The phenomenon of fake news being associated with politics and Russian influence is so interesting. In all reality, as we have learned, misinformation applies to so much more than just the realm of politics. I would make the argument that it is more prevalent in politics than other spaces, but it does not only apply to politics.

I really agree with the author in bringing up the 2016 election. Donald Trump certainly did not invent the concept of fake news, but he definitely aided in the term becoming more mainstream and widely used. Fakes news can be found anywhere about any topic and, while, yes, you usually see it more often about topics such as elections and the pandemic, it's a much larger issue.

When reading this line, it couldn't help but remind me of when Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg had to attend a congressional hearing.

During the hearing, Zuckerberg was asked multiple questions regarding both Facebook's use and collection of personal data and the company's handling of misinformation on the platform. It is so interesting how Facebook has already stood trial over these issues and its algorithm's affect on society, yet a blind eye is still turned by the vast majority. Watching the hearing only worsens this feeling as, highlighted by the article I linked, Zuckerberg tried to dodge much of the questioning. You get the sense that he doesn't want to answer the questions because he knows that the true answers would be bad. However, that's more of an opinion than a fact.

I wanted to comment on the ad above with the child rubbing mud on his face. There is a lot of persuasion packed into this ad. Firstly, it features a child so that is already trying to pull on emotional strings especially because it is attempting to make you recall your own childhood and get personal. I also want to point out how it seems BOO knew it exactly what they were doing and their audience. The "this is how you build your immunity" is very reminiscent of things you hear from extreme anti-vaccination groups, they know the market they have tapped into (seemingly) and while the company acts as a friend to their consumers, really they are preying upon them.

I can not help, but be reminded of the film "Contagion" when reading this article and specifically this paragraph. The film is about a worldwide pandemic, which is all too familiar now, and draws a lot of spooky parallels to our current situation. Particularly, there is a character played by Jude Law who is sort of a scummy yellow journalist. He prays off of people's fear in the pandemic and spreads disinformation that a certain oil can cure the virus. When watching the movie back when it was released you would think that this was an insane, fictional overdramatization, but as we have discovered, this type of situation is all too real.