Hey everyone,
I'm deeply concerned about the direction our society is heading.
Fake news on platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and Reddit seems to be spreading like wildfire, and at the same time, many people appear to have lost their ability to think critically or perform basic research.
Edit: I know that fake news and conspiracy theories were always a thing, thinking about the moon landing and 9/11 truthers. I remember the "documentary" lose change that had a big role in starting all of it at that time. Back then though, at least there was some effort in creating these theories and media pieces to explain them. I also like to believe that there were single individuals behind it, innocent reasons. Now it looks like a mix of targeted misinformation campaigns and just attention seeking idiots with a tiktok account.
I understand that not everyone is trained to handle or evaluate information scientifically, but do we really need specialized training for this?
Mainstream news media has long shifted its focus toward revenue and capturing attention, often at the expense of proper journalism. Many journalists today seem unable, or unwilling, to produce high-quality, fact-based reporting, and instead contribute to spreading both harmless nonsense and dangerous misinformation.
My gut feeling is that foreign intelligence assets may be actively exploiting platforms like TikTok and YouTube to destabilize Western societies.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, this problem seems worse than ever—or maybe it's just more obvious now. I've noticed misinformation spreading beyond the usual demographic of younger, less educated users. It's not just teens on social media anymore; even older, well-educated individuals seem to be affected.
Whether it's conspiracy theories about aliens, the war in Ukraine, alt-right narratives, Qanon, flat Earth theories, COVID, or crypto scams, it feels like we're speeding into an idiocracy reality.
What once seemed to be a 4chan and equivalent exclusive phenomena that was (more or less) fun to engage with has no swapped over into "normal" society. I live in Switzerland and historically what happened online never made it our everyday life.
During COVID i saw that a lot of low-education demographics have discovered, or were pushed towards, "alternative media" such as and especially tiktok. Easy digestible, short, out of context videos catering to a certain belief system, let outcasted people feel as part of something bigger. They found a belonging, felt validated and "enlightened".
What worries me deeply is that its not just the "crazy cat ladies" and "new age, magnet bracelet" crowd anymore. In my experience it seems that it has since spread into the military, police, politics, healthcare and academia.
I have also not really seen a lot of a "counterweight" to this, quality reports / news articles, documentations seem not to cover this issue.
Do you see this development too? Are my fears reasonable or is it more of a perceived issue that isnt backed by facts? And if its a real issue, do you think there's any chance we'll "return" to a culture of (more) critical thinking?
I'm deeply concerned about the direction our society is heading.
Fake news on platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and Reddit seems to be spreading like wildfire, and at the same time, many people appear to have lost their ability to think critically or perform basic research.
Edit: I know that fake news and conspiracy theories were always a thing, thinking about the moon landing and 9/11 truthers. I remember the "documentary" lose change that had a big role in starting all of it at that time. Back then though, at least there was some effort in creating these theories and media pieces to explain them. I also like to believe that there were single individuals behind it, innocent reasons. Now it looks like a mix of targeted misinformation campaigns and just attention seeking idiots with a tiktok account.
I understand that not everyone is trained to handle or evaluate information scientifically, but do we really need specialized training for this?
Mainstream news media has long shifted its focus toward revenue and capturing attention, often at the expense of proper journalism. Many journalists today seem unable, or unwilling, to produce high-quality, fact-based reporting, and instead contribute to spreading both harmless nonsense and dangerous misinformation.
My gut feeling is that foreign intelligence assets may be actively exploiting platforms like TikTok and YouTube to destabilize Western societies.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, this problem seems worse than ever—or maybe it's just more obvious now. I've noticed misinformation spreading beyond the usual demographic of younger, less educated users. It's not just teens on social media anymore; even older, well-educated individuals seem to be affected.
Whether it's conspiracy theories about aliens, the war in Ukraine, alt-right narratives, Qanon, flat Earth theories, COVID, or crypto scams, it feels like we're speeding into an idiocracy reality.
What once seemed to be a 4chan and equivalent exclusive phenomena that was (more or less) fun to engage with has no swapped over into "normal" society. I live in Switzerland and historically what happened online never made it our everyday life.
During COVID i saw that a lot of low-education demographics have discovered, or were pushed towards, "alternative media" such as and especially tiktok. Easy digestible, short, out of context videos catering to a certain belief system, let outcasted people feel as part of something bigger. They found a belonging, felt validated and "enlightened".
What worries me deeply is that its not just the "crazy cat ladies" and "new age, magnet bracelet" crowd anymore. In my experience it seems that it has since spread into the military, police, politics, healthcare and academia.
I have also not really seen a lot of a "counterweight" to this, quality reports / news articles, documentations seem not to cover this issue.
Do you see this development too? Are my fears reasonable or is it more of a perceived issue that isnt backed by facts? And if its a real issue, do you think there's any chance we'll "return" to a culture of (more) critical thinking?
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