Dude, this is the age of the internet. If there is widely available public data that the authorities claim to be true, but is easily proven to be false, it generally gets called out.
Heck, it generally gets called out even if it ISN'T easily proven to be false. Hence, the existence of this website.
Exactly. There is no "they", because there is no flat-earth conspiracy, because the earth is not flat...
There are no bounds to human stupidity.
The level of apathy and ignorance generally exhibited by the majority of the populace has been expertly crafted and cultivated. Yes, by a they. An informed public is a dangerous public. Much easier to play to their fears and prejudices than to have a functioning education system.
Blue pill or red pill, its obviously your choice.
This has nothing to do with human stupidity. Rather, it relies on the fact that the observational abilities of a group of people increases with the size of the group.
Yes, crowd sourcing an important decision is often a bad idea. The group's decision roughly depends on the average person's understanding of the subject matter.
However, you CAN generally rely on crowds to notice obvious discrepancies. It only takes ONE person (out of millions) to notice and report the discrepancy. If the discrepancy is something easily detectable for the average person, (like the reported distance on a public highway), and if you have millions of people within observational range of that discrepancy (Australia has millions of people), then there is a very good chance that that discrepancy will be noticed and reported by someone.