大象传媒

A few weeks ago I wrote a post about . It was the lite, individual action approach to dealing with a behemoth problem. What鈥檚 the upstream approach? Burn it all down. Or at least break it up into itty bitty pieces no greater than the size of Mark Zuckerberg鈥檚 sunblock-shellacked head.

, given the result of the U.S. election, should give us all a fright. Roose has been steadfastly sounding the alarm about Facebook鈥檚 content skew for years: Far-right content and misinformation pervade by a huge, huge margin. On any given day, you can expect an . As my friend recently asked, what鈥檚 a Bongino? IDK! The far right is eating everyone else鈥檚 lunch, and breakfast, and dinner. And all their snacks, too. It doesn鈥檛 matter that Biden spent 8 to 1 on digital advertising if right-leaning lies are 1 million to 1 in the other direction.

The top-performing link posts by U.S. Facebook pages in the last 24 hours are from:

1. Dan Bongino
2. Donald Trump For President
3. Dan Bongino
4. Mike Rowe
5. Fox News
6. TWICE
7. Donald Trump For President
8. Fox News
9. Fox News
10. Dan Bongino

— Facebook's Top 10 (@FacebooksTop10)

I鈥檓 not giving people who voted for Trump a free pass, but a look at what millions of people consume for hours a day on their socials provides some perspective. When combined with the robustness of right-leaning talk radio airwaves, we are seeing endless troughs of what I鈥檇 charitably call low-information content. It鈥檚 a deep sowing of untruths that can鈥檛 be uprooted with a few newspaper articles that debunk the lies. And it鈥檚 why a lot of the media analysis in the wake of this election seems off to me. THIS is the story. It all comes from here. This is where people get their information, bake it into their worldview, and serve it up to their friends and families and Facebook feeds. It鈥檚 horrible for the future prospects of a truth-based world. And it鈥檚 terrible for climate.

Like Roose, I鈥檓 a little obsessed with CrowdTangle. I use  to get a bead on what people are saying or not saying about the crisis on Facebook. It鈥檚 a sobering lens. People are not saying much. And when they do talk, there鈥檚 both deeply insubstantial and inaccurate content. It鈥檚 a giant pile of yikes.

Metastasized & growing.

— David Roberts (@drvolts)

How do we solve this? Sharing good content on our personal accounts isn鈥檛 enough. Reading it again now, it鈥檚 hard not to agree even more with Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes鈥�  from last year. While there鈥檚 , and make it accountable/liable for content on their platform (!!!), it鈥檚 not one of . That said, , he鈥檒l go  than previous administrations. But I worry that we鈥檙e up against a tsunami of tstupidity. Sandbagging one outlet helps only so much.

Conservatives who don鈥檛 like the slightly increased fact-checking on Facebook and Twitter , where they can post misinformation with abandon. Which is why regulating Big Tech is less of a panacea, and more of a wee start in our quest to lance the lies.

What to read

鈥� Check out Influence Map鈥檚 damning report on the聽.
鈥� Read Emily Atkin鈥檚聽.
鈥� Read Elizabeth Warren鈥檚聽, and聽.
鈥� Read this excellent piece about the聽聽and the聽.

What to do

鈥� 聽to Facebook asking them to take a stand against climate denial groups.
鈥� Contact Facebook to tell them how you feel.
鈥� Contact Facebook鈥檚 media team to tell them how you feel.
鈥� Write to your elected leaders and tell them to advocate for checks on Big Tech.

THIS WEEK: SOCIAL ENGINEERING

What do you think about the spray of spurious social? LMK!

LAST WEEK: Positive-ish

Writes lovely Kathryn: 

Two more reasons for hope: there are two Senate runoffs in Georgia in January. Georgia has Stacey Abrams to help organize and GOTV.

Overwhelmingly, Americans support better climate policies (like 70-30). We just have really bad messaging and the deniers have a lot of money to throw around bad info. It鈥檚 the same with health care. Apparently Democrats鈥� policies are really popular, but the Republicans still win because they scare people to death鈥�

Yes!!!!

Other Stuff

I wrote a comic on food waste for Yes! If food waste were a country, it鈥檇 be the third-largest emitter. Food for thought!

I鈥檓 looking for test audiences (in Canada) for a pilot project on climate communications. It鈥檚 a 45-minute talk designed for groups of seven to 15 people, delivered online. Do you have a group that might like to participate? Your knitting club or Harry Styles fan club? Your grandmother鈥檚 pickleball club? Participants don鈥檛 need to know anything about climate. We鈥檙e expressly looking for people who feel they don鈥檛 know enough and want to know and do more. It鈥檚 free and fun and not too depressing, I promise! Message me for more information! Thank you.

People dancing

Is it weird that I want Harry Styles鈥� pants?

https://twitter.com/fearlessslarry/status/1303643792214384640?s=20

Have a wonderful weekend!
Sarah

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P.P.P.S. As always, LMK me how I can make it better! Is it too long? too first-persony? too momjeansy? I鈥檇 like to mix it up, so please share.

P.P.P.P.S. This is my newsletter for the week of Nov. 13, 2020, published in partnership with 大象传媒 Media. You can sign up to get Minimum Viable Planet newsletter emailed directly to you at .