Fears that ‘pink slime’ sites could be as harmful to political discourse as foreign disinformation in 2016 and 2020
Political groups on the right and left are using fake news websites designed to look like reliable sources of information to fill the void left by the demise of local newspapers, raising fears of the impact that they might have during America’s bitterly fought 2024 election.
Some media experts are concerned that the so-called pink slime websites, often funded domestically, could prove at least as harmful to political discourse and voters’ faith in media and democracy as foreign disinformation efforts in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections.
According to a recent report from NewsGuard, a company that aims to counter misinformation by studying and rating news websites, the websites are so prolific that: “The odds are now better than 50-50 that if you see a news website purporting to cover local news, it’s fake.”
Week ago I listened to a podcast about history of misinformation and censorship in first republic Czechoslovakia.
And tldr of it is that we didn’t learn anything - they wanted to regulate sale of newspapers and everyone listened radio.
I think there is big parallel the discussion about censorship was same, and when it was implemented it wasn’t effective. Be it Russian propaganda or some other affairs.