Psychology Today: State-Sponsored Bullshit, and Why Truth Matters. “This important guest post had to be reviewed by the United States government before I could share it with you. That’s ironic, because the authors are challenging the government’s sweeping pre-publication review process in this article. That challenge is part of their broader examination of the normalization […]
Daily Beast: Mike Pence Lies About Oklahoma’s COVID-19 Numbers Ahead of Trump Rally. “During a White House roundtable meeting called ‘Fighting for America’s Seniors’ on Monday afternoon, Vice President Mike Pence blatantly lied to reporters about the trajectory of COVID-19 cases in Oklahoma, where President Trump is scheduled to hold a large campaign rally on […]
New York Times: Could Facebook Actually Nuke Elizabeth Warren’s Campaign?. “Yes, Facebook’s willingness to let politicians lie sets a worrying precedent. And yes, lack of oversight into the platform’s decisions opens up a host of plausible election interference conspiracies. But Facebook’s essential threat to democracy isn’t that Mr. Zuckerberg will intervene on behalf of his […]
Ars Technica: Rent-a-troll: Researchers pit disinformation farmers against each other. “The same sorts of organizations that once made their money performing ‘black SEO’—using fraudulent means to raise paying customers’ search engine ranks, often for illicit reasons—are now diving into a whole new sort of online manipulation. Researchers at security threat tracking company Recorded Future have […]
CNN: Websites that peddle disinformation make millions of dollars in ads, new study finds. “As the United States gears up for another presidential election, aware of the role online disinformation played in 2016, the business of publishing false or extremist content online remains a lucrative one. At least $235 million in revenue is generated annually […]
Phys .org: No lie! FSU researcher developing world’s first online polygraph. “It’s tricky enough in face-to-face conversations that offer facial expressions, gestures and tone of voice because those physical cues add context. Spotting a liar gets even tougher in blind computer conversations. Florida State University researcher Shuyuan Ho wants to shed those blinders by creating […]
Yorkton This Week: Technology near for real-time TV political fact checks. “A Duke University team expects to have a product available for election year that will allow television networks to offer real-time fact checks onscreen when a politician makes a questionable claim during a speech or debate. The mystery is whether any network will choose […]
The Register: Talk in Trump’s tweets tells whether tale is true: Code can mostly spot Prez lies from wording. “Boffins from the Netherlands and France claim that the word choices and sentence construction in President Donald Trump’s tweets can be used more often than not for lie detection.”
New York Times: In Virginia House Race, Anonymous Attack Ads Pop Up on Facebook. “A competitive race in Virginia’s 10th Congressional District has an alarming new element: anonymous attack ads on Facebook. The ads, which appeared on a Facebook page called ‘Wacky Wexton Not,’ were purchased by a critic of Jennifer Wexton, a Democrat trying […]
Gizmodo: When a Stranger Decides to Destroy Your Life. “Monika Glennon has lived in Huntsville, Alabama, for the last 12 years. Other than a strong Polish accent, she fits a certain stereotype of the All-American life. She’s blonde. Her husband is a veteran Marine. Her two children, a boy and a girl, joined the military […]
BuzzFeed News: Facebook Said Alex Jones’ Threatening Rant Against Robert Mueller Doesn’t Violate Its Rules. “With his latest accusations of pedophilia, Alex Jones and Infowars continue to test the limits of Facebook’s rules. And Facebook continues to allow it. On his Monday afternoon show, Jones issued a prolonged rant against special counsel Robert Mueller, accusing […]
McClatchy DC: Fake, misleading social media posts exploding globally, Oxford study finds. “Russia’s social media blitz to influence the 2016 U.S. election was part of a global ‘phenomenon’ in which a broad spectrum of governments and political parties used Internet platforms to spread junk news and disinformation in at least 48 countries last year, an […]
Gizmodo: FCC Emails Show Agency Spread Lies to Bolster Dubious DDoS Attack Claims. “As it wrestled with accusations about a fake cyberattack last spring, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) purposely misled several news organizations, choosing to feed journalists false information, while at the same time discouraging them from challenging the agency’s official story.”
Hollywood Reporter: William Shatner Not Happy With Facebook After Death Hoax Ad. “William Shatner is alive and well — in fact, he turned 87 on Thursday, so the actor was not pleased when he saw an ad on Facebook sharing a story about his alleged death. The Star Trek icon blasted Facebook for the ad […]