This week, looking back through a frankly gargantuan number of links shared in the Kinzen Slack channels, I’ve been struck by how the problem of misinformation is moving beyond the traditional mainstream platforms. Perhaps it was ever thus, but certainly the attention is shifting as our understanding of the problem evolves.

It was perhaps best summed up by Digiday, who reported on how creator platforms like Patreon, Medium and Substack are becoming battlegrounds for misinformation, just like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube before them. 

A great OneZero piece made the same point but looking specifically at Among Us, an online game. 

And it’s not just creator platforms. The New York Times reported on how t-shirts promoting the Capitol riot are still for sale online.

The aftermath of the Capitol riot was the focus for a couple of interviews I did myself this week. Both are worth checking out. Axios were looking at how tech companies have struggles with domestic terrorism. Politico focused on what happens next now that Trump is gone from office, and gone from social media. I also spoke with AP about the challenges of detecting misinformation in podcasts, something we’ve written about before.

As you know, Kinzen is always thinking, reading and working on solutions to all this. Some great reads in that regard this week:

Misinfocon. The Case for Using Market Forces to Combat Misinformation and Disinformation (Part II)

This piece examines the role of the main business model for platforms and publishers - advertising - and rethinks how we might align advertising models with quality content. 

The Guardian. Banning Trump won't fix social media: 10 ideas to rebuild our broken internet – by experts

Excellent insights from people you should listen to here. You mightn’t agree with all of it, but it will certainly provoke some thinking. 

OneZero. How to Start Fixing Social Media

This includes a good summary of some proposed solutions, while also looking hopefully at a new venture from Talia Stroud and Eli Pariser, Civic Signals, which is investigating how we design better digital public spaces.