Lie Machines: How Disinformation Threatens Democracy and How to Save It

While disinformation is not new to politics, today’s technologies enable political actors to manipulate the information ecosystem at scale and with great speed. Through massive networks of fake accounts, junk news sites, and the strategic use of conspiracy theories, half-truths, and falsehoods, authoritarian regimes and others are suffocating and dividing the public square. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, authoritarian governments and illiberal actors are drawing on similar approaches to discredit democracy while shaping international understandings of their response to the disease.

These “lie machines” are aided by expanding troves of data on individuals and an information ecosystem that facilitates polarization, outrage, and social distrust. The net result of their efforts is deadly to democracy. A new book by Philip Howard, director of the Oxford Internet Institute, describes how these machines operate—and how they can be taken apart.

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[petersbinninya]

Is the United States a republic or a democracy? Seriously look it up, which is it?

Now please go to the Merriam Webster dictionary (use Merriam because Oxford is British) and look up the terms; democracy, republic, freedom, equality and liberty. You all are very confused. I was taught by my grandfather that the word democracy comes from the Greek and by definition means "rule of the people". Republic comes from the Latin and means "public matter" meaning public law or rule of law. I was home schooled by my Grandparents and was told the United States was founded as a Republic and not a Democracy. I was taught, in a Republic the rule of law is what governs, because people are corruptible. The law is agreed upon via the democratic process (Democratic Process is not the same thing as democracy), because no individual likes to be taken advantage of by a public bureaucracy that is out of their control. So we founded a republic instead of a democracy to protect the individual from tyrannical mob rule. In a republic, if the public wants to take something from you, you have the publicly agreed upon rule of law to protect yourself from the masses. This does not exist in a democracy. By definition of the channel name "National Endowment for Democracy" it seems your endowment is here to either purposely or inadvertently kill individual liberty. Either way you are doing you're country a huge disservice. It's mind blowing how all of you people seem so highly educated yet have zero clue what you are talking about and you are all contributing to the very thing you are trying to control, and that is both scary and a melancholy kind of silly. Hope you didn't pay much for those indoctrination papers, ah I mean degrees, I have one too, but I was able to see through the communist rhetoric (yeah I know that sounds crazy to you and like something a stupid Trump supporter would say but it's a fact and I don't support Trump in any way) thanks to my early education. Crazy part is my Grandfather was warning me about this stuff in the 1980's and I always thought he was kind of a lunatic, especially when I was a teen, just like you probably think I am a nut job too. I hate to finger point and seem rude and arrogant but it certainly appears to me people like all four of you are what is destroying our liberties with your good intentions.

Stop fighting for freedom and equality, you people obviously have no idea what those terms mean. True freedom is anarchy and total equality is communism, these things can't co-exist. What we all want and need is individual liberty. Individual liberty is the ability to do whatever we want as long as we're not physically hurting the people around us. It sounds more like you people want to regulate point of view, being offended or having your ideals proven wrong in public. You people are the epitome of the road paved to hell with good intentions. Talk about misinformation and propaganda, you all don't even realize you're part of the problem. I am truly sorry to come off as rude and arrogant, but my goodness, stop trying to control people and live your own lives. Leave me and everyone else alone. I say leave me alone because many of the concepts you are discussing will effect my life directly even though I've done nothing to hurt on infringe on anyone. You have no business telling anyone what to say or how to live as long as the actions of others around you does not hurt you or your property physically.

We need less control and laws across the board not more.