Unchecked: The architecture of disinformation

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CONTENT WARNING
This episode of Unchecked deals with the sensitive topic of gun violence.
SYNOPSIS
JJ Janflone, who works on culture change and narrative strategy at Brady: United Against Gun Violence, joins Rachel and Dan to unpack the Big Lie at the center of gun violence disinformation. JJ explains how that single falsehood generates cascading misbeliefs — about storage, risk, and identity — and describes Brady's efforts to shift gun culture. Rachel identifies the lens Accidents Happen and Dan suggests the lens Wild Imagination.
INTERVIEW
Brady: United Against Gun Violence — gun violence prevention organization where JJ works on culture change
This is Our Lane – Brady initiative amplifying healthcare professionals' voices on gun violence
Show Gun Safety – Brady program to depict gun safety in entertainment
The Dickey Amendment — 1996 legislation that banned CDC funding for gun violence research for over two decades (rescinded 2019)
LENSES
Wild Imagination
When a core premise goes unchallenged — like the idea that guns make you safer — information systems without guardrails allow users to spin that premise into increasingly untethered conclusions. The result is a cascade of misinformation that distorts risk perception and makes it nearly impossible to reason toward accurate, proportionate responses.
Does the system provide any framing or guardrails that help users interpret broad claims responsibly?
How does the system help users accurately assess where risk actually lies, rather than where they imagine it to be?
When users construct false or exaggerated threat scenarios, how does the system correct or contextualize them?
Accidents Happen
Once an action is taken in an information system — sharing a post, liking content, amplifying a story — it sends signals that are difficult or impossible to fully reverse. Even well-intentioned interactions can feed an algorithm in ways the user didn't intend, with consequences that outlast the original act.
Does the system provide a meaningful undo mechanism, and does undoing an action actually reverse its downstream effects?
How does the system handle users who want to signal disagreement with content without inadvertently amplifying it?
When users change their minds about information they've already shared or engaged with, how does the system support them in communicating that change?
(Show notes drafted by generative AI and edited by a human.)
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Personnel
Dan Brown, Host
Rachel Price, Host
Emily Duncan, Editor
Music
Turtle Up Fool, by Elliot
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Unchecked is a production of Curious Squid
Curious Squid is a digital design consulting firm specializing in information architecture, user experience, and product design

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Synopsis
Karen McGrane joins Rachel and Dan to explain Reddit from the perspective of a moderator. Reddit is the largest message board on the internet, with thousands of “sub-Reddits” – individual communities based on a topic. Karen moderates the community dedicated to UX Design, which gets hundreds of new posts every week. Rachel and Dan then explore two Lenses: Swarm and Curation Escape.
Stories
"About this Account" on X/Twitter
Renee Diresta’s Substack
Big Tobacco
Tobacco industry playbook (Wikipedia)
Disinformation playbook (Union of Concerned Scientists)

Interview with Karen McGrane
Karen McGrane
/r/UXDesign subreddit

Lenses
Curation Escape
So much of our experience online is curated by algorithms. A set of rules – not chosen by you – governs what bubbles up into your feed. This set of rules is at the heart of most modern information systems, and can be responsible for perpetuating misinformation. They pose a disinformation risk by people who manipulate the algorithm.
How does the system allow users to escape the curation?
What role does algorithmic curation play in the system’s experience?
How does the system allow users to tailor the curation algorithm?

Swarm
Participants in online spaces can exhibit swarming behavior, gathering and moving as if one. Swarming groups end up performing a variety of functions – both desirable and undesirable – in an online information space. They can enforce social norms, or alienate other participants. Likewise, they can squash misinformation, or cause it to perpetuate.
How does the system react to swarm behavior? 
How does the system benefit from swarm behavior?
How might swarming cause harm?

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_____________________________________________________
Personnel
Dan Brown, Host
Rachel Price, Host
Emily Duncan, Editor
Music
Turtle Up Fool, by Elliot
_____________________________________________________
Unchecked is a production of Curious Squid
Curious Squid is a digital design consulting firm specializing in information architecture, user experience, and product design

Send us Fan Mail
SYNOPSIS
Speaking to Dr. Ushma Upadhyay, Rachel and Dan dig into misinformation about abortion – who gets them, why they get them, and how they get them. You may be surprised by some of the answers. Dr. Upadhyay describes her research around abortion safety and abortion via telehealth. Rachel proposes the lens “Retraction” and Dan leans on an old favorite, “Personas”.

