Stelter and his panelists did elucidate several pressing dangers with respect to rampant disinformation on social media; quite inadvertently, they also highlighted the inherent drawbacks of adopting a permanent war-footing approach to stopping disinformation. Indeed, several of the panelists spread inaccurate information during the course of their remarks.
These panelists were Vera Jourová, a member of the European Union’s executive cabinet, the European Commission; Jeanne Bourgault, who helms a nonprofit group that supports independent media; Rep. Seth Moulton (D–Mass.); and A.G. Sulzberger, publisher of The New York Times and nepo baby.
Stelter kicked off the discussion by framing “disinformation” as the central conundrum of our times—all other problems being downstream of this issue. Sulzberger wholeheartedly embraced this view.
“I think it maps, basically, to every other major challenge that we are grappling with as a society, and particularly the most existential among them,” he said, lumping in disinformation—false information, intended to mislead people—with “conspiracy, propaganda, and clickbait.” Disinformation is why society seems so fractured, why trust in elite institutions is declining, and why democracy itself appears to be retreating, they implied.
In other words, it’s all Facebook’s fault.
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