meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
The Lawfare Podcast

Ben Kaiser and Jonathan Mayer on Fighting Misinformation Online

The Lawfare Podcast

The Lawfare Institute

History, News, National Security, Law, Terrorism, Current Events, Military, International Law, Foreign Policy, Intelligence, International Relations, Politics, Diplomacy, Rule Of Law, Government, Constitutional Law

4.76.4K Ratings

🗓️ 10 August 2021

⏱️ 43 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The spread of misinformation is one of the biggest challenges facing social media platforms. A standard approach is to label suspicious posts or links so as to warn users that what they're engaging with is not reputable, but warnings, despite their wide use, haven't proven to be particularly successful. So what's a social media platform to do? 

Two Princeton University computer scientists, Ben Kaiser, a PhD student, and Professor Jonathan Mayer, think they've found a better way. Instead of warning users about misinformation, they propose putting roadblocks between users and the misinformation they're tempted to click on. Alan Rozenshtein spoke with Ben and Jonathan about their research and about a piece they and Dr. J. Nathan Matias wrote recently for Lawfare entitled, "Warnings that Work: Combating Misinformation Without Deplatforming." 

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/lawfare.


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

The following podcast contains advertising to access an ad-free version of the LawFair

0:07.2

podcast become a material supporter of LawFair at patreon.com slash LawFair.

0:14.7

That's patreon.com slash LawFair.

0:18.2

Also, check out LawFair's other podcast offerings, rational security, chatter, LawFair

0:25.6

no bull and the aftermath.

0:33.9

We know what the primary tools in the toolbox are, but we don't know how relatively effective

0:41.3

they are and what the trade-offs are.

0:44.6

And in the absence of some ability to evaluate that, it's kind of like taking shots in the

0:51.0

dark and you can see it with the responses the platforms are making to various instances

0:57.3

of misinformation and disinformation.

0:59.0

The part of the reason why these responses feel so scatter shot, some posts get a contextual

1:07.1

warning, some get a little more, sometimes the post is removed, sometimes the account is

1:11.6

removed, sometimes it's a temporary removal is because we don't really have a principled

1:16.2

basis for making good judgments about which intervention is the right fit for which kind

1:23.4

of problematic content.

1:26.2

I'm Alan Rosenstein and this is the LawFair podcast August 10, 2021.

1:33.3

The spread of misinformation is one of the biggest challenges facing social media platforms.

1:38.8

A standard approach is to label suspicious posts or links so as to warn users that what

1:43.7

they're quote unquote engaging with is not reputable.

1:48.0

But warnings, despite their wide use, have been proven to be particularly successful.

1:52.8

So what's the social media platform to do?

1:56.0

Two Princeton University computer scientists, Ben Kaiser, a PhD student and Professor Jonathan

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Lawfare Institute, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Lawfare Institute and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.