Breaking Bongo

Radiolab

WNYC Studios

Natural Sciences, History, Documentary, Science, Society & Culture

4.6 • 44.5K Ratings

🗓️ 27 November 2019

⏱️ 64 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Deep fake videos have the potential to make it impossible to sort fact from fiction. And some have argued that this blackhole of doubt will eventually send truth itself into a death spiral. But a series of recent events in the small African nation of Gabon suggest it's already happening. Today, we follow a ragtag group of freedom fighters as they troll Gabon’s president - Ali Bongo - from afar. Using tweets, videos and the uncertainty they can carry, these insurgents test the limits of using truth to create political change and, confusingly, force us to ask: Can fake news be used for good? This episode was reported and produced by Simon Adler. Support Radiolab today at Radiolab.org/donate.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Wait, you're listening.
0:03.1	Okay.
0:04.4	All right.
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0:07.0	All right.
0:08.5	You're listening to Radio Lab.
0:11.4	Radio Lab.
0:11.9	From W. N. Y.
0:13.9	C.
0:14.8	See?
0:15.1	Yeah.
0:19.0	Hey, I'm Chad. I'm Umbud.
0:20.6	I'm Robert Krollwich. This is Radio Lab. And today,
0:23.7	all right. We are on the corner of third and 42nd heading east. We're talking about, what are we
0:31.9	talking about? We're talking about your, um, your expat rebellion. Yes. Okay, I like it. And as you just heard, it comes from our producer, Simon Adler. And a quick warning, if you've got kids listening, there are a few curse words in this story. So just be warned. Okay, here's Simon. Right. So... All right, another police checkpoint here. A month or so back, Have your bags open.
0:55.1	See if I can get through.
0:56.8	I went down to the United Nations looking for this group of activists.
0:59.0	Okay.
0:59.6	I was walking down Second Ave,
1:01.1	and that morning,
1:02.2	the UN General Assembly was in session.
1:04.9	So security was super tight,
	...

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