Misinformation
6 items
From 'Merchants of Doubt' to 'Captors of Regulation' — Reading Big AI's Regulatory Capture through 27 Mechanisms
Birhane et al. (2026, FAccT'26) present a taxonomy of 5 categories and 27 mechanisms of Big AI's regulatory capture. This synthesis integrates that taxonomy into ISVD Agnotology Lab's 7-axis coding framework, tracing how the doubt-manufacturing tactics perfected by tobacco, oil, and pharmaceutical industries have transferred to the AI sector. Drawing on empirical data of 100 articles, 249 cases, and 11 dominant narratives, the article reads the contemporary form of the infrastructure of ignorance production.
The Doubt Manufacturing Industry — The Sixty-Year War of Tobacco and Climate
This case study analyzes sixty years of history in which the tobacco and fossil fuel industries systematically 'manufactured doubt' against scientific consensus. From the fact that the same group of scientists and the same strategic patterns were repeatedly employed, 'doubt manufacturing' is theorized as a foundational mechanism of ignorance production.
Why Unreported Issues Are Treated as 'Nonexistent' — Media Agenda-Setting and Invisibilization in Japan
Why do 'unreported issues' disappear from social perception? This case study analyzes the 'non-reporting structure' built into Japanese media by the press club system, sponsor pressure, and audience metrics — through the lens of agnotology. It illuminates how agenda-setting theory and framing effects erase unreported problems by rendering them as 'nonexistent' in social cognition.
The New Ignorance Produced by Algorithms — Filter Bubbles and Echo Chambers
Recommendation algorithms, search engine optimization, and social media feed design automatically determine what users do not see. This structural ignorance, which arises not from intentional design but as a consequence of optimization, is analyzed as a compound mechanism of attention control and complexity weaponization.
AI Amplification of the Brandolini Asymmetry — When the Cost of Producing Lies Approaches Zero
The proliferation of AI-generated content has amplified the asymmetry between the production cost of misinformation and the cost of correction (Brandolini's Law) by orders of magnitude. Employing RAND Corporation's 'Firehose of Falsehood' model, this essay analyzes the consequences of this structural transformation.
Research Framework of the Agnotology Lab — An Inductive Coding Framework
From the perspective of agnotology, this note presents an inductive coding framework for multidimensional analysis of the 'production of ignorance.' Moving beyond conventional domain-based classification, a seven-axis tagging system structures research notes and allows cross-disciplinary patterns to emerge from the data.