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Screen Time TVO
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When the pandemic hit in 2020, it suddenly seemed like conspiracy theories were everywhere.
Did Bill Gates put a microchip in the vaccine? Is the World Economic Forum trying to take over the world? Was the pandemic orchestrated by a secret cabal of elites?
A recent poll found that 1 in 4 Canadians believe in online conspiracy theories. Which means that we’re no longer just living in different information bubbles. We’re living in different realities.
On this season of Screen Time, Taylor Owen and Supriya Dwivedi dive into the murky world of online conspiracy theories and misinformation. They’ll expose the bad actors trying to distort the truth for personal gain, and speak to the Canadians occupying these alternate realities to try and understand how they got there – and how we might bring them back.
Hosts:
Taylor Owen is the Director of the Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy at McGill University, and is one of the country’s foremost experts on mis and disinformation.
Supriya Dwivedi spent years trying to fact check misinformation as a talk radio host. She’s now a political commentator, and the Director of Policy and Engagement for the Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy at McGill University.
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The Battle for Reality
Misinformation is tearing our country apart, and trust in our institutions, and in each other, is at an all time low. Some experts think we're at a breaking point, and new technologies are only going to make misinformation more persuasive - and more corrosive. To learn about the importance of social media and AI regulation for the protection of our information ecosystem, we talk to Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen and tech regulation expert Sam Gregory.Is it possible to pull the country back from the brink? Or have we already lost the battle for reality? Peter Macleod talks us through one possible step in the right direction.Audio courtesy of C-SPAN and the PoliticsWatchDog Facebook page.
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The Top of the Pyramid
A TikTok influencer with tens of thousands of followers is convinced that the world is controlled by an evil cabal of pedophiles. How does someone come to harbor such extreme views? And what happens to our politics - and our society - when those views start resonating with a growing number of people?In this episode, we meet Colin Big Bear Ross, a Freedom Convoy influencer who strongly believes in a number of conspiracy theories. Then we hear from Frank Graves, who helps us understand how bad the issue of polarization has really become. And finally, we take a look at these issues from the political figures' point of view with BC Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and MP Michelle Rempel Garner.Audio courtesy of @bigbearmovement on TikTok and the Harvard Kennedy School.
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From Russia with Love
In the winter of 2022, thousands of Canadians descended on Ottawa for the Freedom Convoy. It was one of the largest displays of civil disobedience in the country's history - a movement by Canadians, for Canadians. But if that's the case, why did Russia's state controlled TV networks send correspondents there? And why did messaging groups devoted to the Convoy start posting press releases from the Kremlin?Was the Freedom Convoy a Russian influence operation? To find out, we talk with foreign interference and disinformation experts Caroline Orr Bueno, Marcus Kolga, and Aengus Bridgman.Audio courtesy of @RT_com on Twitter/X and Fox News on Youtube.
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Sharia Creep
After Alexandre Bisonette was arrested for murdering six Muslim men in cold blood, investigators looked into his internet history and found that he'd fallen down a far right rabbit hole.In this episode, we take a step back from the pandemic to tell a story about online extremism, the political utility of conspiracy theories, and how misinformation can lead to bloodshed.With the help of Canada's Special Representative on Combating Islamophobia, Amira Elghawaby, and sociology professor Jasmin Zine, we unpack the cultural impact of the 2017 Quebec mosque shooting and M103, as well as the ,Islamophobia Industry, that has rapidly developed online. Finally, Claire Wardle walks us through ,The Trumpet of Amplification,, which shows us how conspiracy theories like those around M103 end up in the mainstream.Audio courtesy of the Rebel News Youtube channel.
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The Snake Oil Salesman
Before a COVID vaccine had even been announced, prominent anti-vaxxers were working on a plan to discredit it. It's unclear whether their plans were driven by greed or by ideology, but one thing is clear: there's big money in espousing conspiracy theories.And a doctor who lost his medical licence for spreading COVID misinformation tells his side of the story. Could the line between truth and fiction be a little blurrier than we initially thought?
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Freedom, Baby, Freedom
When the pandemic hit in 2020, it suddenly seemed like conspiracy theories were everywhere. But where did those ideas come from? And why did so many people believe them?Selena Paley, the co-founder of an alternative media outlet called Freedom Central, explains her anti-vaccine views and talks about her experience as part of the Freedom Convoy in 2022. Journalist Justin Ling then tells the story of the Freedom Convoy from an outside perspective.Journalist Anna Merlan explains why and how people believe conspiracy theories. And national security expert Stephanie Carvin explains how the forces of online misinformation and conspiracy thinking are at work in Canada.
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