Podcast Episode Rerelease: So You Think You’re A Critical Thinker

This episode was first released in March 2023.

With this year’s election just weeks away, concerns about disinformation and conspiracy theories are on the rise.

We covered this issue in a really enlightening talk in March 2023 with Alice Marwick, the director of research at Data & Society, and previously the cofounder and principal researcher at the Center for Information, Technology and Public Life at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

We talked with Alice about why seemingly ludicrous conspiracy theories get so many followers, and when fact-checking does and doesn’t work. And we came away with some ideas for how to identify and leverage people’s commonalities to stem disinformation, while making sure that the most marginalized and vulnerable internet users are still empowered to speak out.

We thought this is a good time to re-publish that episode, in hopes that it might help you make some sense of what you might see and hear in the next few months.

If you believe conversations like this are important, we hope you’ll consider voting for How to Fix the Internet in the “General - Technology” category of the Signal Awards’ 3rd Annual Listener's Choice competition. Deadline for voting is Thursday, Oct. 17.

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This episode was first published on March 21, 2023.

The promise of the internet was that it would be a tool to melt barriers and aid truth-seekers everywhere. But it feels like polarization has worsened in recent years, and more internet users are being misled into embracing conspiracies and cults.

You can also find this episode on the Internet Archive and on YouTube.

From QAnon to anti-vax screeds to talk of an Illuminati bunker beneath Denver International Airport, Alice Marwick has heard it all. She has spent years researching some dark corners of the online experience: the spread of conspiracy theories and disinformation. She says many people see conspiracy theories as participatory ways to be active in political and social systems from which they feel left out, building upon beliefs they already harbor to weave intricate and entirely false narratives.  

Marwick speaks with EFF’s Cindy Cohn and Jason Kelley about finding ways to identify and leverage people’s commonalities to stem this flood of disinformation while ensuring that the most marginalized and vulnerable internet users are still empowered to speak out.  

In this episode you’ll learn about:  

• Why seemingly ludicrous conspiracy theories get so many views and followers  

• How disinformation is tied to personal identity and feelings of marginalization and disenfranchisement 

• When fact-checking does and doesn’t work  

• Thinking about online privacy as a political and structural issue rather than something that can be solved by individual action 

Alice Marwick is director of research at Data & Society; previously, she was an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication and cofounder and Principal Researcher at the Center for Information, Technology and Public Life at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.