The war on truth
June 14, 2024 7:32 AM Subscribe
Casey Newton & Zoe Schiffer report that The Stanford Internet Observatory is being dismantled. The Observatory "was created to learn about the abuse of the internet in real time, to develop a novel curriculum on trust and safety that is a first in computer science, and to translate our research discoveries into training and policy innovations for the public good."
Stanford denies that the Observatory is being shut down.
This is in the context of GOP attacks on fact-checking (gift link), and making it increasingly obvious that they are taking direction from Putin.
SIO and its researchers have been sued three times by conservative groups alleging that its researchers colluded illegally with the federal government to censor speech, forcing Stanford to spend millions of dollars to defend its staff and students.
Stanford denies that the Observatory is being shut down.
This is in the context of GOP attacks on fact-checking (gift link), and making it increasingly obvious that they are taking direction from Putin.
See also Attacked by conservatives, University of Washington misinformation researcher gears up for 2024
posted by lalochezia at 8:00 AM on June 14 [3 favorites]
posted by lalochezia at 8:00 AM on June 14 [3 favorites]
I hate this fucking timeline.
posted by grubi at 8:06 AM on June 14 [29 favorites]
posted by grubi at 8:06 AM on June 14 [29 favorites]
Is there anything the right-wing won't or can't ruin?
posted by orange swan at 8:13 AM on June 14 [12 favorites]
posted by orange swan at 8:13 AM on June 14 [12 favorites]
Clearly, running something like this inside the US is too exposed to partisan attack. Could this sort of project be effectively run from a "safer", less litigious jurisdiction? Under the auspices of a less vulnerable institution or organization? UN, maybe? (he asked, naively. Ok, not the UN)
posted by Artful Codger at 8:14 AM on June 14 [5 favorites]
posted by Artful Codger at 8:14 AM on June 14 [5 favorites]
The first thing that comes to mind is $endowment$. The second is wealthy alumni. The third is money.
posted by DJZouke at 8:19 AM on June 14 [6 favorites]
posted by DJZouke at 8:19 AM on June 14 [6 favorites]
Could this sort of project be effectively run from a "safer", less litigious jurisdiction?
That gives them the easier stupid argument: "Look, [group-of-nations]\[NGO]\[sweden] is trying to meddle in our elections!"
posted by AzraelBrown at 8:19 AM on June 14 [5 favorites]
That gives them the easier stupid argument: "Look, [group-of-nations]\[NGO]\[sweden] is trying to meddle in our elections!"
posted by AzraelBrown at 8:19 AM on June 14 [5 favorites]
I wish conservatives would just be good people instead. It's definitely a little harder than being a lie-loving stooge, but it also just feels really nice to not dedicate any part of your being to the destruction of others in any way you can manage.
posted by GoblinHoney at 8:27 AM on June 14 [17 favorites]
posted by GoblinHoney at 8:27 AM on June 14 [17 favorites]
Any larger dollar donation is subject attack (see Soros, Gates, et al) heck even if this was funded entirely by small dollar donations I could see this getting attacked.
We are truly living in a post truth era. There is no Walter Cronkite. That a broad swatch of people believe and trust. They are teaching some internet safety and literacy in schools these days, but given all the attacks on public education….
posted by CostcoCultist at 8:28 AM on June 14 [7 favorites]
We are truly living in a post truth era. There is no Walter Cronkite. That a broad swatch of people believe and trust. They are teaching some internet safety and literacy in schools these days, but given all the attacks on public education….
posted by CostcoCultist at 8:28 AM on June 14 [7 favorites]
The Stanford Internet Observatory did a lot of really important work. Is there some reference list of projects and what other organizations are doing similar / overlapping work? I'm looking specifically for non-profits to donate to.
posted by Nelson at 8:32 AM on June 14 [6 favorites]
posted by Nelson at 8:32 AM on June 14 [6 favorites]
That gives them the easier stupid argument...
I hear that. But most of the current crisis with the Internet (and with rollout of AI) is, in this ocean of "information", the apparent dearth of reliable, fact-checked information... or that such information is so successfully suppressed or disputed. And not just in politics.
(I still want a browser plugin that parses whatever I'm currently reading and will raise a flag if it finds something that's wrong or distorted, with cites. /naive )
posted by Artful Codger at 8:40 AM on June 14 [7 favorites]
I hear that. But most of the current crisis with the Internet (and with rollout of AI) is, in this ocean of "information", the apparent dearth of reliable, fact-checked information... or that such information is so successfully suppressed or disputed. And not just in politics.
