Infomocracy

[dolorosa_12]

I want to apologise in advance for the repeated posts about Putin's invasion of Ukraine, and I want to also make it clear that this post is not (I hope) my ill-informed hot take on the situation. Rather, it's about something that's of increasing concern to me as a librarian, particularly a librarian with responsibility for teaching people about information literacy.



The world being what it is — 24-hour news cycle, breathless, real-time social media saturation, easy interconnection across geographical boundaries — means that when terrible things happen, they are broadcast at us at all times, bombarding people who are safe and far away from dangerous horrors with a constant reminder of human terror and suffering. People in this situation have little — almost nothing — within their control to minimise this suffering: they cannot travel to a war zone and take up arms, they aren't in positions of political authority in which they can use their power to influence things, nor are they wealthy enough to make a difference with their money. The immediate impulse is to do something, anything, to retain a sense of control in the situation and feel as if they've done something concrete to help. The problem is that this leads to a switching off of critical thinking when engaging with the information presented, particularly when such information is being presented at speed, containing terrifying things that evoke a strong emotional response.

These are things that I've seen on various social media platforms, including my Dreamwidth feed (albeit in limited amounts compared to Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram), which I would strongly discourage doing:

Sharing aggregated lists of charities supposedly helping the Ukrainians, encouraging people to donate to them, without any effort to vet the list (one of these days I will write that post about how the impulse to indiscriminately signal-boost places to donate is a really bad form of activism) Updated to add: sharing details of charities is fine, as long as you have vetted them and put them in context. It's the context-free aggregation of 'donation links to help Ukraine' that is a cause for concern

Sharing PayPal details of complete Twitter strangers, purportedly belonging to individuals living through the siege on various Ukrainian cities or attempting to seek refuge in neighbouring countries, without any attempt to verify the legitimacy of such accounts (there are a whole host of reasons why I distrust this particular thing, and not just in this context)

Retweeting various Twitter essay-length threads from self-appointed exports on a) urban warfare b) guerrilla tactics against tanks c) how to make Molotov cocktails d) NATO e) reading the body language of Vladimir Putin, etc etc. I'm not an expert on any of these things, I don't have the knowledge to be able to verify what these people are saying, and so I don't want to risk amplifying their words into the world

In general retweeting any old nonsense if it appears to fit with one's general hopes as to how this horrendous situation will unfold, without making a single attempt to fact-check or even seek out further details of the source

Boosting the opinions of someone who appears to be a) not in Ukraine and b) has said extremely racist and Islamophobic things about Afghan and Middle Eastern refugees as opposed to Ukrainian refugees (this latter is why I don't just look at a single tweet from a stranger, I go and look at their entire feed, and, in the context of this war, I look at what they were saying about unrelated subjects before the invasion actually started)

Cluttering up the comments under tweets from Ukrainian politicians, officials, and media outlets sharing crucial information with rambling hot takes and even advice for said individuals, who are currently engaged in a fight for the existential survival of their country

Sharing tweets which purport to have information about Ukrainian troop movements and positions (honestly, this last one just left me with my jaw to the floor)

I want to stress that I haven't seen much of this from Dreamwidth people, so if you don't recognise yourselves in this list, please rest assured that I am not directing any of this at you. I am also extremely well aware that I have friends here who are far more directly affected by Putin's invasion of Ukraine than I am, and whose judgement on these matters will be far more expert than my own. I realise this post focuses solely on what not to do, but given the urgency of the situation, I felt it was warranted. (I wrote a similar post when Afghanistan fell to the Taliban.) I feel very strongly that what with Russian propaganda, and the huge number of social media trolls who have latched onto this crisis, there is enough disinformation going around without adding to it.

Comments

[muccamukk]

I spent my first day doomscrolling poking around on twitter (though not retweeting, as I don't have an account), and man that's an absolute nightmare (though I liked the flowchart that ask "Am I an expert on Russia?" and the only line points to "yes."). I since decided to sit down, shut up, and give some money to orgs I already know are good.

