This TED Talk features misinformation expert Claire Wardle,

recorded live at TED 2019.

No matter who you are or where you live,

I'm guessing that you have at least one relative that likes to forward those emails.

You know the ones I'm talking about, the ones with dubious claims or conspiracy videos.

And if you spend as enough time as I have looking at misinformation,

you know that this is just one example of many that taps into people's deepest fears and vulnerabilities.

Every day across the world, we see scores of new memes on Instagram,

encouraging parents not to vaccinate their children.

We see new videos on YouTube explaining that climate changes are hoax.

And across all platforms, we see endless posts designed to demonise others

on the basis of their race, religion or sexuality.

Welcome to one of the central challenges of our time. How can we maintain

an internet with freedom of expression at the core while also ensuring that the content that's

being disseminated doesn't cause irreparable harms to our democracies, our communities and to our

physical and mental well-being.

Because we live in the information age, yet the central currency upon which we all depend,

information, is no longer deemed entirely trustworthy and at times can appear downright dangerous.

This is thanks in part to the runaway growth of social sharing platforms that allow us to scroll through where lies and

facts sit side by side, but with none of the traditional signals of trustworthiness.

And goodness, our language around this is horribly muddled. People are still obsessed with the

phrase fake news, despite the fact that it's extraordinarily unhelpful, and used to describe

...