Re: Misinfo & Social Media Bubbles

Annette Greiner wrote: "The idea of adding friction is a good one."

We should also consider adding "friction" in responses to shared content.
Today, it is often only possible to provide "grease" in the form of
"Likes," but, without an ability to "Dislike," we can't apply friction.
Similarly, our vocabulary for efficient terse responses is severely
constrained. We can say we "Like" something but have no similarly efficient
means to say that we either "Agree" or "Disagree." (Note: It should also be
possible to "like" an argument because it is artfully presented while
disagreeing with its conclusions. Or, to dislike an argument but to agree
with it.)

Commenting on web content often feels to me like participating in an
authoritarian plebiscite where the only valid entry on a ballot is "Yes."
When the votes are counted, we may see an impressive number of affirmative
votes, but that number tells us nothing about the ideas' actual reception
by the voters. The reality though is that providing grease-only,
friction-free systems for discourse seems to satisfy the needs of platform
providers. Likes give them an indication of engagement and they know that
if "Dislike" or "Disagree" were supported, some number of people would be
more circumspect in what they post and thus would engage less with the
platform. While it would be unfortunate if people whose intent was sincere
were intimidated, we may find that the social costs are greater if we
continue to allow misinformation to remain largely unchallenged or to gain
apparent legitimacy due to large "Like" counts,

The Credibility Signals currently defined by this group are either neutral
or useful only to provide grease, not friction. (i.e. what awards have been
won, etc.) On the other hand, ClaimReview
<https://www.claimreviewproject.com/> provides for a Rating
<https://schema.org/Rating> value that can express both a bad rating
(disagree?) or a good one (agree?), and gradations in between. I'd like to
see such an ability to provide Ratings provided to those who would
otherwise be limited to just providing grease via Like buttons or the
existing Credibility SIgnals.

bob wyman