.jpg){kind=avatar}
The SVB crisis illustrates why there’s such interest in cybersecurity startups that wade through the online muck on behalf of companies, nonprofits and governments that want to protect themselves from internet lies and social media manipulation. Built over years or decades, an organization’s reputation represents intangible wealth that can make up much of its value. In the internet era, it can be destroyed overnight. The broader issue would be outright lies, not just posts that fan panic, that undermine the world’s financial system.
Samuel Woolley, who researches propaganda at the University of Texas at Austin, says these companies are “thin on details” when discussing their methods. “It’s easy to be technologically deterministic,” says Woolley, an assistant professor who says he’s declined offers to create his own disinformation detection company. “But you have to take into account social and cultural context—like the management of a bank.”
unknownx500
