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How Social Media and the Internet Gave Snake Oil Salesmen and Demagogues the Weapons They Needed to Destroy Trust and Polarize the World—And What We Can Do
How did we become a world where facts—shared truths—have lost their power to hold us together as a community, as a country, globally? How have we allowed the proliferation of alternative facts, hoaxes, even conspiracy theories, to destroy our trust in institutions, leaders, and legitimate experts? Best-selling journalist Steven Brill documents the forces and people, from Silicon Valley to Madison Avenue to Moscow to Washington, that have created and exploited this world of chaos and division—and offers practical solutions for what we can do about it. “A seminal, ground-breaking, documented and honest examination of two of the central dilemmas of our time—what is truth and where to find it.” —Bob Woodward, associate editor at The Washington Post As the cofounder of NewsGuard, a company that tracks online misinformation, Steven Brill has observed the rise of fake news from a front-row seat. In The Death of Truth, with startling, often terrifying clarity, he explains how we got here—and how we can get back to a world where truth matters. None of this—conspiracy theories embraced, expertise ridiculed, empirical evidence ignored—has happened by accident. Brill takes us inside the decisions made by executives in Silicon Valley to code the algorithms embedded in their social media platforms to maximize profits by pushing divisive content. He unravels the ingenious creation of automated advertising buying systems that reward that click-baiting content and penalize reliable news publishers, and describes how the use of these ad-financed, misinformation platforms by politicians, hucksters, and conspiracy theorists deceives ordinary citizens. He documents how the most powerful adversaries of America have used American-made social media and advertising tools against us with massive disinformation campaigns—and how, with the development of generative artificial intelligence, everything could get exponentially worse unless we act. The stakes are high for all of us, including Brill himself, whose company's role in exposing Russian disinformation operations resulted in a Russian agent targeting him and his family. Crucially, Brill lays out a series of provocative but realistic prescriptions for what we can do now to reverse course—proposals certain to stir debate and even action that could curb the power of big tech to profit from division and chaos, tamp down polarization, and restore the trust necessary to bring us together.
How did we become a world where facts—shared truths—have lost their power to hold us together as a community, as a country, globally? How have we allowed the proliferation of alternative facts, hoaxes, even conspiracy theories, to destroy our trust in institutions, leaders, and legitimate experts? Best-selling journalist Steven Brill documents the forces and people, from Silicon Valley to Madison Avenue to Moscow to Washington, that have created and exploited this world of chaos and division—and offers practical solutions for what we can do about it. “A seminal, ground-breaking, documented and honest examination of two of the central dilemmas of our time—what is truth and where to find it.” —Bob Woodward, associate editor at The Washington Post As the cofounder of NewsGuard, a company that tracks online misinformation, Steven Brill has observed the rise of fake news from a front-row seat. In The Death of Truth, with startling, often terrifying clarity, he explains how we got here—and how we can get back to a world where truth matters. None of this—conspiracy theories embraced, expertise ridiculed, empirical evidence ignored—has happened by accident. Brill takes us inside the decisions made by executives in Silicon Valley to code the algorithms embedded in their social media platforms to maximize profits by pushing divisive content. He unravels the ingenious creation of automated advertising buying systems that reward that click-baiting content and penalize reliable news publishers, and describes how the use of these ad-financed, misinformation platforms by politicians, hucksters, and conspiracy theorists deceives ordinary citizens. He documents how the most powerful adversaries of America have used American-made social media and advertising tools against us with massive disinformation campaigns—and how, with the development of generative artificial intelligence, everything could get exponentially worse unless we act. The stakes are high for all of us, including Brill himself, whose company's role in exposing Russian disinformation operations resulted in a Russian agent targeting him and his family. Crucially, Brill lays out a series of provocative but realistic prescriptions for what we can do now to reverse course—proposals certain to stir debate and even action that could curb the power of big tech to profit from division and chaos, tamp down polarization, and restore the trust necessary to bring us together.
Due to publisher restrictions the library cannot purchase additional copies of this title, and we apologize if there is a long waiting list. Be sure to check for other copies, because there may be other editions available.
Due to publisher restrictions the library cannot purchase additional copies of this title, and we apologize if there is a long waiting list. Be sure to check for other copies, because there may be other editions available.
About the Author-
STEVEN BRILL is the best-selling author of The Teamsters, America’s Bitter Pill, and Tailspin. He has written for The New York Times, Time, The New Yorker, and other national publications. Brill is the cofounder and co-CEO of NewsGuard, which rates the reliability of news and information websites. He is also the founder of The American Lawyer, Brill’s Content magazine, Court TV, the CLEAR registered traveler program, and the Yale Journalism Initiative. He lives near New York City.
Reviews-
May 1, 2024 A deep dive into the muck of fake news. In the latest book in a growing genre, journalist Brill, author of The Teamsters and America's Bitter Pill, examines the "toxic mix" of misinformation, disinformation, myths, alternative "facts," and conspiracy theories that have proliferated online, leading to a lack of belief in shared truths, distrust in the legitimacy of science and expertise, and an erosion of our sense of community. He traces the current chaos to Section 230, a 1995 law allowing internet providers to police their own platforms and granting them immunity over content, no matter how ill informed or harmful. Although the intent of the law was "to maintain the robust nature of Internet communication," Brill gives ample evidence to prove that, instead, it vastly undermined truth. In 2018, he and Gordon Crovitz founded NewsGuard to rate the trustworthiness of the most-visited sites, using criteria such as transparency of ownership and correction of mistakes. Although providers said that they supported the effort, Brill and Crovitz realized they had been na�ve and clueless: "The problem," Brill sees, "was their business plan," which was to encourage engagement on their sites. Sensational, angry, polemic content drives engagement and therefore attracts advertising money. Because of the layers of people involved in placing ads, the companies advertised don't know where their ads appear, so they end up supporting toxic sites that promote mis- and disinformation. While providers hired dedicated employees to staff their trust and safety teams, Brill found them to be "marginal mitigators" at best. Underscoring the acute need for reform, the author offers suggestions, including amending Section 230 to account for dangerous algorithms, ending online anonymity, directing the Federal Trade Commission to enforce providers' contracts with users to protect them from harmful content, and bolstering online news and information literacy for K-12 students. A brisk, well-informed, and urgent message.
COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
May 1, 2024 Brill's (Tailspin, 2018) premise is that a large portion of the blame for the current divisiveness in American politics and social discourse rests on the shoulders of social media. Because of the ubiquity of social media, because it is so efficient at promulgating disinformation and hostility, and because so many people wrap themselves in the resultant echo chambers, it becomes far too easy to be swept up by conspiracy theories or outright lies. Brill goes to great lengths to provide verifiable evidence of this phenomenon, as well as its consequences. Having identified the problem, Brill then offers a number of approaches to deal with it. Many of these proposed solutions would prove highly controversial, as they would entail drastically ramping up regulation and enforcement on the federal level. Clearly this would not sit well with those--particularly the social media operators--who want to keep the Internet as free from governmental interference as possible. But Brill makes a cogent case. Those with a vested interest in the social media landscape and its impact on society will find Brill's argument compelling.
COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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The Death of Truth
How Social Media and the Internet Gave Snake Oil Salesmen and Demagogues the Weapons They Needed to Destroy Trust and Polarize the World—And What We Can Do
Steven Brill
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