Former President Barack Obama wasn’t praising disinformation in a TikTok video. He was giving a speech about its dangers and calling for governments to better protect democracy.
"Authoritarian regimes and strongmen around the world from China to Hungary, the Philippines, Brazil have learned to conscript social media platforms to turn their own populations against groups they don’t like, whether it’s ethnic minorities, the LGBTQ community, journalists, political opponents. And of course, autocrats like Putin have used these platforms as a strategic weapon against democratic countries that they consider a threat.
"People like Putin and Steve Bannon, for that matter, understand it’s not necessary for people to believe this information in order to weaken democratic institutions. You just have to flood a country’s public square with enough raw sewage. You just have to raise enough questions, spread enough dirt, plant enough conspiracy theorizing that citizens no longer know what to believe.
"Once they lose trust in their leaders, in mainstream media, in political institutions, in each other, in the possibility of truth, the game’s won. And as Putin discovered leading up to the 2016 election, our own social media platforms are well designed to support such a mission, such a project."The former president did say the words in the video, but the video was edited to omit the context of the speech he gave at Stanford University.
South Africa Latest News, South Africa Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
PolitiFact - Obama was warning about disinformation, not endorsing itFormer President Barack Obama wasn’t praising disinformation in a TikTok video. He was giving a speech about its dangers and calling for governments to better protect democracy.
Read more »
PolitiFact - Obama was warning about disinformation, not endorsing itFormer President Barack Obama wasn’t praising disinformation in a TikTok video. He was giving a speech about its dangers and calling for governments to better protect democracy.
Read more »
PolitiFact - Obama was warning about disinformation, not endorsing itFormer President Barack Obama wasn’t praising disinformation in a TikTok video. He was giving a speech about its dangers and calling for governments to better protect democracy.
Read more »
PolitiFact - Obama was warning about disinformation, not endorsing itFormer President Barack Obama wasn’t praising disinformation in a TikTok video. He was giving a speech about its dangers and calling for governments to better protect democracy.
Read more »
PolitiFact - No, Biden is not arming up the IRS with guns and ammunitionThe IRS is not suddenly arming itself to come collect your taxes, as U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz suggested on Fox News. The agency has a century-old criminal investigation division that routinely buys weapons and ammunition for its special agents.
Read more »
PolitiFact - No, sending postcards to states will not lead to decertification of 2020 ballotsPro-Trump groups invite people to send postcards to battleground state lawmakers asking them to decertify ballots cast in 2020. But no such decertification process exists, and there’s no evidence of widespread fraud.
Read more »