A popular disinformation blog has taken aim at social media influencers saying they have the power to reach millions of followers and should be more aware of their responsibility.
And, it adds: “The damage can be exacerbated by media reports that repeat the misleading or false claims for clicks.
First Draft News believes “the role of celebrities and online influencers requires more scrutiny, especially from social platforms and media.”
“Regardless of whether they spread misinformation intentionally or not, celebrities are complicit in information disorder.”
The article’s author, Ali Abbas Ahmadi, listed many examples of celebrities and influencers expressing inappropriate opinions and repeating damaging conspiracy theories and quoted a University of Washington professor who believes that fans and followers are inspired by misinformation posts from their heroes to “voluntarily create and expand similar, false narratives and conspiracy theories”.
In a world where celebrities and online personalities exert an disproportionate influence over a large swathe of the population there is a growing danger to society from their potential to spread bad information says Ahmadi who calls for 2021 to be the year that this alarming impact is weakened.
What do you think? News reports are often based simply on the words and actions of celebrities and influencers. Should reports on crazy conspiracy theories and dumb misrepresentation be written with greater incredulity to better communicate the wrongness of these peoples’ words and actions?
Read the full article here.
