2024 is a crunch year for democracy. Since Donald Trump’s explosive arrival in politics in 2016, social media and its approach to misinformation and abuse has been cast in the frontline for freedom.
The July 13th assassination attempt on Trump has led to a predictable flurry of speculation, misinformation and conspiracy. It further polluted the online ecosystem and supercharged emotions in an already fraught atmosphere.
Big Tech platforms have been largely unresponsive to the problem and even exacerbated it. In the aftermath of the attempt on his life, Trump was allowed to return to Instagram and Facebook, while Twitter / X owner, Elon Musk, took it a step further, publicly endorsing Trump’s campaign.
In a recent thoughtful piece, Casey Newton of Platformer wrote that the 2017-2023 era of the trust and safety consensus “peaked and is now in decline.”
Misinformation and abuse didn’t begin in 2016, and is far from resolved. Now, major institutions at the centre of the online infosphere are offering no direction to address these issues.
The tech industry, the media and politics has become numb. What was shocking in 2016 has become routine.
Nature is healing
Beyond Big Tech, things are stirring. Enter the Social Web. An open, decentralised social network reaching across multiple platforms and apps.
Here, safe spaces are being carved out. Innovative solutions are emerging, through the development of new technologies and communities of change makers.
At Newsmast, our focus is squarely on building networks for sharing knowledge. Tackling misinformation head on and stamping out abuse. But we’re not the only ones. Numerous paid and volunteer teams focusing on curation and moderation are experimenting with different models and techniques.
Developing, refining and entrenching principles in the social web is the vital first step. But our current and future successes are a template to show that a healthy online environment is possible.
Where we lead, the centre can be made to follow.
From this week, we’re going back to X to show more people that better social media is possible.
Growing the social web is key to the survival of the ecosystem, and the internet as a whole. That means the hard work of education and persuasion needs to be done primarily outside the Fediverse. Over the next few weeks we’ll be trialling new strategies and ideas, and we’d love it if you joined us.