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Episode 298Oct 14, 2020

Playing whack-a-troll with our democracy

On today’s show: an informative, if depressing, look at the depth and breadth of the online disinformation problem.

After the violent attack on the U.S Capitol on Jan. 6, some social media platforms have taken down President Donald Trump's accounts.
After the violent attack on the U.S Capitol on Jan. 6, some social media platforms have taken down President Donald Trump's accounts.
Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images

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Disinformation is a growing business that brings up a lot of questions. Is that fake news story getting to your timeline from a troll farm in Russia? Or a teenage contractor a few states over? More importantly, who is actually making money off this?

On today’s show, we’re joined by Nina Jankowicz, a disinformation fellow at the Wilson Center and the author of the book “How to Lose the Information War: Russia, Fake News and the Future of Conflict.” She’ll help us dive into this ever-evolving ecosystem and explain its ripple effects. Hint: We might want to be concerned about our democracy.

Later, we’ll talk about vaccines and the disinformation around them, plus more of your ideas for a term to use when people get misled by the internet. Finally, roboticist Ayanna Howard answers the Make Me Smart question.

Here’s everything we talked about today:

The Team

Playing whack-a-troll with our democracy