(I still want a browser plugin that parses whatever I'm currently reading and will raise a flag if it finds something that's wrong or distorted, with cites. /naive )
posted by Artful Codger at 8:40 AM on June 14 [7 favorites]
Is there anything the right-wing won't or can't ruin?
History teaches a very clear and consistent lesson about how you stop fascists and cripple their ability to organize in the future. Right now we’re still in the “maybe words and the law will help” part of the cycle, though.
posted by ryanshepard at 8:41 AM on June 14 [40 favorites]
History teaches a very clear and consistent lesson about how you stop fascists and cripple their ability to organize in the future. Right now we’re still in the “maybe words and the law will help” part of the cycle, though.
posted by ryanshepard at 8:41 AM on June 14 [40 favorites]
We're witnessing an era of mass brainwashing, also known as thought reform, and very much dependent on controlling information. What is not so obvious is why, and for that one might study the cognitive dissonance of failed prophecy, in this case religious fundamentalism and the rapture.
posted by Brian B. at 9:06 AM on June 14 [5 favorites]
posted by Brian B. at 9:06 AM on June 14 [5 favorites]
I have two thoughts on why things are heating up politically.
1) This smells a lot like what happened when Rome finally managed to eliminate Carthage as a unifying external threat.
2) In the repeated prisoner's dilemma, Nice strategies are able to survive only as long as the number of turns remaining is unknown. Civilization-threatening climate change is the end of the game, which means it's time to stab.
posted by I-Write-Essays at 9:15 AM on June 14 [12 favorites]
1) This smells a lot like what happened when Rome finally managed to eliminate Carthage as a unifying external threat.
2) In the repeated prisoner's dilemma, Nice strategies are able to survive only as long as the number of turns remaining is unknown. Civilization-threatening climate change is the end of the game, which means it's time to stab.
posted by I-Write-Essays at 9:15 AM on June 14 [12 favorites]
Thank you for the link to thought reform (brainwashing). I'd heard that anecdote but didn't have a good source.
Lifton's research for the book began in 1953 with a series of interviews with American servicemen who had been held captive during the Korean War. In addition to interviews with 25 Americans, Lifton also interviewed 15 Chinese who had fled their homeland after having been subjected to indoctrination in Chinese universities. From these interviews, which in some cases occurred regularly for over a year, Lifton identified the tactics used by Chinese communists to cause drastic shifts in one's opinions and personality and "brainwash" American soldiers into making demonstrably false assertions.
posted by craniac at 9:19 AM on June 14 [1 favorite]
Lifton's research for the book began in 1953 with a series of interviews with American servicemen who had been held captive during the Korean War. In addition to interviews with 25 Americans, Lifton also interviewed 15 Chinese who had fled their homeland after having been subjected to indoctrination in Chinese universities. From these interviews, which in some cases occurred regularly for over a year, Lifton identified the tactics used by Chinese communists to cause drastic shifts in one's opinions and personality and "brainwash" American soldiers into making demonstrably false assertions.
posted by craniac at 9:19 AM on June 14 [1 favorite]
Contemporary university leadership is so cowardly today. Tell congress to fuck off, defend your 1st amendment rights and defend academic independence. What's the point of your multibillion endowments if you have to be beholden to the winds of political fortune. But of course, the board members are all business psychos who have no idea what the purpose of a university is. It's so depressing.
posted by dis_integration at 9:20 AM on June 14 [31 favorites]
posted by dis_integration at 9:20 AM on June 14 [31 favorites]
Clearly, running something like this inside the US is too exposed to partisan attack. Could this sort of project be effectively run from a "safer", less litigious jurisdiction?
US territory is one of the safer spaces from abuse of the UK's libel laws.
posted by ocschwar at 9:23 AM on June 14 [6 favorites]
US territory is one of the safer spaces from abuse of the UK's libel laws.
posted by ocschwar at 9:23 AM on June 14 [6 favorites]
For the OP, I tried to dig up an article that I thought I saw somewhere on Aleksandr Dugin's tactic of destroying faith in objective reality in order to give autocrats free rein. I wasn't able to find that, but it seems to be part and parcel of what's going on.
posted by adamrice at 9:23 AM on June 14 [7 favorites]
posted by adamrice at 9:23 AM on June 14 [7 favorites]
Here's another instance of the GOP's increasingly apparent influence from Russia (scroll down to "Reading RonJohn").
