false news stories
There's a study, an MIT study, that fake news on Twitter spreads six times faster than true news.The Social Dilemma · 2020 — Chapter 9 of 14 · 3'00" · C1
Fake News Spreads Faster Than Truth, Explained: tilt the floor
The scene lays out a business logic: falsehood travels faster and sells better. "The truth is boring," one line says, and another calls it "a disinformation-for-profit business model." What looks like a debate about truth is really about incentives built into the system.
What happens
A rapid montage moves from an MIT study claiming fake news spreads six times faster than true news to the idea that these systems tilt the floor of human behavior. It then connects that logic to COVID-19 rumors: false cures, government plots, 5G claims, and attacks on cell towers.
Listen for
tilt the floorbiases towardsdisinformation-for-profitblowing up
00:00 / 03:00Space play · ← → lines · R repeat
Now
Tap a line to replay it
Phrase of the scene
tilt the floor
quietly bias the conditions
The speaker reaches for a metaphor: the ground itself is tilted so some choices become easier.
The new ranking system can tilt the floor toward outrage.
Also in this scene
- biases towards
systematically favour
- disinformation-for-profit
falsehood as a profit engine
- blowing up
destroy with an explosion
- this shit
this damn thing
- a matter of life and death
a life-or-death issue
Everything marked in this scene
27 notes across 39 lines
six times as fast as
There's a study, an MIT study, that fake news on Twitter spreads six times faster than true news.Practice stressing 'six' and 'fast-', then let 'times' slip by.
There's a study, an MIT study, that fake news on Twitter spreads six times faster than true news.a sixfold advantage
What is that world gonna look like when one has a six-times advantage to the other one?going to — Everyday speech only; write 'going to' in formal prose.
What is that world gonna look like when one has a six-times advantage to the other one?on a large scale
And you're always free to walk up the hill, but fewer people do, and so, at scale, at society's scale,Practice keeping 'at' light and letting 'scale' carry the beat.
And you're always free to walk up the hill, but fewer people do, and so, at scale, at society's scale,shape how people think and act
you really are just tilting the floor and changing what billions of people think and do.untrue information
We've created a system that biases towards false information.relative clause: The 'that' clause describes the system; it tells us which way the system leans.
We've created a system that biases towards false information.a company's revenue model
It's a disinformation-for-profit business model.messages without oversight
You make money the more you allow unregulated messages to reach anyone for the best price.correlative comparatives: Each 'the more' adds a cause, and the final one gives the result: more talk, more division, more power.
The more they talk about it and the more they divide us, the more they have the power, the more...a stream of false claims
There's a flow of misinformation online about the virus.wash the virus out of the body
The notion drinking water will flush coronavirus from your system is one of several myths about the virus circulating on social media.spread across social platforms
The notion drinking water will flush coronavirus from your system is one of several myths about the virus circulating on social media.appositive clause: The clause after 'notion' spells out the belief; the omitted 'that' can make the subject hard to spot.
The notion drinking water will flush coronavirus from your system is one of several myths about the virus circulating on social media.this damn thing — Vulgar and contemptuous; avoid it in formal or unfamiliar settings.
I think the US government started this shit.use COVID as a pretext
Maybe the government is using the coronavirus as an excuse to get everyone to stay inside because something else is happening.hit by a flood of rumors
We're being bombarded with rumors.explanations built on secret plots
We see Russia and China spreading rumors and conspiracy theories.perception verb + -ing: The structure means we see the action happening, not just see the countries.
We see Russia and China spreading rumors and conspiracy theories.approximately
Those sources that are spreading coronavirus misinformation have amassed something like 52 million engagements.trialled against this variant
Well, let's say it hasn't been tested on this strain of the coronavirus, but...a severe form of something
What we're seeing with COVID is just an extreme version of what's happening across our information ecosystem.regardless of the topic
Social media amplifies exponential gossip and exponential hearsay to the point that we don't know what's true, no matter what issue we care about.Practice letting the final sound of 'what' slide into 'issue' without a pause.
Social media amplifies exponential gossip and exponential hearsay to the point that we don't know what's true, no matter what issue we care about.Fake News Spreads Faster Than Truth, explained
What's really going on
The scene keeps returning to incentives rather than villains. One line says "We've created a system that biases towards false information," then adds "Not because we want to." The reason given is money: false information makes companies more money than the truth, and "The truth is boring." The phrase "a disinformation-for-profit business model" gives that logic a name, while another line describes unregulated messages reaching anyone for the best price. The COVID montage shows the cost: a claim that water flushes out the virus, a theory that the government created it, a 5G accusation, and people blowing up cell phone towers. One line says people have no idea what's true, and now it's a matter of life and death. The problem is not one rumor but a system tilted toward falsehood.
Theme
DeceptionThe scene shows a system that rewards falsehood because it sells better.
MoneyFalse information is framed as a business model, not an accident.
Listen for
- six times faster — Practice stressing 'six' and 'fast-', then let 'times' slip by.
- at scale — Practice keeping 'at' light and letting 'scale' carry the beat.
- what issue — Practice letting the final sound of 'what' slide into 'issue' without a pause.
There's a study, an MIT study, that fake news on Twitter spreads six times faster than true news.A cited study gives the scene its starting number: false stories outrun true ones on Twitter by a factor of six.
We've created a system that biases towards false information.The system is not neutral; its design makes false information more likely to spread.
It's a disinformation-for-profit business model.Falsehood is presented as a business model: the model makes money from disinformation.
People have no idea what's true, and now it's a matter of life and death.The collapse of shared facts is not abstract; in this moment it can affect survival.
Social media amplifies exponential gossip and exponential hearsay to the point that we don't know what's true, no matter what issue we care about.Platforms magnify rumor at such scale that certainty fails across every topic, not just one.
Questions about this scene
Why does false information make more money than the truth?
A line says false information makes companies more money than the truth, adding, "The truth is boring." Another line calls it "a disinformation-for-profit business model," and another says money grows the more unregulated messages reach anyone for the best price.
What does the MIT study in the scene say?
A line says an MIT study found that fake news on Twitter spreads six times faster than true news. Another line asks what the world looks like when one side has a six-times advantage.
Does the scene claim the system was created to spread lies?
No. A line says "Not because we want to," then points to money: false information makes the companies more money than the truth. The emphasis is on incentives, not on wanting to spread lies.
What do people do after the 5G rumor spreads?
A line says people are blowing up actual physical cell phone towers. The lines before it mention 5G radiation and say people are being bombarded with rumors.
The Social Dilemma · 14 chapters
All chapters →
Up next · Chapter 10weaponizing social mediaFacebook Weaponized in Myanmar
Chapter 1rakes in moneyYou Are the Product
Chapter 2human futuresSurveillance Capitalism Explained
Chapter 3dial up the adsTech Insiders Explain the Growth Dials
Chapter 4fall prey toPinterest President Can't Put Phone Down
Chapter 5let the record showBen Takes the One-Week Phone Bet
Chapter 6conflateWhy Social Media Harms Teens
Chapter 7a mind of its ownAIs Plot Ben's Resurrection
Chapter 8reckon withThe Wikipedia Analogy
Watching · Chapter 9tilt the floorFake News Spreads Faster Than Truth
Chapter 10weaponizing social mediaFacebook Weaponized in Myanmar
Chapter 11digital FrankensteinsSpeaker Reframes the Tech Threat
Chapter 12willful ignoranceThe Civil War Interview
Chapter 13put the genie back in the bottleInterviewees Call for Regulation
Chapter 14set in stoneTech Insiders Explain What Went WrongChapter 9 of 14 · about 13 min to go