The Spread of Misinformation Reveals Existing Fears and the Polarisation of Society

The extensive spread of misinformation during the pandemic caused chaos, revealing the failure of social media companies to curb the spread of false content. In this article Sharon argues that the nature of algorithms, in addition to cognitive biases that are influenced by social inequalities and xenophobic attitudes, have exacerbated the impact of misinformation. She concludes that addressing the challenge of misinformation “begins with building strong foundations for a secure society

How do we manage free speech?

While free speech allows ideas to flourish and individual to express themselves freely, has social media, opinion reporting and political tribalism enabled wild and nonsensical conspiracy theories to proliferate the US? Ash Howell believes independent regulators, improvements in education and a process of healing between warring factions must take place to ensure individuals are able to cut through the noise and make independent judgements based on facts. Without this, events like the January 6th insurrection may be replicated in the future.