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Fact-checking reduces the circulation of misinformation – we should not get rid of it (cepr.org)
submitted 9 months ago* by to c/science@lemmy.world
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TLDR: It reduces the virality of misinformation by ~8% and increases article deletion.

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[–] -3 points 9 months ago (6 children)

If we have to manually fact check the fact checkers ourselves, it defeats the purpose of them in the first place.

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  • [–] 13 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

    If we have to manually fact check the fact checkers ourselves, it defeats the purpose of them in the first place.

    what follows from this statement is that you should be skeptical of everything you read or hear

    and yes, you should. does that take more work? yes, it does. especially under a technochristofascist authoritarian government who tells you that anyone considered "expert in their field" is not to be trusted since they advocate for vaccines while we [the government in charge of running the country], for some reason...don't.

    does everything about this fucking suck? also yes, it does. what else do we have? between being skeptical of fact-checkers and eliminating fact-checkers (the direction the party is pushing you towards), sorry, i choose fact-check the fact-checkers

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  • [+] 6 points 9 months ago* (1 child)
    [removed by mod]
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  • [–] 8 points 9 months ago

    My solution would be to teach people to be skeptical, how to recognise biases, and how to fact check on their own.

    you're talking about critical thinking, which is also under vicious attack by the GOP, but yes, i agree: when the fact-checkers belong to the very people who are spreading not-facts, then what do you have?

    does this mean we should dismiss fact-checking as a thing people should do? because--make no mistake-- the end goal here is for you to have the mindset that "whatever dear leader says is absolute truth, and anything else is fake news"

    you can literally see this in trump supporters.

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  • [–] 2 points 9 months ago

    This assumes that there is an objective and 100% contextualized truth, which is never the case. Getting a free frogurt seems unquestionably a boon, until you learn it's cursed and contains potassium benzoate.

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