Concern about misinformation and its toxic effects on democracy is widespread. A survey of nearly 1500 experts by the World Economic Forum ranked misinformation and disinformation (the latter being intentionally spread, whereas the former may arise accidentally) as the top global risk during the next 2 years. Examples of misinformation-fueled events abound. In the United States, baseless claims about election fraud in 2020 by the losing presidential candidate, Donald Trump, culminated in a violent insurrection against the US Capitol on 6 January 2021. At the time of this writing, Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, are fearful of the future after Trump baselessly alleged on national TV that immigrants there were eating their white neighbors’ pets—a racist trope dating back centuries . In the UK, right-wing mobs recently attacked mosques and hotels housing asylum seekers on the basis of the false claim that a Muslim refugee had fatally stabbed children at a dance class . The suspect was actually born in Britain, and his family regularly attended a Christian church . The list goes on.

中文翻译：

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错误信息时代的真相与民主


对错误信息及其对民主的有害影响的担忧是普遍的。世界经济论坛对近 1500 名专家进行的一项调查将错误信息和虚假信息（后者是故意传播的，而前者可能是意外出现的）列为未来 2 年的全球最大风险。由错误信息引发的事件的例子比比皆是。在美国，落选的总统候选人唐纳德·特朗普 （Donald Trump） 毫无根据地声称 2020 年选举舞弊，最终导致 2021 年 1 月 6 日针对美国国会大厦的暴力起义。在撰写本文时，俄亥俄州斯普林菲尔德的海地移民对未来感到恐惧，因为特朗普在全国电视台上毫无根据地声称那里的移民正在吃他们白人邻居的宠物——这是一个可以追溯到几个世纪前的种族主义比喻。在英国，右翼暴徒最近袭击了接待寻求庇护者的清真寺和酒店，理由是谎称一名穆斯林难民在舞蹈课上刺伤了儿童致死。嫌疑人实际上出生在英国，他的家人经常参加基督教教堂。名单还在继续。