Should there be an option to request the removal of a thread for 'dangerous misinformation'.

[ticktickticktickBOOM]

I feel that some of the threads about the riots are fuelling misinformation, driving division and becoming quite toxic and dangerous to communities.

It is time for a new look at the thread removal options?

Please

And who is going to decide what is misinformation and what isn't? And then decide if it's dangerous or not?

Yes unfortunately this would be hard to police and both 'sides' can have bad faith actors.

All misinformation is dangerous. MN surely has a responsibility in light of all SM being criticised for spreading misinformation.

If people don't have the brains they were born with nor how to look up intelligence in a dictionary it is not MN fault

No one's saying it's their fault. Aggressive knee jerk responses like that are part of the problem.

As a large social media site with 8 million users, they could/ should look at whether there is anything helpful they can do.

Exactly. It'll just be weaponised to shut down FWR

People need to think for themselves and how on earth can MN prove what is real and what is fed by the gullible

What is truth and what is fiction according to whom?

MNHQ.
Presumably the function would hide a thread till they'd taken a look.

Sounds like a good idea to me.

Yes. There is so much crap on here, I post on legal and some of us just despair at the pseudo 'legal advice' on there which frankly would lead into all sorts of difficulties if followed.

Mumsnet have a duty to police their site. There's libel fairly regularly, and quite a bit of racism that frankly is unlawful. I would like to see a better management of some of the posts.

It's always difficult when balancing freedom of speech with the law but they err too much on the cautious side generally.

This was my first thought too.

Reporting threads about the female boxers controversy then a week later information finally released to confirm what was on the threads. In the meantime TRAs would be mass reporting anything that doesn't fit their agenda.

I'm confident that any bs will be called out by other posters, with evidence for why it's not true. It's better to have any crazy stuff on here robustly argued against (as it normally is) than not have the debate and have the bs still out there as a 'truth'.

Yes, I agree. There's been a spate of threads started that are utter rubbish, just shit-stirring.

Much like the posts on social media that triggered the riots to start with...

Mumsnet HQ. Because they're in charge of moderating the site. Surely, that's obvious!

By “misinformation” you mean “opinions I don’t agree with”.

I seem to remember quite a lot of “misinformation” during the lockdown that turned out to be probably true, e.g. the idea ye virus had come from a lab.

Or the 'misinformation' flag could just prioritise a report for MNHQs attention. That would more rapidly identify malicious false reporters as well as actual disinformation.

I think Mnet need to do something. Misinformation is turning into destruction and violence on our streets. And it's all very well saying "we can challenge it" but racists tend to be Fact Resistant, so all that's happening is the spread of Putin's and Robinson-Lennon's lies.

RationalityIsHard
I would be happy to decide what is misinformation. I have a ton of experience. Do I work for mi5? Do I work for a fact checking agency? No I have worked in secondary schools since 1991. I have heard everything now, more than once. Including a couple of my personal favourites, that the world was going to end (five times now). And that the world is run by the illuminati.

I am now able to detect made up crap as if it was my mutant superpower! I'll do it!

Reporting threads about the female boxers controversy then a week later information finally released to confirm what was on the threads. In the meantime TRAs would be mass reporting anything that doesn't fit their agenda.

This. No offence to Mumsnet mods who generally do quite a tough job reasonably effectively (although there are always going to be mistakes where posts are either left up wrongly or removed wrongly) but they aren't equipped to know what's false or not without pushing one agenda or another. We on FWR were right about the male boxers, and we have shut down all attempts to spread misinformation (of which there were many) on the threads.

There is already a 'report' option where you can use 'other' to state why you think a thread or post should be removed and Mumsnet HQ will then take a look.

Problem solved already.

Exactly. Just report, tell them your concerns and they will consider them. They might not agree with you though, that's up to them. I've disagreed with their individual moderation decisions plenty of times in my decade or so posting here. But if lots of people have concerns, I find they generally will act.

A misinformation option just gives Mumsnet a clearer idea of why the post has been reported than 'other', seems it would do nothing more than make the system more efficient.

That would impact a lot of threads!

On the contrary, as misinformation is highly subjective, I think a person should have to specify exactly why they think it might be so in writing rather than simply ticking a box.

There's a lot of misinformation out there. MNHQ really need to be getting a handle on it and stopping it.