1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:06,600 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeart Radio. Hey 2 00:00:06,680 --> 00:00:11,160 Speaker 1: brain Stuff, Lauren Vogelbaum here. The rich and powerful bullies 3 00:00:11,200 --> 00:00:15,680 Speaker 1: of the world, governments, corporations, celebrities, et cetera have lots 4 00:00:15,680 --> 00:00:21,520 Speaker 1: of creative ways to control the public's access to information intimidation, bands, bribery, 5 00:00:21,640 --> 00:00:25,720 Speaker 1: or straight up censorship, especially when that information makes them 6 00:00:25,720 --> 00:00:29,320 Speaker 1: look bad. But every once in a while, and especially 7 00:00:29,400 --> 00:00:35,680 Speaker 1: clumsy control effort backfires spectacularly. Take the case of Barbra Streisand, 8 00:00:35,760 --> 00:00:38,960 Speaker 1: the award winning actress, singer, and owner of a sprawling 9 00:00:39,000 --> 00:00:42,800 Speaker 1: mega mansion near the wealthy coastal enclave of Malibu, California. 10 00:00:43,600 --> 00:00:46,599 Speaker 1: Back in two thousand three, Streisand sued a photographer by 11 00:00:46,600 --> 00:00:49,559 Speaker 1: the name of Kenneth Edelman because he refused to lead 12 00:00:49,600 --> 00:00:52,559 Speaker 1: a photo of her Malibu mansion from an online project 13 00:00:52,640 --> 00:00:56,760 Speaker 1: that tracked erosion on the California coastline. Edelman wasn't a 14 00:00:56,800 --> 00:00:59,200 Speaker 1: paparazzo trying to snag a shot of Babs in her 15 00:00:59,240 --> 00:01:03,520 Speaker 1: bathing suit. He was documenting an important environmental issue. But 16 00:01:03,720 --> 00:01:07,320 Speaker 1: Streisand obviously felt that her privacy had been violated, or 17 00:01:07,360 --> 00:01:10,840 Speaker 1: perhaps wanted to nip future violations in the bud so 18 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:15,160 Speaker 1: she took Adelman to court for fifty million dollars in damages. Yep, 19 00:01:15,280 --> 00:01:19,600 Speaker 1: that's for one photo. The irony was that before Streisand 20 00:01:19,640 --> 00:01:22,319 Speaker 1: took Adelman to court, the online image of her house 21 00:01:22,360 --> 00:01:26,080 Speaker 1: had been downloaded a grand total of six times, including 22 00:01:26,120 --> 00:01:29,440 Speaker 1: twice by her own lawyers. But after the media caught 23 00:01:29,440 --> 00:01:32,240 Speaker 1: wind of the lawsuit, the image was downloaded four hundred 24 00:01:32,319 --> 00:01:35,640 Speaker 1: and twenty thousand times in just a month and publicized 25 00:01:35,640 --> 00:01:38,280 Speaker 1: around the world. For an added kick in the teeth 26 00:01:38,319 --> 00:01:42,560 Speaker 1: that judge dismissed the case. Streisand wasn't the first to 27 00:01:42,720 --> 00:01:46,120 Speaker 1: get burned by her own attempt to repress information, but 28 00:01:46,200 --> 00:01:49,520 Speaker 1: her name became indelibly attached to the phenomenon when Tector 29 00:01:49,600 --> 00:01:54,000 Speaker 1: blogger Mike Masnick jokingly labeled the backfire the Streisand Effect. 30 00:01:55,240 --> 00:01:58,400 Speaker 1: But we spoke with Sue Curry Jansen, professor emeritus of 31 00:01:58,440 --> 00:02:01,840 Speaker 1: Media and Communications at Inburg College, who co authored a 32 00:02:02,560 --> 00:02:06,280 Speaker 1: paper about the curious dynamics of the Streisand Effect. She 33 00:02:06,400 --> 00:02:09,079 Speaker 1: said nobody had paid much attention to the whole thing 34 00:02:09,160 --> 00:02:12,120 Speaker 1: until the lawsuit, which I'm sure Streisand wishes she had 35 00:02:12,160 --> 00:02:16,400 Speaker 1: never undertaken. The Streisand effect is a product of public 36 00:02:16,400 --> 00:02:19,600 Speaker 1: outrage and blowback over a perceived attempt by someone with 37 00:02:19,639 --> 00:02:23,000 Speaker 1: the power to repress free speech to do so. As 38 00:02:23,080 --> 00:02:27,360 Speaker 1: Streisand's lawsuit shows, sometimes a supposedly dangerous piece of information 39 00:02:27,560 --> 00:02:30,920 Speaker 1: wouldn't likely draw much attention if left uncensored, but the 40 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:34,440 Speaker 1: very act of trying to repress it creates public curiosity 41 00:02:34,560 --> 00:02:37,920 Speaker 1: and even outrage, which ends up shining a far brighter 42 00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:42,160 