'Prebunking Videos: Google Plans To Mass Vaccinate Germans Against Online Misinformation
What could possibly go wrong?
I’m pissing myself with amusement here. It seems to me that as Big Tech gets bigger and more techie, the less rational, self-aware and excruciatingly idiotic it becomes. Take this latest ‘innovation’ - which is not really an innovation because climate change fanatics had basically the same idea years ago, re. countering ‘climate denial’.
The Big Idea is to advertise ‘prebunking’ videos on social media websites in order to pre-emptively counter misinformation:
Google is preparing to launch a new “prebunking campaign” in Germany, claiming its purpose is to educate people about the damaging effects of online “misinformation.”
AP News reports that tech giant Google has announced plans to release a collection of “prebunking” videos to teach Germans how to recognize false information before they come across it. The videos will be promoted on websites like Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok. A similar campaign is also in the works in India.
The Prebunking technique focuses on the methods that make viral information, including information that Google labels as “misinformation,” so contagious. The Silicon Valley Masters of the Universe claim that viral information about topics from coronavirus and climate change to elections and mass shootings, frequently use tactics like exaggeration, scapegoating, false comparisons, and missing context.
Seeing as how Google has, for years now, been blatantly censoring online information which runs counter to the official narrative - especially with regard to Covid and the ‘vaccines’ - and manipulating search results in order to try to promote the official narrative, it smacks of desperation that they are now trying to ‘prebunk’ that same alleged online misinformation. Not like closing the stable door after the horse has bolted. No, not at all like that. In fact, more like immunising the population with a leaky, ineffective ‘vaccine’ after they’ve been exposed to the ‘virus’. Get your prebunking shot on TikTok or Fakebook now. It will protect you from the deadly contagion of misinformation, they say, seemingly completely oblivious to the excruciating irony inherent in this comparison:
“There's a real appetite for solutions,” said Beth Goldberg, head of research and development at Jigsaw, an incubator division of Google that studies emerging social challenges. “Using ads as a vehicle to counter a disinformation technique is pretty novel. And we're excited about the results.”
While belief in falsehoods and conspiracy theories isn't new, the speed and reach of the internet has given them a heightened power. When catalyzed by algorithms, misleading claims can discourage people from getting vaccines, spread authoritarian propaganda, foment distrust in democratic institutions and spur violence.
Prebunking comes with its own challenges. The effects of the videos eventually wears off, requiring the use of periodic “booster” videos. Also, the videos must be crafted well enough to hold the viewer's attention, and tailored for different languages, cultures and demographics. And like a vaccine, it's not 100% effective for everyone.
LOL. After the first two or three prebunking shots, you’re going to need a bivalent prebunking booster video to protect you against the new variants of misinformation going round and to top up your waning immunity against the old variants too. Except, if you watch this crap, you’re probably more likely to get infected with online ‘misinformation’ and become immune, not to actual facts and information, but to the disinformation and propaganda churned out daily by the authorities. Now that’s what I call ‘safe and effective’.
They lie to our faces repeatedly, get caught, and then blame 'misinformation' as the reason we don't trust them. I can't take them seriously at all.
I would suggest that if they want to make their prebunking (oh a new word!) videos a success they should use exaggeration, scapegoating, false comparisons, and missing context. For me though, the misinformation that really gets me is that meanie misinformation that is extensively referenced with scientific papers and opinions by credentialed scientists with no conflicts of interest. That devious misinformation is worsterous!