# IWDK21 - TRUST & TECH
When it comes to trust and tech there is one
term that dominates more than most . Fake news . But even though it can sometimes feel like a recent phenomenon , it is a wellknown part of society :
“ The term fake news is not new . We ’ ve had that as long as we ’ ve had the press . The thing that is new is the infrastructure of platforms like social media and the speed of which misinformation can spread ,” says Vincent F . Hendricks , Professor of Formal Philosophy at the University of Copenhagen and Director of the Centre for Information and Bubble Studies ( CIBS ).
This kind of fake news that we talk about today has been particularly prevalent since 2016 . In fact , in 2016 the word of the year in the Oxford Dictionaries was ‘ post-truth ’.
“ The reason why stories like these can grow so big so fast is because of social media . It has never been easier to find other people you already agree with and because of the business model of these companies you end up in an echo chamber ,”
– Vincent Hendricks
“ When you ’ re looking to define fake news there are two ways of doing it , according to the standards set forth in our recent book ‘ Reality Lost : Markets of Attention , Misinformation and Manipulation ’ by Mads Vestergaard and yours truly . It ’ s either an outright lie or it ’ s bullshit . A liar accepts that there is a difference between the truth and his lie . A bullshitter does not accept that there is a difference between true and false ,” Hendricks says .
Fake news - fragile democracy The conspiracy theorists on everyone ’ s lips is QAnon . QAnon started on the online forum 4chan and have since gained followers who believe in the conspiracy theory that the world is being led by a paedophile satanistic ring with Bill and Hillary Clinton as prominent members and that they are plotting against Donald Trump .
“ QAnon and similar groups who believe in conspiracy theory and adherent misinformation are a problem for democracy because it makes democracy fragile – just think about the storming of the Capitol on January 6 , 2021 and its aftermath as an illustrative example . To the people who follow these movements all evidence points to the conspiracy being the truth . If you argue against it , you ’ re simply part of the conspiracy ,” Hendricks says .
Hendricks describes former President Trump ’ s approach of describing the press as the enemy of the people as “ page one of the Comprehensive Dictator Handbook ”:
“ Rulers and dictators have always made it a point to discredit the traditional media and anyone else who asks critical questions ,” Hendricks explains .
One of the consequences was seen on the 6th of January this year in Washington D . C .
“ In the United States you can see all of these powerful institutions coming together like the FBI saying they ’ ll prosecute anyone who took part in the riots of the 6th of January or President Trump having to go through another impeachment . But we have seen how much can change and shift in just four years . Democracy is brittle ,” Hendricks says .
Robust or not According to Hendricks , when it comes to fake news , the important thing is not whether or not a given story is closer or further away from being true but rather how robust it is :
“ The interesting thing is whether the story spreads and gets a lot of exposure . In a world full of information people ’ s attention is a limited resource . Fake news and misinformation can drain enormous amounts of attention regardless of whether it ’ s true or not ,” Hendricks says . One example is the Pizzagate story , which went viral in 2016 . Hillary Clinton was then running in the presidential election against Donald Trump . Her campaign manager , John Podesta , had his emails hacked and some people claimed that the hacked emails contained secret messages that connected several high-ranking Democratic Party official and U . S . restaurants with the before mentioned alleged human trafficking and child sex ring . Restaurants were harassed and one even had shots fired against it by a man who thought he would be the saviour of captured children within the pizzeria - thereby the name ‘ Pizzagate ’.
“ The reason why stories like these can grow so big so fast is because of social media . It has never been easier to find other people you already agree with and because of the business model of these companies you end up in an echo chamber ,” Hendricks says .
The echo chamber is connected to the way social media works . The algorithms prioritise showing you things similar to what you ’ ve already liked , engaged with and reacted to . This means that you will get more and more of the same in a more and more extreme way to get as much as possible of your attention .
To Hendricks , there are ways to push back against fake news . One is for the big tech companies behind social media to realise their responsibility and self-regulate accordingly which it seems like they are starting to now .
“ Traditional media are regulated from within - journalists by editors and editors by media law and ethics . Social media are not . It is important that they are regulated on the basis of what they really are : Merchants of news stories ,” Hendricks says .
About Center for Information and Bubble Studies ( CIBS )
• CIBS is an interdisciplinary centre of excellence studying bubble phenomena as they relate to attention economics , social media , social influence , fake news , misinformation and post-factual democracy .
• The centre was founded in 2015 through a grant from the Carlsberg Foundation .
• CIBS is based at the Department of Communication at The Faculty of Humanities of the University of Copenhagen .
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