this post was submitted on 11 Oct 2023
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two days ago, there were reports going around online that 20 drones had entered israel from lebanon in the north. the information was coming from the IDF. at the same time, sirens were going off across all of northern israel. 1.5 million israelis were told to shelter in place. again, information from the IDF
right after this, rumors online started going around that the US government was evacuating their embassy in beirut, essentially implying that the war was going to spread to lebanon. a really big deal, if true
turns out those were false. the rumors spread about 30 minutes or so and then the embassy in beirut responded to this and said there was no evacuation.
moral of story? yes, misinformation spreads quickly. people are deathly afraid and fear spreads like fire. but it also gets debunked because there are people out there paying attention.
it's sort of the idea of the open marketplace of ideas. bullshit spreads, but there are people out there dedicated to the truth. it's a price we have to pay, otherwise we would be blind to these things.
The problem arises insofar as people being deceived and not even trying or being willing to see the truth, like the Trump cult in the US.
yes but that has little do to with random people sharing misinformation and more concentrated efforts by people with resources to try and manipulate the population
this is something that happens with or without social media. billionaires love spreading their pet ideologies. banning social media won't stop them and in fact probably just helps them as "official" sources become the only source of information.