The weaponisation of information is mutating at alarming speed

[Soph0571]

The next stage in the weaponisation of information is the increasing effort to control information flows and therefore public opinion, quite often using – ironically enough – the spectre of disinformation as the excuse to do so.
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The control of information can take more benign forms, too, such as the total disintegration of the White House press briefings that have made Donald Trump’s Twitter the de facto mouthpiece for the US executive, or the attempt by Boris Johnson to establish a direct channel of communication with his audience through Facebook. Removing regulated, accountable and experienced journalists from the equation can only be deleterious to the public interest. The fourth estate is a fundamental part of our political systems. The never-ending series of social media privacy and political scandals proves that tech companies are not able to play that role – and in any case, they don’t want to.

[link:https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/aug/19/weaponisation-of-information-mutating-privacy|]

If we are not careful we will get to the point where disinformation is the new normal.

[Cicada]

1. Watch The Great Hack about Cambridge Analytica, super scary

Obama used big data, so did Trump. We have a big problem. If Facebook and google acted like Murdoch, manipulating information to achieve political goals, they could have huge influence. Someone needs to think deep about this.

[GeorgeGist]

2. Also, cable news has pretty much substituted Greed journalists ...

for degreed Journalists.