Marianna Spring: Truth and the social media scandal

Media Confidential

From JFK’s assassination to the moon landing, conspiracy theories have always existed. But the rise of social media has enabled fake news to spread like wildfire.

Award-winning journalist Marianna Spring joins the podcast to take Alan and Lionel on a tour through what she calls “Conspiracyland”, a hinterland between the online world and perceived reality.

Marianna is the Disinformation and Social Media correspondent for the BBC and is also the author of Among the Trolls: My Journey Through Conspiracyland. She attempts to make sense of what causes people to be sucked in to myths—whole movements sprang during the pandemic, based on disinformation around Covid-19. This summer’s far-right riots were sparked by false information. And after the attempted assassination of Donald Trump during his election campaign, others couldn’t distinguish if what happened was real or staged.But as more people believe in wild stories, what impact does it have on society?

Will we look back with disbelief at how the truth became distorted beyond recognition, on giant unregulated social media platforms?

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