Who Hates It When Disinformation Is Exposed?

That Atlantic Council is a think tank of the great and good. It’s basically a centrist, mainstream organization dedicated to free trade, economic development, and generally strong relationships between America and Europe. It’s an apex organization, so to speak, with its senior members frequently being tapped to serve at high levels in new administrations. A couple of days ago one of their programs, the Digital Forensic Research Lab, announced a new partnership:

Today @DFRLab announced that we are partnering with Facebook to expand our #ElectionWatch program to identify, expose, and explain disinformation during elections around the world. The effort is part of a broader initiative to provide independent and credible research about the role of social media in elections, as well as democracy more generally.

That sounds like a fine idea, doesn’t it? Who could possibly object to exposing disinformation? This social network diagram of Twitter mentions from Conspirador Norteño provides a clue:

Huh. How about that? Could you provide a little more detail, Senor Norteño?

Fascinating! Anything else you’d like to add?

Well, there you go. This has been your weekly message from my NATO propaganda overlords.

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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