Five Minutes
Aleks Krotoski explores how the mechanics of the digital environment allow misinformation to swamp digital platforms and impact on users of all ages.
Aleks Krotoski explores how the mechanics of the digital environment allow misinformation to swamp digital platforms.
YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, they are all swamped with cheery, colourful ‘life hack’ and crafting videos, but if you watch for more than a few minutes you’ll see that actually trying to follow along would prove difficult, if not impossible. Much of the content isn’t even possible to do. And yet, it’s extraordinarily popular, and profitable content.
Clickbait isn’t new, but this is potentially dangerous eye candy, and when you look beneath the surface, it’s possible to see that the same infrastructure and techniques have made life hacks go viral, can, in the wrong hands, be exploited for deliberately malicious ends.
It only takes a few minutes to set up a system that can swamp the internet. Be it with unintentionally dangerous DIY suggestions aimed at children, or deliberate political machinations targeted at adults.
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Clips
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Digital Human - TheSoul Publishing statement in full
Duration: 08:17
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The inner workings of astroturfing campaigns
Duration: 03:12
Ali Breland
Jarvis Johnson
is a comedy youtuber, who formerly worked as a software engineer in Silicon Valley.
Over the past few years he has has become well known for his reaction videos towards channels, including 5-Minute Crafts, Troom Troom, BRIGHT SIDE and animated storytime channels, like Share My Story and ACTUALLY HAPPENED, in which he highlights concerns around the content and the use of youtube as a platform.
Lisa Kaplan
Lisa Kaplan founded Alethea Group to help organizations navigate the new digital reality and protect themselves against disinformation. Kaplan served as digital director for Senator Angus King’s 2018, where she designed and executed a strategy to identify, understand, and respond to disinformation. She is one of the few people who has firsthand experience combating disinformation on the campaign trail. Previously, she consulted with PwC to the State Department, and served a US Senate aide.
Kaplan has briefed US, NATO, EU, and G-7 policy makers and officials on disinformation. She writes for the and, and frequently appears in the press, including the,, Â鶹ԼÅÄ,,, and. Kaplan is a graduate of Colby College.Franziska Keller
Photo credit - Chris Flynn
Franziska Barbara Keller is an Assistant Professor at , and a Faculty Associate at its , specializing in Comparative Politics and Social Network Analysis (SNA).Â
Her research focuses on authoritarian regimes, why some elites become part of the inner circle while others get purged, and more recently, she have become interested in examining political astroturfing (hidden propaganda campaigns) on social media.Â
Her research has appeared in , the , in , and is forthcoming in the Political Studies and the Journal of Intercultural Studies. She also co-authored a and contributed to the .
Ashley Martin
Craig Radow
Craig Radow is the Vice President of Global Publicity, Communications & Brand Marketing at TheSoul Publishing. A global media company that has dozens of Youtube channels that make viral content including craft, cooking and life hacks, as well as riddles, animated stories and other forms of entertainment content created for various social media platforms.
Broadcasts
- Mon 22 Jun 2020 16:30Â鶹ԼÅÄ Radio 4
- Sun 10 Apr 2022 21:30Â鶹ԼÅÄ Radio 4
Podcast
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The Digital Human
Aleks Krotoski explores the digital world