Former President Barack Obama recently advocated for the government to track and hunt down Americans by their fingerprints if they dare spread so–called “misinformation“ online.
In a podcast interview with CNN host David Axelrod, Obama suggested implementing “digital fingerprints“ as a mandatory online requirement to combat misinformation.
The former president voiced his concerns about the upcoming 2024 election cycle, claiming that “misinformation“ could be weaponized to discourage voter participation, portraying the election system as “rigged“ and “corrupt.”
He argued that the best way to combat so–called “misinformation“ is to “remind people that this is out there,” as well as develop new technologies to create digital fingerprints to identify what is true and what is not true.
But though concerned himself by the rise of online misinformation, Obama has come under fire for engaging in the practice himself.
In 2013, the Affordable Care Act allowed Americans to keep their healthcare plans but Obama allegedly lied about this, leading Republicans to deem him the winner of the “lie of the year.” Furthermore, Obama was accused of promoting the “Russia–Trump collusion hoax“ despite a report to the contrary.
According to the New York Post, the results of the report revealed that Obama knew that Hillary Clinton was planning to hurt former President Trump‘s chances of being elected in 2016 by falsely claiming he was colluding with Russia.
The report from the New York Post highlighted a series of text messages between a former FBI Director and his mistress in the summer of 2016. The former FBI Director had also overseen an investigation that helped launch the whole “Russia hoax“ against President Trump.
Obama has yet to respond to the allegations.
Given his history, the suggestion that the government should track and hunt down Americans by their fingerprints for so–called “misinformation“ could raise eyebrows in Washington, D.C., and beyond.
Obama has not elaborated further on his suggestion, leaving many to speculate on the president‘s plan of action and its implications for social media.
At this point, the only thing known for certain is that the former president is highly concerned with the rise in the spread of “misinformation“ online and views digital fingerprints as the only solution. Whether or not it will be effective in curbing this issue remains to be seen.
