[MUSIC PLAYING]
Welcome back to the show.
We all know the internet is a lovely place where truth
and justice always win out, but one domestic threat-- well,
semi-domesticated-- is tarnishing
that sterling reputation by helping
spread false information.
After a long day of doom scrolling through posts
about how the world will end in new and horrible ways,
I like to glance with a few adorable kitten videos.
I love cats.
Oh my god, they're so cute.
What a cat.
He's stealing a pizza.
Wait, what the feline?
Anti-vax information?
How did I get here?
According to "The New York Times,"
your favorite kitten videos are used to spread misinformation,
like anti-vax stances, the big lie, and, even worse,
that I'm not a natural blonde.
I just want to ask you if you have any idea how destructive
it is what you're doing.
Do you want to look into my eyes,
please, while I'm speaking with you?
No, you don't need a lawyer present, OK?
Oh, you're just going to walk away?
OK.
Coward.
How do these cats get radicalized?
The cats are innocent bystanders.
SAMANTHA BEE: This is PhD candidate and cybersecurity
researcher Laura Edelson, who studies online misinformation.
The best way to think about the kittens
is as engagement bait.
OK.
Cats are cute.
I agree.
LAURA EDELSON: So you would see a cat video in your feed,
maybe one of your friends liked it.
You like it, maybe you like the page,
and then content from "The Epoch Times"
will start filtering into your news feed.
You lure people in with cat videos then
that's when you start sprinkling in things
that are misinformation.
Does this mean that ugly animals
are used to spread information?
[LAUGHS]
SAMANTHA BEE: With the help of the Brooklyn Cat Cafe
and some of my best experts, I set out
to stop the spread of lies online by creating
my own mis-misinformation, so that's Miss Misinformation
to you, think you.
Ugh.
These freaking cats.
If you're one of the three people
left who trust social media, what
comes next might surprise you.
The problem is that things that are highly engaging
are very sensational might make it to the top,
whereas things that are more informative
or that are more accurate or that are more truthful
maybe don't get seen because they're not sensational
so they don't go viral.
SAMANTHA BEE: "The Epoch Times," "The Western Journal,"
Dr. Joseph Mercola, my high school alumni
page all spread misinformation and social media companies
know it.
So why don't they shut it down?
Those companies might be profiting from misinformation
being spread because it keeps us online
and therefore they can sell us more ads.
SAMANTHA BEE: But it's not just the social media
companies profiting.
There are also people like this guy
who's misleading posts often lead
you to buy questionable crap.
Alex Jones, who is, you know, the guy
who ran Infowars, he's probably one of the most
famous conspiracy theorists in the country,
he had pocketed more than $100 million
spreading this nonsense.
SAMANTHA BEE: Obviously, we are powerless against the lure
of these fuzzy butter lumps.
So what is our esteemed government doing to help us?
What does government intervention
look like, keeping in mind most of the major players
in our government still have AOL accounts?
The most important thing that we
can do is to have government-mandated
transparency.
So there are transparency bills
that have been introduced.
I think that that's a really positive step forward
because what that's regulating is not this content is OK
and that content is bad.
What those bills are trying to do
is create an impetus by which the platforms share information
with researchers to try to better understand the dynamics
of how these platforms work.
And I'll just say this is not new, right?
Like, we had the same conversation with big tobacco
where they were covering up all kinds of research
about the harm and it was harder for researchers on the outside
to study people and figure out exactly what was going on.
SAMANTHA BEE: And we all know how that went.
So what can users do?
Just spend less time on social media.
OK, well, good luck with that.
[LAUGHS]
You have almost four billion people
now around the world who are on social media.
And then for the average social media user,
there's some evidence that they're scrolling through 300
feet of news feed a day.
That's the height of the Statue of Liberty.
SAMANTHA BEE: The height of the Statue of Liberty?
That's almost one CVS receipt.
And in both cases, it's an overwhelming amount
of information.
And so it's really important, I think,
for audiences to understand, what's
a good cat versus a bad cat.
So there's that need to just spend
that extra couple of seconds before you
click the follow button.
If something on the internet is making you emotional,
that is a moment to step back and say, who
is trying to make me emotional?
How are they doing this?
Do I think this person is who they say they are?
Is this thing I'm looking at really true?
SAMANTHA BEE: And when you do find misinformation,
it's important to never share the direct links because that
only helps it spread.
So, instead, use your little paws to take a screenshot.
Don't you agree?
Oh my God, this cat loves me so much.
This is all like a game of cat and mouse but way less cute.
We need government intervention, we
need social media to take action and we
need to be smarter online.
Until then, one major question remains.
What do you think you're doing?
What do you think you're going to get away with?
What do you want?
What-- I am talking to your friend over here.
We are having a very serious discussion.
We'll be right back.
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