keep them from taking root in the first place.
Greg Miller
Niemanlab.org, 2021
9 Article

She Helped Wreck the News Business. Here’s Her Plan to Fix It

Nandini Jammi’s advertiser boycotts scared brands away from journalism and into shady ad tech. Now she wants to teach marketers to think for themselves again.
Gilad Edelman
Wired, 2020
9 Article

The Supply of Disinformation Soon Will Be Infinite

Disinformation campaigns used to require a lot of human effort, but artificial intelligence will take them to a whole new level.
Renee DiResta
The Atlantic, 2020