After the 2016 presidential election, online platforms were forced to contend with their policies around mis- and disinformation online. With the rise of COVID disinformation in 2020, that focus only grew. In the early days of the pandemic, online platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube put content moderation policies in place to hold back the tide of fake news about things like COVID vaccines and COVID treatments. But as we approach the 2024 presidential race, these companies have started to roll back these policies. Claire Wardle is the co-founder and co-director of the Information Futures Lab at the Brown School of Public Health. In this week's show, she says that what we are seeing is a backlash in response to those efforts at content moderation, which were made on the fly and without community input. She sits down with guest host Brandy Zadrozny to discuss the impacts of these changes as candidates like RFK Jr., an anti-vaccine activist, enter the race. 

This is a segment from our June 30, 2023 show, On The Trail With RFK Jr.