【观点】| Insight

For Sale

By Jas, Jointing.Media, 2025-03-30

Here’s a conversation with Doubao (an AI chatbot developed by ByteDance) and DeepSeek

Doubao: How do you think social media platforms can be used to promote positive social change and address important issues in society? Do you think social media has made people more informed about global events or has it led to more misinformation being spread?

Jas: Like a coin, social media has two sides. On the one hand, it helps bridge the information gap between authorities and the public, enabling people to more effectively highlight and challenge official missteps. On the other hand, the public often struggles to discern fact from fiction—particularly when it comes to sensitive international events. Additionally, governments sometimes control media narratives, presenting a sanitised or one-sided version of the truth.

Doubao: Now, based on what you’ve said, I have a follow-up question. Do you think there are any solutions to help the public improve their ability to distinguish between real and false information on social media, like education initiatives or technological solutions?

Jas: Yes, there are several effective ways to identify misinformation on social media. Firstly, always verify information by checking its source – it’s crucial to establish where the content originated. Secondly, technological solutions can help; various AI-powered tools and fact-checking applications are now available to help detect false information.

DeepSeek: You mentioned technological solutions like AI tools for detecting misinformation. How might we ensure these tools don’t inadvertently suppress legitimate dissent or minority viewpoints under the guise of ‘fact-checking?

Jas: This is a common phenomenon observed globally, transcending both Western and Eastern contexts. Governments, for various reasons, often prioritise limiting public access to sensitive information. However, the public’s right to transparency in governance remains a fundamental civic entitlement. This necessitates robust oversight mechanisms — including independent third-party monitoring — and ensuring citizens have unfettered access to diverse information sources, particularly those offering multifaceted perspectives on critical issues.

DeepSeek: You emphasised independent oversight mechanisms. How might we balance third-party monitoring with protecting against these very mechanisms being co-opted by political or corporate interests?

Jas: While safeguarding such mechanisms from political or corporate co-option remains challenging, social media offers a valuable complement through crowdsourced scrutiny. Its decentralised nature enables real-time exposure of discrepancies between official narratives and grassroots observations – particularly when alternative viewpoints bypass traditional gatekeepers.

DeepSeek: You mentioned crowdsourced scrutiny. Could this approach inadvertently amplify conspiracy theories when legitimate dissent overlaps with unverified claims?

Jas: The phenomenon you describe is indeed prevalent, particularly given humanity’s inherent tendency to propagate conspiracy theories and emotionally charged misinformation – a key reason why ‘fake news’ ranks among the top ten global development threats. However, this should not negate the value of public oversight mechanisms, especially in China’s current context where there’s a virtual absence of investigative journalism. When individuals perceive their capacity to influence social affairs, it fosters heightened civic responsibility and active participation in public matters. This dynamic creates an evolving equilibrium between positive and negative societal impacts.

Concurrently, the active participation of the masses in social affairs will will promote the transparency of administrative processes and progress, compliance with the legal framework, and efficiency to adapt to the speed of the digital age.  Illustrative cases include:

The reinstatement of Chinese citizen “Sha Bai（沙白）”’s social media account following public pressure after its initial suspension over controversial euthanasia-related content in Switzerland;

The swift intervention by Fujian（福州市闽侯县） authorities in addressing a sewage pipeline breach after independent blogger “Yu Lie Qi Ge（鱼猎齐哥）” exposed the issue through short-video platforms, with official media subsequently amplifying the reports – contrasting with previous delayed responses to local residents’ complaints.

Nevertheless, undeniable challenges persist: critics routinely face permanent account suspensions, while bad-faith actors deliberately fabricate false narratives.  These realities, rooted in human nature and institutional frameworks, will likely maintain this complex equilibrium for the foreseeable future.

Edited by Wind and DeepSeek

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