[dolorosa_12]

I haven't been able to stop doomscrolling (if you'd told me this time last week that every morning I would wake up and immediately check Twitter to make sure the president of Ukraine was still alive, I would have thought you'd fallen into an alternate universe), but I have at least managed to wrestle myself into a situation of only paying attention to sensible, informed accounts (or accounts where I trust that if they're presenting incomplete information, it's for a very good reason): Ukrainian politicians, several English-language Ukrainian news organisations that I tried to research a bit first, and foreign correspondants who seem to be taking a sensible approach. And I'm not retweeting anything: the people who need accurate information are getting it, and my retweets aren't going to help in any way. That impulse to just click and share something is so strong, and shortform, real-time social media amplifies it a hundredfold, and I wish people (not you, obviously) would try harder to resist it.

[bironic]

Poor information literacy is SO HARD to witness, especially on top of already difficult events. It stings all the more when people you thought knew better contribute to the onslaught of it on Twitter and Facebook. *refrains from doing a rant that would only repeat what you've written*

[dolorosa_12]

Exactly so. As I said in the other comment above to muccamukk, current social media is set up to strongly encourage everyone to click that retweet/share/reblog button without really thinking, and even if such impulses spring from altruistic reasons, I wish people would try harder to resist them. (The number of otherwise sensible people I've seen demanding NATO create a no-fly zone over Ukraine without stopping and thinking what that means really horrifies me.)

[myrdschaem]

All extremely good advice and very much something to form a habit in. But as with many things, I'm sure I slip here and there. Mostly I have been staying off of twitter because of this exactly, there are both experts tweeting out things - I think the urban warfare thing I have only heard of but was told it was from a military trainer focusing on that? - and psych-ops muddling the waters. I would like to say I can tell the difference, however that's often only hindsight.

[dolorosa_12]

Yes, that's my feeling as well. Am I going to be able to verify the identity and credentials of the person claiming to be a military training talking about urban warfare? If not, probably not a good idea to share what he's saying with the world.

[ermingarden]

Well, I worry that I do recognize myself on this list, having made this post linking a Newsweek article listing Ukrainian relief organizations. Newsweek is credible and I trust that they've vetted the orgs well, but I do agree that sharing lists of charitable organizations isn't activism in any effective sense.

I think you're entirely right about the unwise social media posting coming ultimately from a sense of helplessness. I wonder if, in certain circles, it might also come from a fear that one will be seen as not caring about the war if one doesn't perform involvement? Personally, I'm not relying on social media for any of my information about the war (or, frankly, about anything else) – just refreshing the NYTimes and WashPost websites about fifty times a day....

[dolorosa_12]

Your post was actually the complete opposite of what I was talking about: rather than being a breathless retweet screaming 'donation links to help Ukraine,' you vetted the charities mentioned, explained how you had vetted them, and gave broader context. Would that everyone would do the same! I'm sorry to have given the impression that posts like yours were a bad idea, and I have edited my post to clarify things.

I wonder if, in certain circles, it might also come from a fear that one will be seen as not caring about the war if one doesn't perform involvement?

I totally agree: the 'why isn't anyone talking about this?' phenomenon. I first encountered this back on Tumblr, and it took me years to train myself out of it, even though I'm the daughter of two journalists and used to be a journalist myself. I really wish this attitude would disappear, because it feeds into a climate of mis- and disinformation.

I am using Twitter to a certain extent because the Ukrainian journalists are — understandably — not in a position to file news articles or contribute to livefeeds and analysis, but do seem to have time to dash off a tweet here and there. However, I'm not retweeting anything because I'm not in a position to verify it, and anyone who actually needs to see that information is going to see it, without any input required from me.

[ermingarden]

Well, thank you – that's good to hear!

The more I think about it, the more I think the "why isn't anyone talking about this?" thing may be related to a general anti-expert attitude? The sense that an average person is just as qualified as a journalist to determine what sources are credible, and indeed make themself into a source of information for other people to draw from...I'm not sure.

That use of Twitter makes total sense. I am personally not on Twitter, and as a general rule I don't trust "news" from Tumblr or Facebook...and neither of those is the platform of choice for Ukrainian journalists!

[dolorosa_12]

The more I think about it, the more I think the "why isn't anyone talking about this?" thing may be related to a general anti-expert attitude? The sense that an average person is just as qualified as a journalist to determine what sources are credible, and indeed make themself into a source of information for other people to draw from...I'm not sure.

