• EXTREMISMGrok’s Antisemitic Rant Shows How Generative AI Can Be Weaponized

    By James Foulds, Phil Feldman, and Shimei Pan

    The AI chatbot Grok went on an antisemitic rant on July 8, 2025, posting memes, tropes and conspiracy theories used to denigrate Jewish people on the X platform. It also invoked Hitler in a favorable context. The episode follows one on May 14, 2025, when the chatbot spread debunked conspiracy theories about “white genocide” in South Africa, echoing views publicly voiced by Elon Musk, the founder of its parent company, xAI.

  • EXTREMISMTerrorgram Block Is a Welcome Step Towards Countering Violent Extremism

    By Henry Campbell

    Terrorgram has been linked to lone-actor attacks in Slovakia, Turkey, Brazil and the United States. Its listing places it among the likes of Hamas, Islamic State, and violent white supremacist groups such as Sonnenkrieg Division and The Base.

  • TRUTH DECAYGrok’s ‘White Genocide’ Responses Show How Generative AI Can Be Weaponized

    By James Foulds, Phil Feldman, and Shimei Pan

    The AI chatbot Grok spent one day in May 2025 spreading debunked conspiracy theories about “white genocide” in South Africa, echoing views publicly voiced by Elon Musk. There has been substantial research on methods for keeping AI from causing harm by avoiding such damaging statements – called AI alignment – but this incident is particularly alarming because it shows how those same techniques can be deliberately abused to produce misleading or ideologically motivated content.

  • DEMOCRACY WATCHRegulating X Isn’t Censorship. It’s Self-Defense

    By Fergus Ryan

    The European Union’s landmark new content law, the Digital Services Act (DSA) reflects hard-earned European wisdom. It comes from historical memory of democracies undone by propaganda, foreign interference, and the normalization of lies. Vice President J. D. Vance and X owner Elon Musk harshly criticize DSA, framing their agenda as “free speech,” but in Europe, it increasingly looks like a coordinated push to weaken democratic institutions and empower their far-right allies.

  • TECHNOLOGY & CONFLICTWhat if Bin Laden Was Killed in the Era of Generative AI?

    By Matthew J. Fecteau

    By leveraging machine learning to produce AI-generated content, adversaries can weaponize synthetic media, making fact and fiction nearly indistinguishable. The death—or not—of combatant leaders is prime example of the magnitude of the challenge this emerging reality poses.

  • TECHNOLOGY & CONFLICTMemes and Conflict: Study Shows Surge of Imagery and Fakes Can Precede International and Political Violence

    By Tim Weninger and Ernesto Verdeja

    The widespread use of social media during times of political trouble and violence has made it harder to prevent conflict and build peace.

  • EXTREMISMThe Rise and Fall of Terrorgram: Inside a Global Online Hate Network

    By A. C. Thompson and James Bandler

    White supremacists from around the world used Telegram to spread hateful content promoting murder and destruction in a community they called Terrorgram. ProPublica and FRONTLINE identified 35 crimes linked to Terrorgram, including bomb plots, stabbings, and shootings. After several arrests of alleged Terrorgram members and reforms by Telegram, experts expect that extremists will find a new platform for their hate.

  • TERRORISMHow a Global Online Network of White Supremacists Groomed a Teen to Kill

    By A.C. Thompson, James Bandler, and Lukáš Diko

    Neo-Nazi influencers on the social media platform Telegram created a network of chats and channels where they stoked racist, antisemitic and homophobic hate. The influencers, known as the Terrorgram Collective, targeted a teen in Slovakia and groomed him for three years to kill.

  • THE RUSSIA CONNECTIONTrump Is Giving Russian Cyber Ops a Free Pass – and Putting Western Democracy on the Line

    By Jasper Jackson, Bureau of Investigative Journalism

    Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth last weekend announced that the U.S. will halt all offensive cyber operations –and planning for such operations –against Russia. The Kremlin has long sought to sow chaos in the United States and other democracies by using “information confrontation.” That job just got a lot easier.

  • TRUTH DECAYAs Facebook Abandons Fact-Checking, It’s Also Offering Bonuses for Viral Content

    By Craig Silverman

    Meta decided to stop working with U.S. fact-checkers at the same time as it’s revamping a program to pay bonuses to creators with high engagement numbers, potentially pouring accelerant on the kind of false posts the company once policed.

  • TRUTH DECAYTrump Inviting Influencers to White House Press Briefings Is Likely to Usher in a New Era of Fake News

    By Steven Buckley

    The steady rise in prominence of partisan influencers using increasingly dangerous language is only likely to lead to the American public having less faith in the institutions that are critical to a functioning democracy –the press included.

  • TRUTH DECAYIn Times of Crisis, States Have Few Tools to Fight Misinformation

    By Matt Vasilogambros

    While officials in Southern California fought fire and falsehoods, Meta —the parent company of Facebook and Instagram —announced it would eliminate its fact-checking program in the name of free expression. As social media companies are pushing back against efforts to crack down on falsehoods, questions are asked about what, if anything, state governments can do to stop the spread of harmful lies and rumors that proliferate on social media.

  • TRUTH DECAYFighting Deepfakes: What’s Next After legislation?

    By Fitriani

    Deepfake technology is weaponizing artificial intelligence in a way that disproportionately targets women, especially those working public roles, compromising their dignity, safety, and ability to participate in public life.

  • TRUTH DECAYClimate Misinformation Is Rife on Social Media – and Poised to Get Worse

    By Jill Hopke

    The decision by Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, to end its fact-checking program and otherwise reduce content moderation would open the floodgates to more climate misinformation on Meta’s apps, including misleading or out-of-context claims during disasters. Crowd-sourced debunking is no match for organized disinformation campaigns in the midst of information vacuums during a crisis. The conditions for the rapid and unchecked spread of misleading, and outright false, content could get worse with Meta’s content moderation policy and algorithmic changes.

  • TRUTH DECAYThe World's Top Global Risk Is Misinformation and Disinformation: World Economic Forum

    By Ika Trijsburg

    Mis- and disinformation have once again been named the top global risk of the immediate term in the annual World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Risks Report 2025. Disinformation is deeply insidious, destructive and rapidly evolving. It often comes hand-in-hand with its less malicious but equally destructive cousin, misinformation.