In the mid to lake 90s and the early two thousands we could browse from news site to news site. I would visit the Guardian, the Independent, Le Temps, Tribune de Genève, New York Times and more. I would also look at the RTS, BBC News and other sites to check a number of sites for news. With time that freedom was lost.
We lost that freedom because websites became paywalled.
Disinformation and misinformation work for a very simple reason. People who did not study history, and do not follow current affairs do not have the background information to spot what is true from what is untrue. They are unable to use history’s lessons to see the warning signs and act accordingly.
Algorithms and Social Media In Mindf*cuk by Chris Wylie we read about how big data and algorithms were used to identify and exploit people’s gullibility to get them to vote for Brexit in England, and the Republican candidate in the US.