Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

We’ve talked about alternative social networks here before – specifically I’ve referred to Gab a couple of times as Twitter for Nazis — but a new one has caught lots of people’s attention. It’s called Parler – that’s P-a-r-l-e-r — French for “talk”. Parler is a Twitter-like social media platform marketed specifically at political conservatives…

I’ve been looking at a White House disinformation story that has kind of led me down a rabbit hole of thinking around disinformation. This week, the Trump administration called out four separate Chinese media organisations for their operations in the United States — China Central TV, China News Service, People’s Daily and the Global Times.…

Speaking of revenue, I’ve been looking at a new rumour floating around social media about a US Government plot to spread COVID-19. What started this rumour was the issue of a new US quarter. What makes this quarter so special is that while the front has a picture of George Washington, unlike most quarters, the…

In the middle of a lot frustratingly negative disinformation surrounding the BlackLivesMatter movement, I’d like to shine a light on a really impressive campaign on Instagram. As most of us know, George Floyd was killed by a police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota last month. A policeman knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes,…

I’ve had reports from West Sussex that print copies of a newspaper called Epoch Times have been pushed through their letterboxes, completely unsolicited. It’s a slick newspaper, expensively printed, and is filled with hard-right conspiracy theories typically supporting Trump and dissing the Chinese government. And in this particular issue making the rounds around Adur, the…

There’s a battle brewing on 4chan and Telegram – on one side are anti-police violence and blacklivesmatter protestors. On the other side are white supremacists and alt-right trolls. And just to be clear, alt-right is the polite term for neo-nazi. In this battle, the protestors are gravitating toward Telegram. It’s a secure private messaging service…

Gab is claiming that a new Italian study of social media shows that their platform is free from Echo Chambers, and doesn’t subject their users to the kinds of bias experienced on Facebook and Twitter. Gab, listeners will remember, is Twitter for neo-Nazis. They claim to be a free-speech platform, and not only offer a…

The Guardian is carrying the story that Brussels is accusing China of running disinformation campaigns inside the EU. They’re calling it a mass wave of fake news around coronavirus. This is the first time EU leadership has publicly named China as a source of disinformation campaigning. They have been accused of soft-pedalling on China in…

An astroturf campaign has been running on Twitter to defund the BBC. Although there are several legitimate movements to undo the Beeb, this one is being led by an account with the at-handle @defundBBC. The account was set up Sunday, the 7th of June, and had nearly 60k followers within 48 hours — nothing suspicious…

It’s really a data / information event that’s caught my attention this week, and the way folks are reacting to it on Twitter. It’s about NHSx. NHSx is the testing and tracking app from the NHS. It’s designed to prevent a second mass wave of COVID-19. The system tracks those who have contracted coronavirus and…