I agree in part, but I also think it comes from an attitude that 'raising awareness' is a sufficient act of activism, as opposed to more concrete things such as protesting, contacting elected representatives, joining a campaign, running for office, or contributing financially to a charity. It's better to concentrate one's energies in concrete ways on a few causes than spread disinformation by 'raising awareness' of every single cause, but people don't recognise this.

[ermingarden]

Oh, that's interesting – I think you're right, and I'm particularly interested because I wouldn't have thought of something like highlighting organizations to donate to as activism. Of course, activism is such a fuzzy concept....

It's better to concentrate one's energies in concrete ways on a few causes – I couldn't agree more.

[vriddy]

It's better to concentrate one's energies in concrete ways on a few causes than spread disinformation by 'raising awareness' of every single cause

Ah, this is such a nice and concise way of expressing something so important.

[sophia_sol]

ugh yes I have seen a lot of the kind of content you list go by on my various social media feeds and it's like.....I get that people want to feel like they can do something, but these things are not helpful! the unthinking ways that people spread disinformation because they don't want to be seen doing nothing but don't have the skills to evaluate the information they're seeing is something I hate about being on the internet these days

[dolorosa_12]

This is such a mood. I really wish people would understand that it is better to say nothing, and share nothing, than add to the fog of disinformation.

[sophia_sol]

yes exactlyyyyyyy

[likeadeuce]

Thanks for this, I unfortunately think younger people especially have not been trained in the media literacy necessary to respond to a situation like this, and it's always good to share these reminders

[dolorosa_12]

I agree with you, although sadly I've also seen it from older people who should really know better — even journalists. I find it really dispiriting.

[goodbyebird]

This is a good post. I've been fighting the urge to hit retweet as well.

[dolorosa_12]

It's such a strong impulse, particularly because those sites are set up to encourage you to constantly, unthinkingly click that button. I try to remember to ask myself: who needs to see this information, will my sharing it help them to see it, and do I have time to verify its veracity? Generally, the answer to the last two questions is no.

[svgurl]

Good advice. I'm not on twitter as much but I think a lot of this applies to Tumblr as well, especially the reblogging some posts regarding info and/or charities, when you're not sure of the sources. I think I fall into that category so this whole post is a good reminder to be careful about that stuff.

[dolorosa_12]

Tumblr is where this attitude first developed — I don't use Tumblr any more, but when I was active there there was this incredibly strong perception that you needed to be seen making a contribution to whatever the burning issue of the day was. This of course led to lots of people leaping onto a cause they didn't understand and sharing wildly inaccurate information that they weren't equipped to evaluate. It's better to take a step back, and ask yourself if sharing these things is helping in any way.

[vriddy]

I'm glad not to be on social media platforms where it's too easy to reshare because I can understand how it would feel like doing something, anything. Unfortunately, I am still doomscrolling the news.

I will signal boost this post (just re-read your sticky post with your linking policy.) It articulates well a few points I had been thinking about but unable to put into words, and it also helped me to put a few things in perspective... Thank you for writing and sharing it.

[dolorosa_12]

I'm doomscrolling as well, with a kind of superstitious dread — it's very hard to switch off, isn't it?

I'm glad you found the post helpful, and of course please feel free to share it.

[lirazel]

I think this is a very good post, and I appreciate it.

[dolorosa_12]

Thank you, and I'm glad you appreciate it.

[lilysea]

My rule of thumb - and I'm mainly sharing COVID stuff and dinosaur stuff, not stuff about Ukraine - is to look at the source.

There are known trusted sources that I trust about their relevant areas of knowledge
for example

ABC news Australia;

the Western Australian government;

the Premier of Western Australia;

Smithsonian Magazine;

major accredited museums (for museum news);

major accredited zoos (for animals/conservation news)

If it's not from a known trusted source, I check the profile to see if it lists credentials for the account holder.

For example, I see that a science-minded friend on Facebook has shared posts from Dr Mo Assoum about COVID

the posts seem science-based, reasonable, and measured - cautious and seeking to reduce risk, but not catastrophising - so let's look at his bio

BSc, MIPH(hon), DGIS, GCRS, PhD (Infectious Disease Epidemiology)

okay, his bio links to the official website of Mercy Global Health, Global Health and Development Specialists

and the website of Mercy Global Health lists him as Founder and Managing Director

Yes, I feel comfortable sharing this.

