The BBC is trying to target misinformation with fake Twitter accounts. They admitted as such with the launch of their project called Verity.
That’s interesting because Twitter expressly forbids fake accounts but the BBC says that they are doing this to investigate conspiracy theories. The journalist who introduced this, Marianna Spring, says that she is trying to look into conspiracy theories such as those around Covid. She doesn’t say which ones because most conspiracy theories have proven to be true conspiracies but she will let us know on her upcoming podcast called “Marianna in Conspiracyland.” Can’t wait.
Meanwhile, reporter Max Blumenthal has shown that Spring was connected to British journalist Paul Mason and his plot to smear investigative journalists. He asked her if she ever followed through with these meetings on Twitter but she has not replied. Instead, she claims that she has been “bombarded with abuse, misogyny, defamatory claims misunderstanding my investigations into the harm caused by mistruths & trolling.”
This project raises important questions: Should the media get involved in labeling “disinformation” or “conspiracies” or should they just do their job with better reporting? Who verifies the verifiers? Do these projects do more harm than good?
