Post 2-3 examples of mis/disinformation from social media or other digital sources to our course blog and explain how your examples relate to themes or arguments in at least two of the readings above. Be specific, glossing each of your examples with at least a few sentences that make clear ties to the readings. Be prepared to discuss the articles in class, paying attention to how they are alike and how they differ.
On Tuesday, July 25, 2023, Twitter user @RMac18 subtweeted, "The Bronny James news has been out for 30 minutes, but here's some vaccine speculation from the owner of Twitter," in response to Twitter's owner, Elon Musk's tweet about USC basketball player Bronny James' recent cardiac arrest at USC's campus. Musk tweeted, "We cannot attribute everything to the vaccine, but, by the same token, we cannot attribute nothing. Myocarditis is a known side effect. The only question is whether it is rare or common." Musk's tweet displayed a common practice of spreading disinformation, as discussed in the PBS documentary "Fake: Searching for Truth in the Age of Misinformation," which claims that people in positions of power will deliberately spread false information to have their followers repeat the message, thereby causing users to believe the information due to its repetition. However, in the following months, it was revealed that Bronny James' cardiac arrest was caused by a Congenital Heart Defect and not by a COVID-19 vaccine, as suggested by Elon Musk.
Twitter Thread: https://twitter.com/RMac18/status/1683855572016467970
On the contrary, "misinformation is usually used to imply no deliberate intent to mislead." One example that comes to mind is the controversy surrounding the movie "First Man" and the omission of the American flag. Following its premiere at the 75th Venice International Film Festival, there was a report labeling the movie as unpatriotic, which stirred controversy among right-wing groups. Many individuals offered their opinions on the film without having seen it personally. Notably, President Donald Trump and Senator Marco Rubio were among those who commented on the film and spread misinformation on their social media platforms. Box office experts claim that this controversy may have contributed to the film not achieving the projected box office earnings. The outcry eventually subsided after the film's worldwide release, as many audiences discovered that the movie prominently featured the competition with the Russian space program as a significant storyline, along with the inclusion of archive footage of President John F. Kennedy. In this case, we define this particular controversy as misinformation due to the absence of malicious intent. Instead, it resulted from individuals being misinformed and having a knee-jerk reaction to a report.
Link: https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/10/first-man-neil-armstrong-patriotic-ryan-gosling/572818/
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