Forget cyberbullying, body shaming, and romance scams.

The greatest danger posed by social media is increasingly disinformation, a scourge that threatens not only individuals but also democracy.

Even more terrifying than the idea that my children might be indoctrinated by malnourished bodies on Instagram, have their understanding of sex distorted by pornography, or be groomed by a 60-year-old man pretending to be a 15 year old Call of Duty fan. I fear that one day they might put down their smartphone to inform me that man never walked on the moon, that aliens built the pyramids, and that vaccines are killing more lives than they are worth. save some.

Save screen time, send nudes, and use those filters that promote unrealistic beauty standards, if you have to: Don’t end up on a Reddit thread at 2 a.m., following Robert F Kennedy Jr’s advice on water fluoridation.

I’m being hyperbolic. But only.

The Internet has revolutionized our lives, largely for the better. It gave a platform to marginalized people, allowed disenfranchised people to come together, and allowed me personally to watch countless videos of puppies sliding on freshly mopped floors.

I can’t really be nostalgic for the days when facts came out of a set of leather-bound Encyclopaedia Britannica or an Encarta CD-ROM (kids, ask your parents).

But the scope of the Internet’s promise to democratize information has expanded to include misinformation.

The threat of conspiracy theories, misinformation and good old lies seems more urgent than ever as Australia waits, like a cancer survivor clinging to the results of a new biopsy, to learn whether the United States remains in remission or if the tumor has returned. .

“Immigrants eat pet cats and dogs!” » It used to be the sort of thing you’d hear from a urine-soaked stranger, shortly before he was escorted into the back of a rice cart.

This is now what comes out of the mouth of an American presidential candidate.

“They control the weather!” ” could once have been the plot of a second-rate James Bond film.

This is now shared by an American congresswoman who I won’t name because she might blame me if it rained at home tomorrow.

“Humans didn’t build the pyramids!” » This is something that should be shouted at you by a stranger handing out crumpled pamphlets under his anorak.

It’s now a theory casually put forward by Australian tennis bad boy Nick Kyrgios, along with a series of ideas he says are still up for debate, including whether the Earth is round and if the moon landing really took place.

“It’s 2024 and we can’t even all agree,” he said in an interview. “And you think we built the pyramids?” You are crazy. It’s crazy stuff.

Kyrgios is not the problem, he is a symptom.

Because this thing exists. Not “over there” on the fringes of society, to which it belongs, but on Facebook, Reddit and Telegram, waiting to infect Internet users lacking the critical thinking necessary to differentiate scientific research from the ramblings of an executioner of six beers at a party.

The consequences of allowing conspiracy theories to move from the fringes to the mainstream are real.

Public trust in government and the media has been significantly eroded.

The government-ordered inquiry into Australia’s COVID response has warned that the loss of confidence could hamper the country’s response to any future pandemic.

At the same time, U.S. intelligence agencies have warned that the greatest threat to these elections lies with domestic extremists motivated by election-related conspiracy theories.

Cynicism toward politicians and journalists is generally advisable, but there is a big difference between thinking critically about what you are told and assuming that those with power or influence are part of a larger plot for… what, exactly? (I have never been sure what nefarious goal the “elites” are working toward, although I am often accused of being one of them.)

Social media companies have a responsibility to minimize the spread of misinformation on their platforms. But given that the tech billionaire responsible for the site formerly known as Twitter is a conspiracy theory machine in his own right, I’m not holding my breath.

Parents have a responsibility to teach their children how to identify misinformation, conspiracy theories, and AI-generated content. But we’re talking about foxes and henhouses, given the number of adults I see every day clearly sharing fake photos and news online with a reverence that suggests this is yet another Mount Sinai expedition .

There is no silver bullet, short of a World War III-induced return to the pre-Internet era, when conspiracy theories presumably had to be etched on slate boards so no one could really be bothered.

However, depending on the outcome of this week’s US elections, that day could be closer than we think.