Johnson, and those who agree with him, are assimilating facts given to them as senators, and counterarguments made against them, to make their points. It’s not blithe shouting; it’s a more considered view, even if it’s one that parrots Kremlin talking points while advocating for the U.S. to prod Ukraine into capitulating.posted by adamrice at 9:29 AM on June 14 [4 favorites]
Will Matt Taibbi put up a Mission Accomplished banner and move on to a quiet retirement now?
posted by mittens at 10:11 AM on June 14 [5 favorites]
posted by mittens at 10:11 AM on June 14 [5 favorites]
Aleksandr Dugin's tactic of destroying faith in objective reality in order to give autocrats free rein
It's not Dugin, but that description reminds me of Yurchak's Hypernormalization, made more well-known by Adam Curtis' 2016 documentary.
posted by msbrauer at 10:15 AM on June 14 [5 favorites]
It's not Dugin, but that description reminds me of Yurchak's Hypernormalization, made more well-known by Adam Curtis' 2016 documentary.
posted by msbrauer at 10:15 AM on June 14 [5 favorites]
what other organizations are doing similar / overlapping work?
politicalresearch.org
https://unicornriot.ninja/far-right-investigations-desk/
Berkman Klein Center? [harvard]
...
posted by HearHere at 10:25 AM on June 14 [5 favorites]
politicalresearch.org
https://unicornriot.ninja/far-right-investigations-desk/
Berkman Klein Center? [harvard]
...
posted by HearHere at 10:25 AM on June 14 [5 favorites]
Southern Poverty Law Center, the Brennan Center for Justice...
posted by HearHere at 10:54 AM on June 14 [8 favorites]
posted by HearHere at 10:54 AM on June 14 [8 favorites]
Pointing out lies is not stifling free speech, you conservative cunts.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 11:37 AM on June 14 [13 favorites]
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 11:37 AM on June 14 [13 favorites]
Pointing out lies is not stifling free speech, you conservative cunts.
The whole point of the concept of "self-censorship" was to enable that framing. To argue that facing consequences for their speech is intrinsically censorship. And the problem is how many people who knew better have bought the bait.
posted by NoxAeternum at 12:39 PM on June 14 [6 favorites]
The whole point of the concept of "self-censorship" was to enable that framing. To argue that facing consequences for their speech is intrinsically censorship. And the problem is how many people who knew better have bought the bait.
posted by NoxAeternum at 12:39 PM on June 14 [6 favorites]
What's a "Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation" and doesn't California have protections against such things?
posted by k3ninho at 4:03 PM on June 14
posted by k3ninho at 4:03 PM on June 14
I look forward to the nirvana when conservative legal establishments require all of us to be white supremicist, evangelical, nativist, racist, nazi assholes. Oh and AR-15s get issued at birth to every child born in the US.
posted by WatTylerJr at 5:22 PM on June 14 [1 favorite]
posted by WatTylerJr at 5:22 PM on June 14 [1 favorite]
We shouldn't say/ do [x] because then they will say/do [y] ignores the fact that if they can say/do [y] and [y] is bad, they will do it regardless of what you or reality say or do. Their mode of modelling the world and understanding events in narrative, faith, identity, etc and not studied rationalism and scientific skepticism and research or debate etc. Of course, most of us rely on those too to navigate a complex world, but many of us try to incorporate scientific and mainstream news authorities as a short-cut to better quality modeling of reality.
The people clinging to 'playing the game fairly by the rules' and 'words matter' or ' believe the science' etc, might as well be asking santa-claus to bring them a functional society for christmas. The marriage is over, the pax americana is over, stop wishing for some outside institution or rhetorical coup to constrain or re-domesticate the violent revolutionary party that is attempting to conquer, subjugate and eliminate you. you're still trying to bring facts to a gun fight. Like, literally, they are the people buying, practicing and brandishing guns, and you are morning the loss of civility and faith in fact-checkers. The fact is they have exited the social contract and are engaging in a zero-sum struggle against you for control of the resources and people. You can't fact-check a terrorist, a coup, a cult or an insurrection. Civil society, law, media, all the pleasant institutions of peace are the product of rival groups submitting to non-violent dispute resolution and a boundary on how hard they push the rules of the game. A major group has stopped submitting to law and order and is making a play for seizing the throne. Nothing the good folks at Standford were doing could stop a bullet.
Sorry, i also wish it wasn't this way, but that wishing is why we let them get so far without resistance.
p.s.
