Beyond Selidor

I've been saying this for years, ever since I discovered back in 2016 that a bunch of innocuous posts I'd reblogged on Tumblr (social justicey things on the most basic 'let's celebrate diversity' level, photosets of successful black American women athletes like Simone Biles and Serena Williams, etc) had originated from accounts associated with state-backed Russian disinformation campaigns. They'd been laying the groundwork to present themselves as progressive-minded Americans, and even though the stuff I'd shared from them was completely innocuous, it was tainted.

That moment was it, for me, and I approach online material — especially viral online material shared by strangers or originating from unfamiliar sources — with a lot of scepticism, especially if it confirms my own worldview. We can do a lot of damage with one 'share'/'retweet'/'reblog' button, and we should treat this with lot more responsibility.