Funny, I’ve just spoken to the mods about tackling ‘misinformation’ on this very sub today.
Normally you’re not allowed to share political commentary on r/unitedkingdom but they’ve allowed an article from the Independent where somebody pushing a book made a completely unevidenced claim that Liz Truss considered scrapping NHS cancer treatment.
Thanks to that post remaining up thousands of people in this sub now believe that claim to be fact. The misinformation has been allowed to spread unchallenged.
Apparently you can post any misinformation or lie you like in r/unitedkingdom as long as you can find a web page to link to referencing somebody else who’s made that claim. Rule 7 ‘No op-eds or opinion pieces as linkposts’ doesn’t apply in that instance.
We absolutely do need emergency OFCOM powers to tackle misinformation on social media because self policing clearly doesn’t work.
MetalBawx on
No thanks succesive governments been asking constantly pushing surveilence powers and less oversight for decades and it’s stopped precisely fuck all.
easy_c0mpany80 on
Dont be surprised if this is used every-time theres a ‘random attack’ going forwards.
Any attempt to share any information will be shutdown quickly and scrubbed.
The government (both past and present) know that this is going to happen with increasing regularity in the future so they need tools to keep people quiet.
Ruhail_56 on
So scared that your fake pledges are gonna get found out aren’t you?
No-Wind6836 on
I’d rather have ‘misinformation’ than a big brother ofcom
Ok_Height_2947 on
The funny thing is, there’s a significant portion of the population that’s okay with this. Island dwellers aren’t very smart
Ok_Scratch_3596 on
Not gonna work. Why is it this government think they can control the internet and other country’s. (Maybe when we ran an empire we had a chance but not now) What you need is to educate stupid people not to believe everything on Facebook. Or just block social media.
adfddadl1 on
Just get on with it and pass the Enabling Act already. It’s what these people seem to be pushing towards. No dissent. Everything considered a threat to the state branded misinformation and shutdown in the name of keeping you safe. Supremely dark stuff.
AntiquusCustos on
Yeah, no thanks.
I don’t trust the government in dealing with misinformation.
Electric_Death_1349 on
I have a feeling that these “emergency powers” will be deployed freely around the time of the next election to quash any negative coverage of the Starmer regime
Apprehensive_Ear7068 on
So who’s the arbiter of “misinformation” oh that’s right the government… because governments are always so honest and transparent.
bhhhhhhhtyc on
I’m okay with this as long as it only targets those who don’t share the same views as I do.
creativename111111 on
Worth knowing that this is just what a think tank has said we will have to wait and see whether the government actually consider this
Fervarus on
No one ever seizes power with the intention of eventually relinquishing it.
Give them these ’emergency powers’ at your peril.
grey_hat_uk on
I feel that while ofcom having super censorship powers is stupid and dangerous. There should, on the other hand, be bigger and easier ways to compensation from those targeted by misinformation.
Take the current boxer vs. Bullies law suit in France, while ofcom shouldn’t be taking any direct action at this point, twitter should be liable, after a court case, for allowing misinformation to be spread to the boxer. Ofcom can get involved if they decide to ignore that ruling but that should be the limit.
Fair_Use_9604 on
Like what? Like the ability to shut down all mobile and internet networks? Just like they do in India every time there’s a protest? No thanks. What’s up with authoritarianism in this country
HuaBiao21011980 on
“We promise to relinquish these powers once the current crisis has abated”
WebDevWarrior on
Here is the crux of the problem.
The UK is a relatively small nation with an ever smaller influence upon the world post brexit. Every social network that exists is based outside of the UK.
The government know full well they can’t police outside our borders (we don’t control the US for example).
Therefore unless we ban websites (doesn’t work for China, see VPNs), or keep putting people in jail (we have no room and it won’t stop the spread), it’s a zero sum game spread by politicians yelling at clouds.
Purple_Woodpecker on
It’s inevitable that the internet will eventually be regulated and controlled like television and radio are. How governments will do this, and what pretext(s) they will use as their casus belli, remain to be seen, but it is inevitable. Being able to discuss things the powers that be don’t want us to discuss, freely and with anonymity, is not going to be tolerated in the long run.
There’s a reason they’re going after Elon. It’s because Twitter is no longer bowing down to governments around the world and censoring what they want it to censor, like it did under its previous administrators.
They’ll tell you they’re doing it for your safety and because our democracy is in danger, and the vast majority of you will believe it.
Far-Crow-7195 on
Oh good. More authoritarian censorship in favour of whichever government is making the laws and the appointments of those who get to decide what us plebs are allowed to read. Never in history has that had any negative outcomes.
AnyImpression6 on
Ofcom to be renamed to the Ministry of Truth, with absolute power to crush all dissent.
andymaclean19 on
As much as I would like a bit more oversight of these platforms, you can’t stop the signal. It’s the internet and everyone is connected so things will go viral. People will see this stuff and forward it. If it gets taken down people will forward screenshots.
Best to teach people to evaluate the information, give people trusted sources of truth that they actually trust and to develop ways to quickly circulate corrections when needed.