[dolorosa_12]

Your rule of thumb is incredibly sensible. I wish more people were that thorough.

[sewn]

This is a good post. My rule of thumb is to trust long-standing free press outlets and trusted institutional accounts; and even then, trust only that they are reporting in good faith and might not be up-to-date because everything moves so fast. (I feel like I should add a few more caveats - see clickbait titles favoured by every newspaper these days, etc.)

With these in mind, it's sad to see how Putin's Covid disinformation campaign is working now. I have seen too many tweets from people saying they don't know what to belief because they've lost their trust in media and the state - if they lie about the vaccine, why not everything else? Add to this the political point-scoring (which was forgotten for five minutes) and Twitter is a mess. - OTOH, I'm also seeing an encouraging amount of pusback against the disinfo as well measured takes.

[dolorosa_12]

Your rule of thumb is so sensible, and is pretty similar to my own (with the caveat that I've been on Twitter a lot following local Ukrainian journalists and foreign correspondants reporting from Kyiv, who for understandable reasons are not in a position to be filing long news items on websites). That being said, the Guardian's livefeed last night published blatant Russian disinformation and had to hastily publish a correction, so even the more reputable outlets get things wrong while trying to keep up with the speed of information — hence my decision to read, but not share anything.

Twitter is definitely an absolute mess right now. with blatant disinfo campaigns, spurious requests for PayPal donations, neonazis and tankies swarming the comments of anything to do with the war, wishful thinking, tedious thread-essays from self-appointed experts which then get breathlessly shared by everyone (to be honest, if 90 per cent of American commentators would just shut up forever about this I would be so happy), and a bunch of people as yet unaffected by this war treating the whole thing as half Marvel film, half meme. (On the latter point, I draw a distinction between Ukrainians and those in neighbouring countries using whatever gallows humour they can muster to draw comfort and courage, and randoms from elsewhere behaving as if this war is a Hollywood movie. I admit I've found some of this stuff grimly hilarious, but I'm not going to share it around as if it's entertainment.)

[bluedreaming]

Thanks for such an excellent post. Your reply to a previous comment above especially resonated:
…an attitude that 'raising awareness' is a sufficient act of activism, as opposed to more concrete things such as protesting, contacting elected representatives, joining a campaign, running for office, or contributing financially to a charity.

[dolorosa_12]

Thank you so much. I'm glad it resonated.

[blackcatofmisery]

This is good information to share, no matter the individuals' relation to the events in Ukraine, because there will always be scammers and people looking to make a profit or sell information to the bad guys. It's just a thing some people do, and those who feel their only way to offer support is to donate or share opportunities for others to donate are excellent targets.

I can say that most of what I've heard about the status of Russia's invasion of Ukraine has come from Twitter. It's easy to pick out the blurbs; there are politicians and news sources chiming in, but there are also those cluttering comments that have no bearing at all or are just inflammatory, and it's like every single post has likes and retweets. There's always an audience, which is both good and bad.

Something I recognize most readily are the videos of non-specific events. Like, there was a tank rolling through some crowded street, I think, and it's been determined to be an old video that has no relation to Ukraine or Russia at all. Same thing happens with riots and demonstrations in the States; there are posts and videos shared with a caption that makes it seem currently relevant and contributing to a certain dialogue, but it isn't connected at all! And it's so much easier to just take it for its face value rather than investigate for themselves.

=^..^=~

[dolorosa_12]

Yes, the amount of disinformation on Twitter is absolutely off the charts — dubious footage, videos taken several days ago shared as if they happened just a minute ago, and huge amounts of propaganda. As you say, it's a good idea to take a step back, and refuse to contribute if you don't have the time to verify the claims being made on social media: not just in the case of Ukraine, but in all situations.

[chestnut_pod]

Hear, hear. Sometimes (often), the best thing you can do is stop misinformation from spreading onwards.

I had a little sit-down with my students about responsible news consumption and sharing late last week -- hopefully it did something.

[dolorosa_12]

Thank you so much for taking that responsibility with your students! They're lucky to have you.