By KAREN PARKER
County Line Publisher Emeritus
“Peace Data” — What a lovely name for a website. Who isn’t in favor of peace? And data? That implies truth, the real facts. In these trying times of “fake news” and social media, separating truth and fiction is a greater challenge than ever before.
But alas, Peace Data is gone. Poof, like so much stuff on the internet, just when you thought you had found a safe harbor of truth. Dang!
But they didn’t leave without a farewell. “Corrupt forces,” they tell us on their farewell page, have “silenced free speech.” It’s the usual suspects: CNN, New York Times, Washington Post, Facebook and the NSA.
And then, just to make a point about their “peacefulness,” they cap it off with an illustration of the CEOs of Facebook, Twitter and Amazon in a guillotine, with a basket to hold their severed heads. Ick.
One should always be suspicious of a news source that proclaims it has “information you won’t find anywhere else.”
But the lure of being “published” and paid (up to $200 an article) lured in dozens of wannabe writers, bloggers, and folks who had lost their jobs in the pandemic and needed to make grocery money.
It didn’t take long for the FBI to figure out that Peace Data was a front for the Internet Research Agency, which is backed by the Kremlin and was behind much of the meddling in the 2016 election.
It was apparently in its infancy with very few followers. Writers found their work received few or no corrections on their articles that promoted left-wing causes such as income inequality or climate change, even if it contained criticism of Russia. However, any criticism of Donald Trump was removed.
Correspondence with writers was done by email, with a head shot of the “editor” included. It was later found no such person existed; it was just a computer-generated image created with artificial intelligence.
From outward appearances, Peace Data was a flub, or some theorize, its goal was to look as normal as possible before it started sowing chaos.
We already know that it was Facebook that organized and drew Trump supporters to Kenosha and Portland to clash with peaceful protesters. I guess before I would load up the assault rifle, hop in the pickup and head off to Portland, I would want to know that my actions were not due to a love for Trump, but rather a response to a Russian-backed website.
Traditional media is being shoved into oblivion by Facebook and other social media. Most people are happy with that, I guess.
The Russians count on us not to care about the source of information. We no longer value the fact that with traditional media, the public can walk right in and pinch us, and we’ll squeal. I bet you can even go to CNN’s headquarters in Atlanta and see the real folks behind the news.
The “fake news” comes from real people. Can you day the same for the stuff on the internet that folks gobble up like candy and then pass to their friends?