The United States government is now funding research to fight online “misinformation” by correcting “false beliefs.”
QUICK FACTS:
- In partnership with fact-checkers, the federal government is now funding research to fight “false” information on the internet.
- The National Science Foundation (NSF) donated over $400,000 to Lisa Fazio, Associate Professor of Psychology and Human Development at Vanderbilt University, claiming the funds were an “urgent need” to “understand the real-world effects of misinformation on people’s beliefs.”
- “Through a series of laboratory and naturalistic experiments, the project team is examining the effects of repetition on belief in real-world settings and how to more effectively counteract misinformation,” the NSF said.
- The federal agency claims that “fact-checking practitioners” would be consulted to help guide the research.
THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION ON FUNDING “MISINFORMATION” STUDIES:
“By examining these basic psychological processes in the primary domain within which they affect daily life — misinformation on social media — this work will have implications for real-world practices aimed at reducing the impact of misinformation,” the NSF said.
BACKGROUND:
- The funding comes at the same time Congress passed another massive $1.7 trillion spending bill and Americans continue to experience the highest inflation on record.
- Since President Biden took office in January 2021, the cumulative 13.8% inflation is nearly 10% higher than the baseline rate and has cost the average household $10,000 over two years.
- “People are just absolutely being crushed,” Heritage fellow E.J. Antoni told Fox Business last month. “It’s not the price of caviar and yachts that are driving these numbers. It’s necessities, it’s staples. It’s things like eggs, milk, flour, soup. These are things that are up 20 or 30 percent year-over-year.”
- Earlier this week, the Daily Caller reported that several funds managed by a Democrat-linked consultant firm, Arabella Advisors, were quietly funding the ‘misinformation’ research industry.
- Run by former Bill Clinton official Eric Kessler, the firm is behind several funds that sponsor research into the effects of misinformation and disinformation.
- Many of the Arabella-funded projects claim conservatives to be responsible for the majority of “misinformation” on the web, recommending censorship as a solution to mitigate the problem.