Speaker 1: light on the information in the process. It's also been 43 00:02:42,160 --> 00:02:45,119 Speaker 1: shown that banning books or blocking access to certain websites 44 00:02:45,280 --> 00:02:49,519 Speaker 1: only serves to increase public demand for that information. One 45 00:02:49,520 --> 00:02:52,720 Speaker 1: study from eighteen found that China's attempts to block access 46 00:02:52,760 --> 00:02:56,239 Speaker 1: to sites like Twitter and Facebook prompted millions of otherwise 47 00:02:56,280 --> 00:02:59,960 Speaker 1: a political citizens to download VPN software to evade the 48 00:03:00,040 --> 00:03:05,200 Speaker 1: sensors and access those sites. In the paper, Jansen and 49 00:03:05,240 --> 00:03:08,200 Speaker 1: her co author highlight some truly shining examples of the 50 00:03:08,200 --> 00:03:12,639 Speaker 1: Streisand effect at work, from global corporations to grade school cafeterias. 51 00:03:13,800 --> 00:03:17,200 Speaker 1: For example, the fast food giant McDonald's made a huge 52 00:03:17,240 --> 00:03:20,240 Speaker 1: mistake in the nineteen nineties when it sued two volunteers 53 00:03:20,240 --> 00:03:23,919 Speaker 1: with the activist organization London Greenpeace for a street pamphlet 54 00:03:23,919 --> 00:03:27,640 Speaker 1: that they wrote called What's Wrong with McDonald's. The trial, 55 00:03:27,720 --> 00:03:31,480 Speaker 1: which the British press dubbed McLibel, became the longest running 56 00:03:31,560 --> 00:03:35,200 Speaker 1: civil trial in British history and handed critics of McDonald's 57 00:03:35,240 --> 00:03:39,480 Speaker 1: a media bull horn for publicizing the chain's exploitative advertising, 58 00:03:39,640 --> 00:03:44,240 Speaker 1: low pay and unhealthy food. And just like streisand McDonald's, 59 00:03:44,320 --> 00:03:48,200 Speaker 1: ended up losing the lawsuit. In two thousand three, Fox 60 00:03:48,240 --> 00:03:51,440 Speaker 1: News sued Al Franken, then a comedian and actor not 61 00:03:51,560 --> 00:03:55,280 Speaker 1: yet a senator, for copyright infringement over his anti conservative 62 00:03:55,280 --> 00:03:58,200 Speaker 1: book called Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them 63 00:03:58,440 --> 00:04:01,880 Speaker 1: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right. Fox News 64 00:04:01,920 --> 00:04:04,720 Speaker 1: alleged that the phrase fair and balanced was its own 65 00:04:04,800 --> 00:04:09,040 Speaker 1: intellectual property, but a judge disagreed. Not only did Fox 66 00:04:09,080 --> 00:04:12,080 Speaker 1: News lose the case, but the free publicity shot Franken's 67 00:04:12,080 --> 00:04:15,920 Speaker 1: book to the top of the best seller list in Scotland. 68 00:04:15,920 --> 00:04:18,800 Speaker 1: In a nine year old schoolgirl by the name of 69 00:04:18,800 --> 00:04:22,320 Speaker 1: Martha Payne began taking pictures of her school cafeteria lunches 70 00:04:22,640 --> 00:04:26,040 Speaker 1: and writing about them on her personal blog. When chef 71 00:04:26,040 --> 00:04:29,640 Speaker 1: and TV personality Jamie Oliver tweeted about Pain's blog, the 72 00:04:29,680 --> 00:04:33,000 Speaker 1: site received three million hits in just two months, the 73 00:04:33,040 --> 00:04:35,839 Speaker 1: local town council, fearing that the grade schooler was making 74 00:04:35,880 --> 00:04:38,800 Speaker 1: them look bad, banned her from taking photos at school. 75 00:04:39,839 --> 00:04:42,600 Speaker 1: Of course, Pain blogged about the band too, which then 76 00:04:42,760 --> 00:04:46,880 Speaker 1: made international news. The town council wound up publicly apologizing 77 00:04:47,000 --> 00:04:51,680 Speaker 1: and they removed the band. Then, in twenty nineteen, Republican 78 00:04:51,760 --> 00:04:55,840 Speaker 1: Senator Devin Nunez filed a lawsuit against Twitter, alleging that 79 00:04:55,880 --> 00:04:59,440 Speaker 1: he was defamed on the platform by Republican political strategist 80 00:04:59,520 --> 00:05:02,520 Speaker 1: Liz May and by the anonymous owners of the Twitter 81 00:05:02,560 --> 00:05:08,240 Speaker 1: accounts Devon Ninez's Cow and Devon Ninez's Mom. Before the lawsuit, 82 00:05:08,440 --> 00:05:11,960 Speaker 1: devon Ninez's Cow had only one thousand, two hundred and 83 00:05:12,040 --> 00:05:15,159 Speaker 1: nine followers. After the lawsuit was filed, it's shot up 84 00:05:15,200 --> 00:05:18,480 Speaker 1: to fifty four thousand. A year later, the account has 85 00:05:18,480 --> 00:05:21,479 Speaker 1: over seven hundred and twenty two thousand followers and has 86 00:05:21,520 --> 00:05:25,800 Speaker 1: inspired several more copycat accounts. The lawsuit is still ongoing, 87 00:05:27,279 --> 00:05:32,400 Speaker 1: but Jansen says that unfortunately, most censorship efforts are successful. 