this post was submitted on 08 Jan 2026
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Fediverse vs Disinformation

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Pointing out, debunking, and spreading awareness about state- and company-sponsored astroturfing on Lemmy and elsewhere. This includes social media manipulation, propaganda, and disinformation campaigns, among others.

Propaganda and disinformation are a big problem on the internet, and the Fediverse is no exception.

What's the difference between misinformation and disinformation? The inadvertent spread of false information is misinformation. Disinformation is the intentional spread of falsehoods.

By equipping yourself with knowledge of current disinformation campaigns by state actors, corporations and their cheerleaders, you will be better able to identify, report and (hopefully) remove content matching known disinformation campaigns.

Community rules

Same as instance rules, plus:

  1. No disinformation
  2. Posts must be relevant to the topic of astroturfing, propaganda and/or disinformation

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ABC News explains self-defense (lemmy.ml)
submitted 4 weeks ago by Flatworm7591@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/fediverse_vs_disinfo@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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[–] lmmarsano@lemmynsfw.com 2 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago)

Post needs accessibility: post's URL field can be filled in.Images of text break much that text alternatives do not. Losses due to image of text lacking alternative such as link:

  • usability
    • we can't quote the text without pointless bullshit like retyping it or OCR
    • text search is unavailable
    • the system can't
      • reflow text to varied screen sizes
      • vary presentation (size, contrast)
      • vary modality (audio, braille)
  • accessibility
    • lacks semantic structure (tags for titles, heading levels, sections, paragraphs, lists, emphasis, code, links, accessibility features, etc)
    • some users can't read the image due to lack of alt text (markdown image description)
    • users can't adapt the text for dyslexia or vision impairments
    • systems can't read the text to them or send it to braille devices
  • web connectivity
    • we have to do failure-prone bullshit to find the original source
    • we can't explore wider context of the original message
  • authenticity: we don't know the image hasn't been tampered
  • searchability: the "text" isn't indexable by search engine in a meaningful way
  • fault tolerance: no text fallback if
    • image breaks
    • image host is geoblocked due to insane regulations.

Contrary to age & humble appearance, text is an advanced technology that provides all these capabilities absent from images.

Media literacy: how do quotes & paraphrases work?

@JUNlPER
this is always one that gets me. so many people are unable to realize that you can present characters doing something bad without endorsing it. not sure when this kind of baby brained thing started but its so silly to see so often

@ducktales2020
more than anything they conflate Presenting Something with Agreeing With Something, but don’t apply it to good guy/bad guy narratives. when everyone’s bad they short circuit