A Connecticut jury's ruling this week ordering Alex Jones to pay US$965 million to parents of Sandy Hook shooting victims he maligned was heartening for people disgusted by the muck of disinformation.The appetite for such hokum and narrowness of the judgments against Jones, who falsely claimed that the 2012 elementary school shootings were a hoax and that grieving parents were actors, virtually ensure a ready supply, experts say.
In today's media world, Jones found that there's a lot of money to be made -- and quickly -- in creating a community willing to believe lies, no matter how outlandish. "This will not impact the flow of stories that are filled with bad faith and extreme opinion," said Howard Polskin, who publishes The Righting, a newsletter that monitors the content of right-wing websites. He says false stories about the 2020 election and COVID-19 vaccines remain particularly popular.
The case is reminiscent of Seth Rich, a young Democratic Party aide killed in a Washington robbery in 2016, she said. Rich's name was dragged -- posthumously -- into political conspiracy theories, and his parents later sued and reached a settlement with Fox News Channel."Spreading conspiracy theories about the Biden administration is not going to get Fox News Channel sued," Hemmer said. "It is not going to get Tucker Carlson sued.
If it was the death of disinformation CNN would vanish.
Nope, it will only make the people who support him dig their heels in harder.
No no. There are still many conservative parties. They will do their best to keep it going for ya
No. Unfortunately. It’s still going on with the MAGA crowd for example.
As long as CTV, CBC etc exists, disinformation will survive.
The AJ verdict and sentence was political theatre. His words killed no-one. Yet vax producers can kill with their science experiment without indemnity.
Alex Jones is a horrible person and a first degree asshole but he should have the right of free speech. This is like censoring the wacko yelling on the street corner or that old school goof ball UFO radio guy or Charles Adler spouting tall tales.
With Global, CTV, CBC, the Star and the Globe disinformation will be spewed early and often.
He got cancelled because he exposed the lefts owl satanic rituals secret society good for him for speaking up
He will not pay a cent. His lawyers will appeal, another judge will overturn this ruling. It will then take yrs to weave its way to the US Supreme Court.
It’s the death of free speech, and if you had any journalistic integrity *that* would be the story.
When can we all sue for spreading vaccine disinformation?
No but it might be the death of free speech
CTV is also a source of disinformation, so no it will never go away.
When are we charging the PM for misinformation! Because clearly the vaccines are not safe and effective!