Letter to Pat – 21.02.2025
Dear Pat,
I’d like to express my concerns. I do have many but there is one major systemic issue that is impacting on many that rarely appears to be addressed. It is the issue of how information is flowing through our society. I am greatly concerned about how Australians are sourcing their information and forming their views. Obviously in a democratic society, having an informed public is a foundational pillar on which good governance rests. Corrupting the information which people rely on to make informed decisions has the potential to corrupt our entire system of governance.
I am seeing many examples of what I believe to be, corrupted information and flawed views. To be clear, I understand others hold different views to mine based on a different set of values. I am fine with that but that is not what I am talking about. I am referring to a form of brainwashing. I am coming across people I have known for a long time and also people online who hold views that are completely counter to their own personal values.
A recent example of what I am talking about is the Ukraine war. It’s progress over time has been well documented but I am seeing people now argue that Ukraine is to blame for this war. The US president has an obvious agenda and has pushed this message. That required messaging has flowed through to Australians without appropriate filters or critique. There are many such examples of this type of misinformation. I am sure you are exposed to many…
I don’t want this brief letter to turn into a lengthy essay but I believe there are many elements contributing to an effect of disinformation that is eroding democracy. A combination of 1) conservative news sources focusing on emotive topics combined with 2) unregulated social media and 3) online algorithms that tend to create echo chambers appear to be the main culprits. Society is being fractured into groups and these groups can be targeted and manipulated. We see the effect in the US where the Trump’s approval rating is dropping while he is doing what he said he would. To me, this clearly shows the people who voted for Trump did not fully appreciate his intentions. I fully the believe the same effect is in full swing here. I am seeing people ignoring expert advice on various topics (nuclear is a good example) and parrot whatever sky news is promoting.
Various social media platforms are identifying people based on their preferences and then targeting people based on those preferences. Using the US as an example again, targeted political ads were sent to voting citizens based on their views towards the Palestinian conflict. That’s the same organisation, working for the republicans, sending different messages to different people based on their known views. This is obviously deceitful, but I hear of nothing being done to regulate this practice. I wouldn’t be surprised if Democrats didn’t do the same but clearly the republicans are better at this style of marketing or more likely, their constituents are more responsive to this form of marketing. Is it not the same in Australia?
I understand this is a big topic so to summarize what I am saying here, I am very concerned that Australia’s democracy is being threatened by conservative news sources pushing propaganda combined with social media companies allowing misinformation to fester within the community. Propaganda needs to be identified and addressed.
Kind regards,
Dale Anderson