The 138th Block: Fakes, facts and frictions

Just some trends and things

Dec 26, 2022

This week…

It’s the last Block of the year. Let’s have a look at a few “trends and things” that dominate media coverage and analysis when it comes to social media, misinformation, AI, and data security as we enter into the next year.

In essence, industry leaders have said these things: that tech will continue to change the business of news, that journalism will embrace tech (or AI, whatever that means), that trust in the news will be at its lowest, that journalism will become more local or specialised, or both.

Also below, a few personal recommendations, and the chart of the week.

The fakes

Synthetic media: ChatGPT and AI art raise new questions on trust. ChatGPT poses a challenge of accuracy, writes Charles Arthur on Social Warming, because unlike science, which is self-correcting, the web isn’t. However, Rest of World’s Alex González Ormerod thinks there are better ways to manipulate you.
Misinfo persists, but the kids are alright: On Global News, Ipsos’ Lisa Byers opines we should have more faith in millennials to navigate the infodemic on social media. Even though the US banned TikTok on government devices, verified fact-checking professionals in key industries such as health care, climate, and journalism must remain on social platforms to prevent a void that will be gleefully filled by bad actors.
They are already here: The AI spammers are coming, writes Josh Schwartz on Nieman Lab. Related: In the US, all 51 attorneys general say robotexts are out of control.

The facts

Fenced-up news: Traditionally, editors are gatekeepers of news, filtering out poor information and fine-tuning good ones for public communication. On Nieman Lab, Jessica Clark writes that the ‘Substackisation’ of celebrity journalists means the retrenchment of open discourse, while Tim Carmody posits that newsletter writers need new ethics.
Information not just communication: Social media is not just entertainment, it is a search engine—particularly if it’s TikTok. If you have been on TikTok, you will realise that one of its newest features is the suggested search under every video. The suggested search is normally related to the content of the video, and could be keyword search (“what is almond mom?”) or relevant account names (“Gigi Hadid”). On Vanity Fair, Delia Cai takes it one step further—that TikTok killed the newsfeed.
Height of hostility: How do sources talk to the media (the news media or social media)? Pesha Magid, Mercy Tonnia Orengo, and Emily Russell explore sourcing for abortion coverage on CJR.

The frictions

Platforms and publishers: some platforms may die, but most social media services evolve to stay alive. It could even possibly be the time for RSS reader to shine, predicts Nikki Usher on Nieman Lab.
Censorship, moderation, free speech: Everyone has their own definitions of these words, and most won’t get all of them right. Especially not Elon Musk. It doesn’t matter; people react to whatever is most outrageous, and people online like to out-outrage each other. And that’s all that matters. Kenneth Li has more on the ‘Chief Twit’ on Reuters.
No end to data breaches: However, data privacy rules are sweeping across the globe, and getting stricter, writes Bob Violino for CNBC.

What I read, listen, and watch…

I’m reading “Reenchanted Science” by Erik Baker on The Baffler.
I’m listening to “The Good, Bad and Ugly of Pop Culture 2022” on CBC’s Front Burner, hosted by Jayme Poisson.
I’m watching Web of Make Believe: Death, Lies and the Internet on Netflix.

Reviews, opinion pieces and other stray links:

Quelle place devraient occuper les idéologies en journalisme ? by Marie-Danielle Tremblay for Le Devoir.
A Roomba recorded a woman on the toilet. How did screenshots end up on Facebook? by Eileen Guo for MIT TR.
The Lastpass hack was worse than the company first reported by Andrew Tarantola for Endgadget.

Chart of the week

Felix Richter shows on Statista that in Q3 2022, Amazon, Microsoft and Google dominate the cloud market with 34 per cent, 21 per cent and 11 per cent of the market share, respectively.