Calling Adam Curtis' work "documentaries" is a bit on the nose for a thread about disinformation and its supporters. They are thought provoking video collages assembled from a mix of historical fact and historical fiction. Definitely worth watching, but definitely not a work of non-fiction.
posted by No Climate - No Food, No Food - No Future. at 1:18 AM on June 15 [4 favorites]
The people clinging to 'playing the game fairly by the rules' and 'words matter' or ' believe the science' etc, might as well be asking santa-claus to bring them a functional society for christmas. The marriage is over, the pax americana is over, stop wishing for some outside institution or rhetorical coup to constrain or re-domesticate the violent revolutionary party that is attempting to conquer, subjugate and eliminate you. you're still trying to bring facts to a gun fight. Like, literally, they are the people buying, practicing and brandishing guns, and you are morning the loss of civility and faith in fact-checkers. The fact is they have exited the social contract and are engaging in a zero-sum struggle against you for control of the resources and people. You can't fact-check a terrorist, a coup, a cult or an insurrection. Civil society, law, media, all the pleasant institutions of peace are the product of rival groups submitting to non-violent dispute resolution and a boundary on how hard they push the rules of the game. A major group has stopped submitting to law and order and is making a play for seizing the throne. Nothing the good folks at Standford were doing could stop a bullet.
Sorry, i also wish it wasn't this way, but that wishing is why we let them get so far without resistance.
p.s.
Calling Adam Curtis' work "documentaries" is a bit on the nose for a thread about disinformation and its supporters. They are thought provoking video collages assembled from a mix of historical fact and historical fiction. Definitely worth watching, but definitely not a work of non-fiction.
posted by No Climate - No Food, No Food - No Future. at 1:18 AM on June 15 [4 favorites]
WatTylerJr You have also just described the new New Zealand government. They are all these things also anti public health, and anti climate change response, they seem to hate the disabled as well, of course they're all 'christians'. Jesus would have whipped them
Fucking devils walking the Earth, which I nearly said aloud in my recent spoken submission against the Fast Track bill.
posted by unearthed at 3:48 AM on June 15 [2 favorites]
Fucking devils walking the Earth, which I nearly said aloud in my recent spoken submission against the Fast Track bill.
posted by unearthed at 3:48 AM on June 15 [2 favorites]
The Internet Observatory's former research manager, Renee DiResta has a great piece in The Atlantic about the "Fantasy Industrial Complex". Her book, Invisible Rulers, came out earlier this week. I've seen her speak at conferences before, and she's great. Her newsletter is also a good sub. I suspect she's going to land at another think-tank/research lab somewhere and I hope to be able to support whichever venture she gets involved in next.
posted by bl1nk at 11:00 AM on June 15 [5 favorites]
posted by bl1nk at 11:00 AM on June 15 [5 favorites]
Any idea why the Internet Observatory lives prmarily inside the US? Aren't there plenty of nations who'd safely host this sort of thing?
We learned that anti-vaccine campaigns were run by the Pentagon just one day after this: "If the government ever so much as breathes the word 'disinformation' again, every journalist in the room had better turn their backs on the podium." - Snowden
posted by jeffburdges at 3:46 AM on June 16
We learned that anti-vaccine campaigns were run by the Pentagon just one day after this: "If the government ever so much as breathes the word 'disinformation' again, every journalist in the room had better turn their backs on the podium." - Snowden
posted by jeffburdges at 3:46 AM on June 16
"If the government ever so much as breathes the word 'disinformation' again, every journalist in the room had better turn their backs on the podium." - Snowden
Of course, what Ed is leaving out there in a lie of omission is that it was his benefactor's (who is the absolute master of weaponizing disinformation) pet president who ran said program, and that the program was shut down basically immediately after he was out of office.
Can't shake the devil's hand and then say you were just kidding, Ed.
posted by NoxAeternum at 9:24 AM on June 16 [3 favorites]
Of course, what Ed is leaving out there in a lie of omission is that it was his benefactor's (who is the absolute master of weaponizing disinformation) pet president who ran said program, and that the program was shut down basically immediately after he was out of office.
Can't shake the devil's hand and then say you were just kidding, Ed.
posted by NoxAeternum at 9:24 AM on June 16 [3 favorites]
« Older The push to stamp out galling ethnic name bias on... | Oh no, consequences Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
Via the article, it sounds like Stanford is insisting on this because certain projects are continuing and they're keeping the brand.
But one of the major focuses of their work, and which indeed prompted its founding IIRC, was investigating election-related disinformation. And Stanford appears to be caving under pressure to abandon that mission, as well as many of the staff.
posted by learning from frequent failure at 7:57 AM on June 14 [10 favorites]