88 00:05:33,040 --> 00:05:36,680 Speaker 1: Quote that's the way power works. For example, the non 89 00:05:36,680 --> 00:05:39,320 Speaker 1: disclosure agreements that employees have to sign to work at 90 00:05:39,360 --> 00:05:42,520 Speaker 1: many corporations, you can know something really bad is going on, 91 00:05:42,600 --> 00:05:45,360 Speaker 1: but you can't tell anyone. Not only will you be fired, 92 00:05:45,440 --> 00:05:49,200 Speaker 1: but you'll be sued. Even if a powerful person or 93 00:05:49,279 --> 00:05:51,960 Speaker 1: entity is caught trying to silence a critic or hide 94 00:05:51,960 --> 00:05:55,599 Speaker 1: a dirty secret, there's a whole crisis management playbook to 95 00:05:55,760 --> 00:06:02,000 Speaker 1: diffuse public outcry, sometimes called outrage management. In the paper, 96 00:06:02,360 --> 00:06:05,360 Speaker 1: Jansen and her co author list five techniques at sensors 97 00:06:05,440 --> 00:06:09,640 Speaker 1: used to discredit and silence critics, covering up the action, 98 00:06:10,040 --> 00:06:15,839 Speaker 1: devaluing the target, reinterpreting events by lying, minimizing consequences, blaming others, 99 00:06:15,880 --> 00:06:19,240 Speaker 1: and using favorable framing, using official channels to give an 100 00:06:19,240 --> 00:06:25,320 Speaker 1: appearance of justice, and intimidating or rewarding people involved. Jansen 101 00:06:25,360 --> 00:06:28,520 Speaker 1: said there are pr people who are very good at 102 00:06:28,520 --> 00:06:31,320 Speaker 1: doing this kind of thing. They set up listening sessions 103 00:06:31,320 --> 00:06:34,120 Speaker 1: with people who are objecting to something, then single out 104 00:06:34,279 --> 00:06:36,480 Speaker 1: one or two people and put them on a committee. 105 00:06:37,000 --> 00:06:39,839 Speaker 1: Sometimes they even overtly bribe people with some kind of 106 00:06:39,880 --> 00:06:42,840 Speaker 1: honorific and then proceed with whatever they intended to do 107 00:06:43,040 --> 00:06:47,040 Speaker 1: in the first place. The streisand effect can be an 108 00:06:47,040 --> 00:06:50,080 Speaker 1: effective check on censorship and the more general misuse of 109 00:06:50,120 --> 00:06:53,039 Speaker 1: power to bully critics into silence, but only if the 110 00:06:53,080 --> 00:06:55,320 Speaker 1: act is dragged into the light by a free and 111 00:06:55,480 --> 00:06:59,520 Speaker 1: unfettered press. None of the examples we cited above, including 112 00:06:59,560 --> 00:07:02,560 Speaker 1: Stresa End, would have happened if not for journalists picking 113 00:07:02,640 --> 00:07:06,640 Speaker 1: up the stories and bringing them to the public's attention. Unfortunately, 114 00:07:06,880 --> 00:07:09,040 Speaker 1: the effectiveness of the media as a check on this 115 00:07:09,120 --> 00:07:11,840 Speaker 1: sort of misuse and abuse of power has taken a 116 00:07:11,920 --> 00:07:16,280 Speaker 1: hit during this are fake News era. If politicians and 117 00:07:16,320 --> 00:07:19,360 Speaker 1: other people in power can dismiss news stories that make 118 00:07:19,400 --> 00:07:22,240 Speaker 1: them look bad as being biased or false, then the 119 00:07:22,280 --> 00:07:26,480 Speaker 1: power of the streisand effect dries up. Jansen said, that's 120 00:07:26,480 --> 00:07:28,920 Speaker 1: a real issue. The whole sense of what is the 121 00:07:28,960 --> 00:07:37,679 Speaker 1: truth has been undermined quite deliberately. Today's episode was written 122 00:07:37,720 --> 00:07:40,280 Speaker 1: by Dave Ruse and produced by Tyler Clang. For more 123 00:07:40,280 --> 00:07:42,360 Speaker 1: on listen lots of other topics, visit how Stuff works 124 00:07:42,400 --> 00:07:45,000 Speaker 1: dot com. Brain Stuff is a production of by Heart Radio. 125 00:07:45,200 --> 00:07:47,240 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the I 126 00:07:47,320 --> 00:07:49,920 Speaker 1: Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 127 00:07:49,960 --> 00:07:50,760 Speaker 1: your favorite shows.