STORIES OF DISINFORMATION
Y2K hype
The end of the world in Time
Y2K Panic in Popular Mechanics
Fraud in Minnesota: A misinformation perfect storm
Dave Weigel’s post on BlueSky 
 
INTERVIEW 
Dr. Ushma Upadhyay 
FDA directed to review the safety of mifepristone
Mifepristone in the water

LENSES
⇒ Persona
Everyone makes assumptions about who participates, contributes to, or benefits from a system. Those assumptions are rarely challenged, and therefore become the source of or impetus for misinformation. This lens suggests unpacking assumptions is a crucial step in understanding the system.
What are your assumptions about who is engaged with your system?
What are your preconceived notions about who is involved?
When you use labels to describe your users, does everyone agree on what those labels mean?
⇒ Retraction
Publishing in formal and professional venues includes the capability to correct or retract information published there. This is a crucial part of the process, as new information can change understanding. Moreover, mistakes and misinformation need to be marked as such. This lens invites you to look at the way in which your system supports retraction.
What are the system’s built-in mechanisms that allow users to retract information?
How is retracted information treated differently in the system?
How does the system invite users to challenge information to kick off a retraction process?

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_____________________________________________________
Personnel
Dan Brown, Host
Rachel Price, Host
Emily Duncan, Editor
Music
Turtle Up Fool, by Elliot
_____________________________________________________
Unchecked is a production of Curious Squid
Curious Squid is a digital design consulting firm specializing in information architecture, user experience, and product design

Send us Fan Mail
Synopsis
For the 10th episode of Unchecked, Rachel and Dan talk to Dr. Amelia B. Finaret, food economist and clinical dietitian about the state of nutrition misinformation. With the release of the latest dietary guidelines – some of which are not founded on sound nutrition science – we take a look at both the classic and newer myths around food. Dan uses the discussion to arrive at the lens of Making Hot Dogs and Rachel applies Diet Culture to our work as UX designers.
Stories
Robert Caro on Robert Moses
Northern State Parkway (see section on 1929 compromise)
AI-Generated Disinformation in Europe
Report for October 2025
Interview with Amelia Finaret
Amelia Finaret
Dr. Finaret’s book, Food Economics
MyPlate.gov (today)
MyPlate.gov (from Archive.org, at the time of recording)
Dietary Guidelines published by US Government
Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act
What to Eat Now, by Marion Nestle
Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics
American Diabetes Association recipes
Lenses
Diet Culture
How does the system send signals about the user's "goodness" based on what they are consuming or acting on?
How does the system reward “good” behavior and penalize “bad” behavior? 
How does the system decide what is good or bad? Who gets to make that decision, whose world view is reflected in that framework?
Making Hot Dogs
How does the system process original source material? 
What role does it play in the "supply chain" of information?
How recognizable is the original source material in the system’s content?
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Personnel
Dan Brown, Host
Rachel Price, Host
Emily Duncan, Editor
Music
Turtle Up Fool, by Elliot
_____________________________________________________
Unchecked is a production of Curious Squid
Curious Squid is a digital design consulting firm specializing in information architecture, user experience, and product design

Send us Fan Mail
SYNOPSIS
Zanagee Artis, a climate advocate and educator with Natural Resources Defense Council, joins Rachel and Dan to talk about disinformation in arctic and coastal drilling. Zanagee describes the challenges of addressing disinformation when the time horizons of climate research spans decades. Inspired by this discussion, Rachel coins the lens of Time Feel. Dan, impressed by efforts to close the physical distance between policymakers and drilling in the arctic, suggests the lens of Distance.

STORIES OF DISINFORMATION
White House destruction photo
Katie Harbath’s Substack
Black Death poem
Centuries of Black Death misinformation started with a poem

INTERVIEW WITH ZANAGEE ARTIS
Zanagee Artis
A Kids Book About Climate Change
Kimberly Miner’s study on alaskan arctic impacts
Gwich’in people of Alaska
Iñupiat people of Alaska
Coastal Plain Caribou Alaska
Taylor Oil Spill
Radioactive waste water from fracking
Oil and gas sponsoring community and social programs

LENSES
Distance
The gap between a personal context and the context of the information creates an opportunity for misinformation. (e.g. global warming isn't real when it's snowing in my town).
How does the system help users bridge the gap between their personal context and other contexts?
How is the information contained in the system distanced from the person consuming it? How does the system close the gap?
How much does the system expect users to close the gap between themselves and the information?
Time Feel
In music, time feel is how the musician interprets time while playing. More than rhythm or beat, it’s how the music creates a feeling of time passing. 
How does the system treat the passage of time?
How does the system handle time horizons and the differing perceptions of speed?
How does this thing support or not support the potential variations in time?
What role does urgency play in the system?
_____________________________________________________
Personnel
Dan Brown, Host
Rachel Price, Host
Emily Duncan, Editor
Music
Turtle Up Fool, by Elliot
_____________________________________________________
Unchecked is a production of Curious Squid
Curious Squid is a digital design consulting firm specializing in information architecture, user experience, and product design