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https://theconversation.com/australians-are-tired-of-lies-in-political-advertising-heres-how-it-can-be-fixed-189043>
"Our voting choices are only authentic if our decisions are informed by
truthful information. That condition is now increasingly elusive.
In Australia, over two-thirds of adult news consumers report having seen media
items they considered to be deceptive. This includes misleading commentary,
doctored photographs and serious factual errors.
Political disinformation damages democracies. First, it manipulates voter
preferences and distorts election results. This could be seen, for example, in
the 2016 US presidential election and the Brexit referendum that same year.
It also polarises the electorate, damages trust in government and democratic
institutions, and triggers civic withdrawal.
A further harm is that it raises the costs of voting. Electoral legitimacy
requires that the costs of participation are not too high; false claims cause
information costs to escalate because much more work is required to sift the
facts from the false information.
A new and corrosive form of disinformation is political conspiracies of the
“stolen elections” variety. This type delegitimises election processes,
generates doubt about the authenticity of the declared result and undermines
the authority of the electoral victor, who may subsequently experience problems
in governing.
It can even lead to serious social conflict such as the storming of the US
Capitol in January 2021."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
