Some think they’re sharing something funny. Others take it seriously and want to alert others. Either way, misinformation postings that deserve to die in obscurity wind up going viral and being accepted by the gullible as fact.
The damages awarded this week are only the beginning of Jones’s likely end. But what that means for other purveyors of misinformation remains to be seen.
We journalists love to blame the rise of distrust in experts on dishonest disinformation merchants, on the Alex Joneses and Donald Trumps and Vladimir Putins.