Learning to trust the internet again

Wikipedia can serve as a model to combat disinformation and distrust online.

Every single day, we must navigate what is real and what is fake online. The internet is integral to our daily lives, yet it is constantly inundated with inaccuracies, misinformation, and viral “fake news”. The spread of false information can be deadly. It can stop a family member from choosing to get a life-saving vaccine. It can undermine elections and inspire hateful reactions. Echo chambers have divided local communities across ideological spectrums that sometimes seem irreconcilable. At our dinner tables, we often cannot agree on what a “fact” even is anymore. Twenty years ago, the internet was a very different place. The early days of the web were a time of great experimentation and curiosity. The first pioneers of the internet were rooted in the values of open-source and free knowledge, designing a new frontier for communicating information. This made our world feel smaller and bigger all at once, as we were more connected than ever before.