Who will check the checkers: false factcheckers and memetic misinformation

Abstract

This Essay sets out the need for disciplined fact-checking networks and the likely counterattacks of domestic and foreign propagandists. Part I sets out the continuing social media disinformation campaigns infecting elections worldwide, which stoke internal divisions and undermine public discourse. Part II details factchecking efforts and their effectiveness, with specific attention paid to the neutralization of memes designed to inflame racial hatred. Part III examines disturbing trends that threaten the fact-checking mission, including an internally driven tendency towards false equivalence and foreign-directed efforts to create imposter fact-checkers. Part IV offers an overview of potential solutions and areas for future study.