Who's in Charge of Truth Online?

In a recent poll, nearly all Americans are worried that lies might mess up the upcoming presidential election. False rumors about storms, past attacks, and current wars are spreading like wildfire on social media. At the same time, many people now get their news from these platforms, which could cause big problems for democracy. Back in the day, when social media was new, there wasn't much checking to see if people were telling the truth. Maybe it was easier to spot false news then, with less manipulation by foreign countries and more reliable mainstream news. Now, big companies like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube are trying to stop false information by labeling posts as false and reducing their spread. But this isn't working very well. Some people think their checks are unfair or not done right. Plus, people might assume that posts without labels are true, even if they're not checked.

The real issue is that these platforms make money by letting anyone pay to show their posts to specific groups. This lets bad actors, like foreign governments or political groups, spread false stories to people who might believe them. The platforms' super-smart computers even make false posts more popular. In my book "Restoring Our Sanity Online, " I talk about how to fix this. We need to change how the platforms work, so they don't push certain posts on people. Instead, users should look for information themselves. And we all need to learn how to think critically about what we see online. Education is key. A study from Michigan State University found that teaching people to be better judges of online info is more effective than blocking it. The MIT Center for Advanced Virtuality offers courses to help with this. The final say-so should be with the users, not the platforms. After the election, we need to start making these changes to protect our democracy and civil conversation.

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