this post was submitted on 11 Dec 2023
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Disinformation is the 'threat of a generation,' but Canada is struggling to deal with it: National security adviser (theprovince.com)
submitted 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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AI-powered misinformation and disinformation campaigns are a “threat of a generation” but the government’s ability to do anything about it is “quite limited,” says the prime minister’s national security adviser. Article content

Jody Thomas delivered a bleak picture about the growing fight against distorted or false information worldwide during a speech at a Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) event Friday.

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https://archive.is/VsndV

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Media is already regulated to a degree in the form of newspapers, television, movies and magazines .... the same should be done for social media companies and corporations.

No one private company should ever be allowed to freely control so much information that is exchanged by the public on a regular and wide basis. It would be like allowing only a single company to provide all the newspapers in Canada or a single company to provide all the television in the country and not regulate any of them.

This isn't to say to regulate the internet ... no government should ever do that ... but to regulate the companies and corporations that have so much control over the free flow of information across the internet.

Regulate the social media companies ... you don't need to regulate the internet.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago

Classify the social media conglomerates as publishers. Make them liable for anything that goes up on their sites, the same as newspapers or TV stations.

Put the onus on them to police their sites, or pay the price for sloppy/no moderation.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago (2 children)

The only snag is that if you regulate the big players, the disinformation cockroaches will scurry into smaller corners and multiply there.

At least when they're all in one place, it's easier to keep an eye on them all at once.

The true irony here is that my conspiracy-junkie mother is still on Facebook -- despite the fact that it's the single biggest surveillance network that people voluntarily contribute to daily.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

If you break up the big players and all the roaches scurry to smaller corners .... the less effective they become.

The fact that there are big corporations controlling information and allowing disinformation to flourish means that bad actors have a large base to work from. And the company has all the incentive to make money on it. Literally Facebook is short selling democratic society by investing in fascist and authoritarian ideology.

Having big corporate social media companies doesn't round up and control bad actors ... they give bad actors a platform and a very large blow horn to reach as many people as possible.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

The "easier to keep an eye on them" mentality only works if we do something once we observe shenanigans.

Otherwise it's just a mealy-mouthed punt in the same category as "both sides".

[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago

I fear no matter the spin to any side, those that don't like what they hear will just yell "fake news" and go with their own story and find many that will confirm their viewpoint online.

This is just the simple concepts beyond the over communicated world we all live in and can't digest across the board. There's too much to be taken in.

This is why 4th grade language and Memes can be so effective with communicating a idea to the masses and is often accepted at face value.

It is easier today than ever to re-enforce lies as the truth for various reasons. In Mark Twain's time he said: "a lie will fly around the whole world while the truth is getting its boots" while today just repeating the lie as often as possible with the mega phones of social media means the lie becomes a part of the discussion lie or not. A lie now has as much artificial weight as truth or facts in any discussion. Countering a lie with facts re-enforces these lies for their believers. It's not going to be a fun time ahead.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago

It's even harder to combat it now that Facebook is blocking news sources.

AI misinformation can be posted at light-speed, but verifiable proof and sources to counter it? No fuckin' dice.

It's absolutely baffling. It's also surprising how many people fall for the misinformation in the first place, though. They're almost like zombies.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

Advancements in artificial intelligence

Stop reading right there. Nothing generated by so called "AI" is new or exciting. Language models and image synths can only do what humans do but in higher volume and lower quality. It's the million monkeys with a million typewriters thing but with spelling and grammar checkers.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (3 children)

The trouble with creating a ministry of Truth to approve what can and cannot be said online, is truth can be manipulated for political reasons.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago

There's no need to create a ministry of truth ... just a ministry of information technology.

And all it does is heavily regulate any company that handles large amounts of people's data and communications.

There shouldn't be an argument of what people say on the internet ... there should be a serious conversation about whether we should freely allow private companies to handle, process or manage so much personal data without regulation or public control.

Not having this conversation means that we are giving up the freedom and management of the internet and by extension our democratic society to private corporations.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago (2 children)

That's correct in the abstract but we have a really serious problem with intentionally deceptive bad actors right now. It's better to have a ministry of truth that you can hold politically accountable.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

We have a problem with bad actors in every sphere, including government. The only lasting solution that doesn't just further empower propagandists (of one or another stripe) is to raise healthy skepticism so people don't just credulously accept the first thing that "feels" right. Seeing as declining media literacy is a major reason our politics has been steadily going down the toilet, it should be clear no one source can be a permanent arbiter and no one point of view should be considered to always be correct.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I think it's terribly naive to assume it will hold people accountable just because it's done by the government instead of a company.

How many shitty things have politicians gone and gotten away with? Do you really trust them this time?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Politicians are motivated by re-election chances. Corporations are motivated by money. The question is not whether a Ministry of Truth would be objectively good, the question is whether it would be less bad than what we have now. And what we have now is a Corporation of Truth with no oversight and laughable regulation. Some oversight, some accountability, and some aligned incentives is better than no oversight, no accountability, and completely misaligned incentives.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago

Politicians are motivated by re-election chances.

And if they're in charge of the truth, what do you think they'll do to improve their chances?

Politicians are notoriously corrupt and will happily chase personal profits just as much as any company does. I don't think it's reasonable to assume that such a ministry would have any oversight or accountability just because it's politicians instead of business people.

And we can make the same demands for accountability and regulation regardless of who it is.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Teaching people early how to parse the truth and spot manipulative information would go a long way to lessening the problem, but it would also make it harder for politicians and corporations to manipulate people. So there's definitely negative motivation to doing anything that would make easy for people to spot spin on their own. (Edited typos)