Modern U.S. political misinformation: fixing the underlying problem

Now is not the time to fight; it is the time to fix.

A root cause analysis on modern U.S. political misinformation helps to identify underlying problems that are manifest through visible symptoms (e.g., incentive to lie/mislead on major news network(s), echo chambers in social media, etc) -- and there are two specific actions our government can take to fix them.

Even now, there are politicians insinuating that Antifa possibly staged the capital insurrection on a major news network.

How can this continue, even now -- after the greatest symbol of American democracy has been invaded and desecrated, since the British set fire to it in 1814? What can we do?

We know 1st amendment rights must not be trampled on (careful what you wish for), so expect an (especially conservative) supreme court to knock down any kind of law around independent tribunals that regulate social media (e.g., "this is when you stop allowing shares/likes"). Forget it.

A healthy root-cause analysis might reveal some issues that can be tackled. Here are two examples of root causes, and specific actions that can be taken to help fix them:

1. Echo chambers aren't (as) effective if you can't target the most gullible people, and that is done through Cambridge Analytica style invasion of privacy. Apple is a champion here (though let's not call them 'brave', since their business model does not disincentivize privacy in the first place). So, where's our privacy regulations? ACTION: Congress should pass the US equivalent of EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

2. The death of local newspapers... and thus, the death of local news, has given disproportionate influence to ... major news network talking-heads, conspiracy theorists, and social media echo chambers. Conspiracy/echo chamber indulgence can sometimes be an escape/security blanket for those who cannot explain the world around them, and this just causes self-reinforcing collective delusion.

So how do we fix it? This is a more complex problem to 'fix', because it requires a careful "balancing act" that respects the constitution and the 1st amendment. 

Here's an idea: I used to work in the utility industry, and there was a regulatory push to reduce monopolistic practices, namely - requiring the split of wholesale vs. retail utility sales, and requiring allocation of ED (energy delivery) capacity for 3rd party resellers. This is also a model that was applied to telecom industry (my municipal utility also sold telecom services)... where a larger telecom is required to allocate wholesale bandwidth to smaller telecoms.

So, how do we apply the same logic to the largest social media outlets?  

ACTION: Congress should setup an incentive / regulatory structure which builds funding for local media to lower barriers for entry, perhaps allowing them priority broadcast/marketing rights to local social media and local advertising subsidies on national networks. Limit their messaging reach to a local area (local news needs to be local: the local news anchor, the local reporter, the local weatherman - that builds trust in diverse news sources, and that is the point). 

Mike Idengren

LinkedIn