4 Viewpoint
EDITOR'S COLUMN
The Role of CUs in Stopping the Spread of Online Lies
ooking back in history,humans have alwaysconsidered “the truth” tobe somewhat subjective.
Whether the subject is religionand spirituality or the outcomeof a murder trial, people tend tobelieve what they want to believe,choosing the belief that gives themthe best advantage socially or contributes most favorably to theirsurvival.
Studies have suggested it’s hu-
man nature to conform to others’
way of thinking in order to gain
acceptance within a group, even
when those thoughts are ques-
tionable or false. In the 1950s,
psychologist Solomon Asch con-
ducted an experiment in which
a group of eight people were
asked to state their answer to a
simple multiple choice question
aloud. Only one group member
was an unsuspecting participant,
while the others were told ahead
of time to uniformly state the
wrong answer. Three-quarters of
unsuspecting participants gave
the wrong answer at least once,
matching their response to the
other group members and follow-
ing their instinctive need to fit in.
Now, social media is exacerbating people’s tendencies to conform and leading to dangerousconsequences. As explained ina recent Harvard Business Review article, before the internet itwas more difficult for the publicto spread falsehoods because theprimary communication channels in place – TV, radio and printed publications – were regulated,authored/controlled by people inauthority positions, and allowedconsumers to easily choose froma limited list of watching, listeningand reading options. The internet, on the other hand, is mostlyunregulated and allows for an unlimited amount of content postsfrom anyone. And because socialmedia news feeds are curatedbased on what algorithms determine will lead to the most engagement from an individual, usershave less control over what theysee and hear.
The most obvious recent exam-
ple of widespread misinformation
breeding damaging, real-life ac-
tion is the QAnon conspiracy the-
ory, which jumped from obscure
forums onto the mainstream plat-
form of Facebook and culminated
in the deadly U.S. Capitol riot on
Jan. 6. And many of these conspir-
acy theorists’ minds are sealed
shut, having had their beliefs rein-
forced by authority figures and liv-
ing in a virtual echo chamber, only
seeing online content from others
who share their views.
Efforts are currently underway
to curb the spread of misinforma-
tion online, however. Major social
media platforms have begun
blocking posts and accounts that
have contributed to the potentially
dangerous spread of misinforma-
tion. At a federal regulation level,
Section 230 of the Communica-
tions Decency Act, which protects
internet companies from being
held liable for the user-generated
content on their platforms, is be-
ing examined. Under the Biden
Administration, changes might be
implemented that require compa-
nies to meet certain transparency
and data protection standards
before qualifying for protection
under Section 230, and other leg-
islation is likely to be introduced
around privacy, market competi-
tion and algorithmic transparency
as well, according to the Harvard
Business Review article, titled “Are
We Entering a New Era of Social
Media Regulation?”
Although helping to stop the
spread of misinformation isn’t the
most likely task on credit unions’
to-do lists, cooperatives do in fact
play a role in the effort. A recent
Filene Research Institute podcast
and blog post that focused entirely
on this topic featured insights from
Bill Maurer, a law and anthropol-
ogy professor and director of the
Institute for Money, Technology
and Financial Inclusion at the Uni-
versity of California, Irvine and
Joan Donovan, who is directing a
technology and social change re-
search project at Harvard Kennedy
School. (It should be noted that
misinformation and disinforma-
tion are two different things - the
former refers to the oblivious shar-
ing of false information, while the
latter involves purposely spreading
lies, often with malicious intent or
for political gain.)
In the podcast, Maurer ex-
plained how the pandemic reces-
sion has left many people with
financial troubles and needing
to turn to their financial institu-
tions for help, but that they may
distrust financial institutions as
they did during the Great Reces-
sion of 2008. He said that leaves
credit unions with an opportu-
nity to build trust with members
through their financial assistance
dant in their information sharing.
“There can be no assumption that
everybody has been reached by
any single method,” she said. “So
[beyond your] website, if you have
a Facebook page, Twitter account
or newsletter, make sure the same
information is in multiple places.
That can really go a long way in
shoring up that other people are
seeing what you are, and what
you think is important, timely,
relevant, local information in your
neighborhood.”
Credit unions may not have
the power to reform social media
regulation or even make a dent
in the effort to stop the spread of
misinformation, but the alarming
rate at which Americans are being
manipulated by unverified online
content is a reminder to prioritize
transparency and education when
doing business with members,
potential members and the com-
munity. And, as Maurer said at the
conclusion of the Filene podcast,
this turbulent period in history
calls for credit unions to just show
members that they know they’re
struggling.
“It’s the sort of thing you do in
grief counseling, or when you’re
with a terminally ill person or
comforting someone after a trag-
edy.” Maurer said. “Often you
don’t really have to say anything
at all. You just need to be there.
And I think to the extent that
credit unions can remind folks
that they’re here with them, that’s
an incredible service in and of
itself.” n
programs – things like interest
holidays on loans, and products
such as small-dollar bridge loans
that keep people away from pay-
day lenders, pawn shops and oth-
er fringe banking services. “Those
are things that a lot of folks in the
credit union system are now talk-
ing about, but we probably need
to see some well-publicized ac-
tion at that level,” Maurer said.
Credit unions can also helpmembers avoid scams that haveemerged during the pandemicrecession – those designed in response to feelings of panic anddesperation, like cyber theft trapsdisguised as fake offers of toiletpaper shipments, vaccine information and stock buying tips –by staying informed on currentscams and educating membersabout them. “Because there areso many financial scams and pay-ment-related scams going on, itwould be great for credit unions toprovide their members with someinformation about those things,and also just remind them of basichygiene [to follow] when they’reonline,” Maurer noted.
Another subject credit unionscan ensure members get the factson is the pandemic itself, whichhas spurred a massive spread ofmisinformation on social media on everything from unsafedisease treatments to vaccine-related conspiracies. Donovansuggested that credit unionsshare links containing COVID- 19outbreak, prevention, testingand vaccine information that aretimely, relevant and local, suchas local government websites thatare updated daily. She added thatcredit unions need to be redun
Natasha Chilingerian
Executive Editornchilingerian@cutimes.com
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