Transcript

Bridget Todd (00:00):

Hey, y'all. Quick heads up. This episode deals with suicide. You're listening to Disinformed, a mini series from There Are No Girls On The Internet. I'm Bridget Todd. On this week's episode of Disinformed, we heard from Nora Benavidez, free speech attorney and the Director of U.S. Free Expression Programs at PEN America Foundation. Now, as much as we talk about the steps platforms could be taking to keep inaccurate information from spreading online, Nora, who runs digital literacy training programs, really highlighted the role that individuals can play in curbing its spread. Her number one tip was that we all just slow down when we're online instead of smashing that retweet on things without really thinking it through.

Nora Benavidez (00:45):

We should all start asking ourselves how we feel when we're online. Are you feeling anxious when you read things? Are you angry? A lot of times, disinformation will thrive because we're emotional and we often want to share things, we want to engage with people quickly, and so we'll accept something without fact checking it, without thinking about or asking ourselves know who wrote this? Where did it come from? Why am I seeing it? So if you could just pause, that is my number one recommendation. Pause to ask a number of things, but just pause. And from slowing down, I think we actually could all benefit.

Bridget Todd (01:26):

Just this week I was leading a disinformation workshop and somebody asked me if I had ever shared something that wasn't totally accurate online. And the answer is, of course, I have. In fact, every disinformation researcher, activist, advocate, or expert that I've ever talked to has admitted to getting fooled by false information on social media at least once. Seriously, it happens to the best of us. And even the extremely online are still susceptible. Now, it's easy to think about the spread of inaccurate information as something that other people are doing, but it really warrants us all taking a closer look at our online behavior, yes, even me, not just thinking about the problematic social media behavior of others. And that can be really tough sometimes, because like Nora says, news, news stories on social media, it's all wrapped up in our quick emotional responses to things.

Bridget Todd (02:10):

Think of the way that Facebook even spells this out with their like, love, care reactions. And it's hard to think through your emotional responses to things, especially when you're quickly scrolling your social media feed. But a little mindfulness can go a long way. So this is the story about the last time that I shared something that wasn't true on social media. The tweet seemed innocuous enough. A friend, somebody I trusted, and know in real life posted, "Suicide figures are up 200% since the lockdown started. Could two followers please copy and repost this tweet. We're trying to demonstrate that someone is always listening. Call 1-800-273-8255, the number for the Suicide Prevention Hotline." Now, demonstrating that someone is always there for you and giving people a resource they might need during a quarantine, why not share it? So I did.

Bridget Todd (02:55):

I spent maybe all of five seconds thinking about it. I do feeling pretty smugly pleased with myself that I was dedicating a whole tweet to providing resources to others, which pretty much made me feel like a modern day Twitter saint. Until I got my first reply. And could you believe it? It was from somebody not praising me for being so altruistic, but actually calling me out for spreading inaccurate information. "I know you mean well," the tweet said, "but what's the source for this? This figure doesn't sound right to me." I need to say that I am not proud of my initial snap reaction, but I want to let you know where my head was at. My first response was, who does this guy think he is trying to call me out like this? I felt attacked and a little bit dragged, so I was definitely on the defensive. Then I thought, well, I'm trying to share something helpful. Even if the speaker isn't exactly accurate, it could still be a helpful resource for somebody who needs it.

Bridget Todd (03:46):

But the more I thought about it, the worst I felt, so I did a little digging. It turns out he was right. An article on factcheck.org said the figure about suicides being up 200% isn't corroborated by any actual data. In fact, at the time when I tweeted this, data about suicide figures under quarantine hadn't really started being collected yet. The tweet had gone viral in both the U.K. and the U.S. but the hotline number swapped out. So it wasn't even aiming to paint a portrait of suicide figures in one specific country. Pretty dubious. Okay, but is sharing an accurate information like this really that bad? The sentiment could still be helpful, right? I did some more digging. I found a piece in Slate by Shannon Palus, That Viral Tweet About Suicide Rates in the Pandemic Is Wrong and Dangerous.

Bridget Todd (04:28):

And in it, she makes a really good point. First of all, that tweet is designed to be alarming, and connecting a dubious rise in suicide with COVID lockdown provisions is not a neutral statement. It goes against media recommendations for responsibly reporting on suicide, because it presents suicide as a common or acceptable response to hardship and speculates on the reason for suicides while misrepresenting the actual data. A rise in suicide has also been used as a political argument against COVID lockdown measures. Trump even claimed in March that there would be "suicide by the thousands" if lockdown continued. So not quite the innocuous helpful message I intended to share on my feed, and maybe if I had spent more than five seconds thinking about it before posting, I would've seen that. So why am I telling you this?

Bridget Todd (05:10):

Well, the fact is, even though we spend a lot of time focusing on big time conspiracy theorist, you do not need to be a fully down to Q-Anon rabbit hole to share bad information online. It happens to the best of us, and if we all just spend a little more time thinking about our online behavior, and as Nora says, slowing down a bit, it could have a big impact. We don't need to wait for platforms to build in the tools to curb the spread of inaccurate information on social media, even though they should, to be clear. It can start with us, and people deserve accurate information. People deserve the truth.

Bridget Todd (05:47):

If you've enjoyed this podcast, please help us grow by subscribing. Got a story about an interesting thing in tech, or just want say hi? We'd love to hear from you at hello@tangoe.com. Disinformed is brought to you by There Are No Girls On The Internet. It's a production of iHeart Radio and Unboss Creative. Jonathan Strickland is our executive producer. Tara Harrison is our supervising producer and engineer. Michael Amato is our contributing producer. I'm your host, Bridget Todd. For more great podcasts, check out the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.