In October, Dr Huw Davies gave one of the most inspiring webinars I’ve attended. It wasn’t inspiring because Huw told the audience about good things. Far from it: he spoke about the damage the spread of misinformation and conspiracy theories is doing, especially to young people. A revised version of Huw’s slides is available here.
Huw started by noting that political literacy is indivisible from other literacies, and includes understanding of how power and ideology shape society. He pointed out that effective misinformers know how to use our disinclination to believe facts if they don’t fit with our existing understandings. The first of his examples covered spreading of misinformation about ‘the horrific stabbing incident in Southport‘, among other horribleness.
Huw then noted that (young) people are becoming more dependent on digital platforms, which can be ‘a constant flow of competing truth claims and misleading information’, forcing us to judge what is and is not credible. He illustrated this with some examples, including the story of a a young person who continues to receive violent and misogynistic content on Instagram and TikTok.
Research into YouTube’s recommendation system has shown that ‘a growing proportion of recommendations deeper in the recommendation trail come from extremist, conspiratorial, and otherwise problematic channels’, and that adolescents’ beliefs in conspiracies are ‘a perfect storm’.
A large part of the issue appears to be ‘sense-making gurus/influencers’, who may trade on charisma or adjacent expertise (among other things), misrepresent data, misuse terminology and exploit ignorance. If they are debunked, they may position themselves as anti-establishment fighters for the ‘truth’. These ‘hate entrepreneurs’ can be classified in various ways, from ‘respectable extremists’, via ‘straight-to-camera conspiracy gurus’ and ‘formerly deplatformed criminal(-adjacent) celebrities’ to ‘aspiring hate entrpreneurs’. Huw described some characteristics of the first of these.
He then went on to say that such ‘entrepreneurs’ tell us that we are the victims of one or more conspiracies, and that extremist tropes and ideologies are bringing mainstream. Well-resourced people, algorithms, networks, extremist traps and ideologies then lead to ‘networked propaganda’. Huw then gave an example of this:
Huw then showed that the British Army has illustrated indicators and warnings of extreme right wing speakers, from ‘describing themselves as “patriots”‘ to ‘claims that it is acceptable to abuse jews or Muslims because Judaism or Islam are not “races”‘. Linking to the ‘anti-establishment fighters for the “truth”‘ point, Huw noted the psychological techniques that might be used, such as ‘you are in a battle/war’ and ‘we are the critical thinkers, speaking truth to power’.
Part of this is exploration of ‘outgroups’ (supposedly those in power, who work against you) and ‘ingroups’ (supposedly the silent majority, who share your concerns – which may include ‘attacks’ on white people). There are also rhetorical techniques such as ‘strawmaning’, misdirection and destigmatising extremism. This ‘game’ showed by Huw might be illuminating.
Huw also spoke about ‘bespoke realities’, and attacks on institutions and education, then noted that this ideology – which is NOT populism – drives the ‘war on woke’. He then games examples of misinformation from English literature, maths and history studies.
Perhaps the most concerning of Huw’s points is that once people are radicalised, it may well be too late. This is because interventions and fact-checking do then not work, as ideologically guided reasoning and confirmation bias take over. Huw ended with a a question: why are so many of Britain’s rioters in there 40s and 50s?
Some reactions
These are all from the author of this post, Bruce Ryan.
- While Huw’s examples were from the right wing, I assume that damage can come from the left wing too.
- The @consciousphilosopher example almost had me in tears. My mother and her immediate family only just escaped Nazi Europe – many relatives did not. (This is not the only reason I find this pyramid seriously offensive.)
- The far-right ‘game’ leaves no room for nuance. For example, I have criticised the NHS for the bureaucracy I’ve experienced but it has saved my life.
- Above all, I want to help tackle this complex of issues. While I have some ideas for academic research, please contact me if you think we can collaborate.