Blocking stuff will end badly. Sooner or later it will be abused or even just used for something we didn’t expect it to be used for. Like anti-terror law being used for mysogony. Both are worthy and important things but when we made the laws for one of these nobody expected it to apply to the other.
22 Comments
Funny, I’ve just spoken to the mods about tackling ‘misinformation’ on this very sub today.
Normally you’re not allowed to share political commentary on r/unitedkingdom but they’ve allowed an article from the Independent where somebody pushing a book made a completely unevidenced claim that Liz Truss considered scrapping NHS cancer treatment.
Thanks to that post remaining up thousands of people in this sub now believe that claim to be fact. The misinformation has been allowed to spread unchallenged.
Apparently you can post any misinformation or lie you like in r/unitedkingdom as long as you can find a web page to link to referencing somebody else who’s made that claim. Rule 7 ‘No op-eds or opinion pieces as linkposts’ doesn’t apply in that instance.
We absolutely do need emergency OFCOM powers to tackle misinformation on social media because self policing clearly doesn’t work.
No thanks succesive governments been asking constantly pushing surveilence powers and less oversight for decades and it’s stopped precisely fuck all.
Dont be surprised if this is used every-time theres a ‘random attack’ going forwards.
Any attempt to share any information will be shutdown quickly and scrubbed.
The government (both past and present) know that this is going to happen with increasing regularity in the future so they need tools to keep people quiet.
So scared that your fake pledges are gonna get found out aren’t you?
I’d rather have ‘misinformation’ than a big brother ofcom
The funny thing is, there’s a significant portion of the population that’s okay with this. Island dwellers aren’t very smart
Not gonna work. Why is it this government think they can control the internet and other country’s. (Maybe when we ran an empire we had a chance but not now) What you need is to educate stupid people not to believe everything on Facebook. Or just block social media.
Just get on with it and pass the Enabling Act already. It’s what these people seem to be pushing towards. No dissent. Everything considered a threat to the state branded misinformation and shutdown in the name of keeping you safe. Supremely dark stuff.
Yeah, no thanks.
I don’t trust the government in dealing with misinformation.
I have a feeling that these “emergency powers” will be deployed freely around the time of the next election to quash any negative coverage of the Starmer regime
So who’s the arbiter of “misinformation” oh that’s right the government… because governments are always so honest and transparent.
I’m okay with this as long as it only targets those who don’t share the same views as I do.
Worth knowing that this is just what a think tank has said we will have to wait and see whether the government actually consider this
No one ever seizes power with the intention of eventually relinquishing it.
Give them these ’emergency powers’ at your peril.
I feel that while ofcom having super censorship powers is stupid and dangerous. There should, on the other hand, be bigger and easier ways to compensation from those targeted by misinformation.
Take the current boxer vs. Bullies law suit in France, while ofcom shouldn’t be taking any direct action at this point, twitter should be liable, after a court case, for allowing misinformation to be spread to the boxer. Ofcom can get involved if they decide to ignore that ruling but that should be the limit.
Like what? Like the ability to shut down all mobile and internet networks? Just like they do in India every time there’s a protest? No thanks. What’s up with authoritarianism in this country
“We promise to relinquish these powers once the current crisis has abated”
Here is the crux of the problem.
The UK is a relatively small nation with an ever smaller influence upon the world post brexit. Every social network that exists is based outside of the UK.
The government know full well they can’t police outside our borders (we don’t control the US for example).
Therefore unless we ban websites (doesn’t work for China, see VPNs), or keep putting people in jail (we have no room and it won’t stop the spread), it’s a zero sum game spread by politicians yelling at clouds.
It’s inevitable that the internet will eventually be regulated and controlled like television and radio are. How governments will do this, and what pretext(s) they will use as their casus belli, remain to be seen, but it is inevitable. Being able to discuss things the powers that be don’t want us to discuss, freely and with anonymity, is not going to be tolerated in the long run.
There’s a reason they’re going after Elon. It’s because Twitter is no longer bowing down to governments around the world and censoring what they want it to censor, like it did under its previous administrators.
They’ll tell you they’re doing it for your safety and because our democracy is in danger, and the vast majority of you will believe it.
Oh good. More authoritarian censorship in favour of whichever government is making the laws and the appointments of those who get to decide what us plebs are allowed to read. Never in history has that had any negative outcomes.
Ofcom to be renamed to the Ministry of Truth, with absolute power to crush all dissent.
As much as I would like a bit more oversight of these platforms, you can’t stop the signal. It’s the internet and everyone is connected so things will go viral. People will see this stuff and forward it. If it gets taken down people will forward screenshots.
Best to teach people to evaluate the information, give people trusted sources of truth that they actually trust and to develop ways to quickly circulate corrections when needed.
Blocking stuff will end badly. Sooner or later it will be abused or even just used for something we didn’t expect it to be used for. Like anti-terror law being used for mysogony. Both are worthy and important things but when we made the laws for one of these nobody expected it to apply to the other.