Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: Social media companies should step up censorship to tackle disinformation



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Former Los Angeles Lakers superstar Kareem Abdul-Jabbar called on tech companies in a rambling attempt to do more to censor celebrities, politicians and others against the spread of disinformation.

Abdul-Jabbar, 73, used Rudy Giuliani, Roseanne Barr, Letitia Wright, Jon Voight and JK Rowling as examples of why social media companies should be doing more to tackle the spread; highlighting Giuliani’s stance on the 2020 presidential election, Wright’s anti-vax post, Rowling’s views on transgender people, and the conservative rants of Barr and Voight.

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“Social media companies have started to issue warnings about certain posts that are false, incite violence or harm society. But it needs to be done with more consistency and vigilance. Studies indicate that when readers see these warnings they are less likely to read However, as another study has shown, there may be a backfire effect in which content that goes unreported, even inaccurate, is perceived to be true ” , he wrote for The Hollywood Reporter, which published the article Thursday.

He did not cite the studies he was referring to.

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“Many Americans imbue stars with a political and social intelligence that they just don’t have. Great success in one field can lead to the illusion that all of your thoughts are good. It doesn’t help. being surrounded by lovely people whose job is to agree with whatever you say, ”he added.

“The irresponsibility of tweeting irrational and damaging opinions to millions of people, regardless of the negative consequences for their country or the lives of their people, proves that these stars deserve a backlash. Sadly, the long-term result could be that their professional legacy could turn into brief footnotes in memory of their collection of mason jars filled with their excreted opinions. “

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Twitter and Facebook have put tags on tweets, statuses, and links to advise users to beware of what they read. It is not known if this had any real effect in curbing the spread of disinformation and so-called fake news.

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