Andrew Trotman, founder of the KOMI Group – previously It’s Gone Viral – explains why it was so important that social media companies stepped up and tackled misinformation and fake news to help bring an end to the Trump era.
For the last four years, social media has – please forgive the pun – been Trump’s trump card, but that all started to unravel as platforms stepped up their use of fact-checking labels in preparation for the 2020 American election.
Trump’s ability to make unsubstantiated claims and statements is, of course, legendary, and still very much in play – we just need to look at his unwillingness to concede for evidence of that.
But the fact that he and his inner circle were flagged again and again, and that platforms were willing to directly challenge him and his credibility, was a gamechanger. His rants about the Democrats are without political precedence, but his misinformation around COVID-19 is deadly.
