Next Stop: Disinformation Station - with Ben Nimmo

Selfie Reflective

Ben Nimmo studies online disinformation and is the Director of Investigations at social media analytics firm, Graphika ~

When it comes to our online space, the word disinformation features in popular vernacular a lot these days, and for very good reason: the spread of disinformation has the potential to meddle in our financial, psychological, educational and political spheres to name but a few.

As one person scrolling through an internet of endless information, it can feel impossible to discern between what's true, what's farce and what's deliberate deception - so it's wonderful to know that there are people out there who focus on ceasing the spread of disinformation by identifying red flags, investigating motivations and, ideally, locating and removing the sources.

Today's guest is Ben Nimmo, who studies disinformation for a living. He specialises in studying large-scale information operations across multiple platforms, and has helped to expose operations from Russia, China, Iran and the international far right, and election interference in the US, France, Germany and UK, among others. He is director of investigations at Graphika, a New York-based social media analytics firm. Ben is also a former scuba diving instructor, travel writer, journalist and NATO press officer, and as we'll learn, these are all applicable skills to his current role.

Today, Ben talks us through the scale and sophistication of online disinformation and specific cases he’s worked on. He shares his thoughts on regulation, the impact of disinformation on our culture and even explains how you and I, as everyday scrollers, could be disinformation identifiers ourselves.

He also describes a scenario where his own very existence was the target of a disinformation campaign - a weird experience to say the least..!

Topics include: the difference between disinformation and misinformation, regulation, how to counter the spread, ways to stay astute online and more.

Shownotes:

Keep up to date with Ben's fascinating, intriguing and sometimes ridiculous disinformation pursuits by following him on Twitter

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