The Death of Truth
How Social Media and the Internet Gave Snake Oil Salesmen and Demagogues the Weapons They Needed to Destroy Trust and Polarize the World--And What We Can Do
Ratings1
Average rating2.5
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How Social Media and the Internet Gave Snake Oil Salesmen and Demagogues the Weapons They Needed to Destroy Trust and Polarize the World--And What We Can Do
Ratings1
Average rating2.5
How did we become a world where facts—shared truths—have lost their power to hold us together as a community, as a country, globally? How have we allowed the proliferation of alternative facts, hoaxes, even conspiracy theories, to destroy our trust in institutions, leaders, and legitimate experts? Best-selling journalist Steven Brill documents the forces and people, from Silicon Valley to Madison Avenue to Moscow to Washington, that have created and exploited this world of chaos and division—and offers practical solutions for what we can do about it. “A seminal, ground-breaking, documented and honest examination of two of the central dilemmas of our time—what is truth and where to find it.” —Bob Woodward, associate editor at The Washington Post As the cofounder of NewsGuard, a company that tracks online misinformation, Steven Brill has observed the rise of fake news from a front-row seat. In The Death of Truth, with startling, often terrifying clarity, he explains how we got here—and how we can get back to a world where truth matters. None of this—conspiracy theories embraced, expertise ridiculed, empirical evidence ignored—has happened by accident. Brill takes us inside the decisions made by executives in Silicon Valley to code the algorithms embedded in their social media platforms to maximize profits by pushing divisive content. He unravels the ingenious creation of automated advertising buying systems that reward that click-baiting content and penalize reliable news publishers, and describes how the use of these ad-financed, misinformation platforms by politicians, hucksters, and conspiracy theorists deceives ordinary citizens. He documents how the most powerful adversaries of America have used American-made social media and advertising tools against us with massive disinformation campaigns—and how, with the development of generative artificial intelligence, everything could get exponentially worse unless we act. The stakes are high for all of us, including Brill himself, whose company's role in exposing Russian disinformation operations resulted in a Russian agent targeting him and his family. Crucially, Brill lays out a series of provocative but realistic prescriptions for what we can do now to reverse course—proposals certain to stir debate and even action that could curb the power of big tech to profit from division and chaos, tamp down polarization, and restore the trust necessary to bring us together.
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I jumped into Steven Brill’s The Death of Truth with excitement, but found myself largely underwhelmed and disappointed. As someone who has been following the issues of misinformation, media polarization, and political upheaval since 2020, the book offered little new insights or compelling analysis. Most of the content revisits well-trodden ground—vaccine misinformation, the events of January 6, and the increasing detachment of politics from objective truth. If you have been engaged online, the narratives and examples Brill gives will feel familiar.
By the time I reached the halfway mark, I hoped the book would pivot to introduce fresh perspectives or delve deeper into uncharted aspects. Unfortunately, that shift never happened. Instead, the author’s proposed solutions struck me as shallow and an afterthought. Suggestions like abolishing online anonymity and adopting ranked-choice voting seemed disconnected from the core problems of misinformation and lacked a convincing explanation of how they would fix what the first half of the book discussed.
A recurring impression throughout the book is that it serves as a vessel for Brill’s personal frustrations as an owner of a factual analysis organization, NewsGuard. It often feels like he is airing grievances about the challenges he has faced in promoting his company’s product and his experiences of being misunderstood. His attempts to appear neutral seem forced and insincere.
One of the worst attempts to appear as politically unaligned was his insistence that “the center is missing” in American politics. This just…isn’t true. We have witnessed the Democratic Party pursuing centrist policies, only to face significant losses and a lack of enthusiasm from the electorate. Brill’s perspective seems out of touch with the current political climate and oversimplifies to the extreme.
The Death of Truth does not offer the depth or originality that I wanted on such a critical topic. For those already engaged with these issues, the book provides little beyond what is already known. For newcomers, it lacks the persuasive power or insightful analysis needed to change anyone’s mind.
Final Verdict: I’d rate this book as a skip. There are more nuanced and thoroughly researched works available that tackle the challenges of misinformation and the erosion of truth without resorting to underdeveloped solutions. Check out Very Fine People by A.R. Moxon for a better overview of the same time people with better connections to reality.
Originally posted at wolfin.me.
