SwitchPoint 2018: Day 1

April 26, 2018Day 1 of SwitchPoint 2018 focused on fake news, true stories, and the power both have over how we do good —and how we do evil.If you ’ve been within shouting distance of the news lately, you know that privacy and data are on a lot of people’s minds.Who has access to your digital life? What should they be allowed to do with it? What power are our facts giving to those with the resources to aggregate them?And what about when the facts aren ’t really facts?Fake news is doing more than influencing elections and making your in-laws post troubling memes on their timelines. It ’s putting people in danger.It ’s a war on trust and institutions, on social systems.The bad guys, saidNathaniel Raymond of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative today, have found in social media a powerful new tool to sow discord and misinformation. Whereas radio was the platform of choice for hatemongers during the genocide in Rwanda, today, they ’re using messaging apps to incite loathing for the Rohingya in Myanmar.And just last week in North America, we saw how they ’re using subreddits and other online gathering places to wronglyblame women for their sexual frustrations and rejections, and encourage violence against them.“Right now, we’re at the beginning of what I call the Third World War,” Raymond said. “It’s a war on trust and institutions, on social systems. And you all, ladies and gentlemen, are on the front lines.”Raymond was talking to a sold-out crowd of al...
Source: IntraHealth International - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Source Type: news