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The war on misinformation keeps spreading.
Three US senators, reacting to evidence that Russian-linked players were behind deceptive ads ahead of last year’s US presidential election, floated a bill Thursday aimed at forcing internet firms to tell the Federal Election Commission who’s bankrolling online ads. (Paid TV, radio, and print political advertisers have long been regulated.)
The same day, Pew Research Center released a survey that asked: “Will trusted methods emerge over the next 10 years to block false narratives and allow the most accurate information to prevail?”
Respondents were almost evenly split. Pessimists held a slight edge. They worried about those with a stake in maintaining the status quo, and saw divisions rising among those who care about the quality of information and those who don’t.
Optimists saw tech coming to the rescue, with innovations that could reduce “the potency and availability of misinformation.” They envisioned successful regulation, the rise of “trust ratings,” and a rise in information literacy.
That’s likely to require a grass-roots global push. Here’s one promising precursor: In some 8,000 Italian schools beginning Oct. 31, a public/private experiment aims to teach those weaned on social media how to sort fact from fiction online, The New York Times reports.
Said Laura Boldrini, a parliamentarian champion of the effort: “It’s only right to give these kids the possibility to defend themselves from lies.”
Now to our five stories for your Friday, highlighting prudence, adaptibility, and connectedness in action.
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