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TRUTH DECAYAI Fact Checks Can Increase Belief in False Headlines
Many tech companies and start-ups have touted the potential of automated fact-checking services powered by artificial intelligence to stem the rising tide of online misinformation, but a new study has found that AI-fact checking can, in some cases, actually increase belief in false headlines.
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PERSUASIVE TECHNOLOGIESIt’s Not Too Late to Regulate Persuasive Technologies
Prominent Chinese tech companies are developing and deploying powerful persuasive tools to work for the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda, military and public security services—and many of them have already become global leaders in their fields. TikTok is only the tip of the iceberg.
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PERSUASIVE TECHNOLOGIESHow Does the Information Ecosystem Influence Politics?
A new course combines data and political science to understand some of the most vital phenomena of our time. “Persuasion is happening at scale on information platforms,” says an expert, “so we now have the chance to understand this question statistically.”
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MISINFORMATIONMisinformation Really Does Spread Like a Virus, Suggest Mathematical Models Drawn from Epidemiology
When it comes to misinformation, “going viral” appears to be more than a simple catchphrase. Scientists have found a close analogy between the spread of misinformation and the spread of viruses: how misinformation gets around can be effectively described using mathematical models designed to simulate the spread of pathogens.
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CYBERSECURITYUniversity of Central Florida Students Secure Gold at the DOE’s 10th CyberForce Competition
Students gained hands-on practical cybersecurity experience and recognition by securing a wind energy generation plant against simulated cyberattacks.
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DIGITAL HATEEFF to Court: Reject X’s Effort to Revive a Speech-Chilling Lawsuit Against a Nonprofit
X’s lawsuit against the nonprofit Center for Countering Digital Hate is intended to stifle criticism and punish the organization for its reports criticizing the platform’s content moderation practices, and a previous ruling dismissing the lawsuit should be affirmed.
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THE RUSSIA CONNECTIONRussian Disinformation Campaign Creates 'Climate of Chaos,' Say Experts
In the last two years, Russian agents have created fake websites which are employed in a “persistent” disinformation campaign. The Russian agents are creating false news websites that mimic reputable sources and posting fake stories to those phony sites. The websites may look like trusted European media outlets but in fact mislead readers with malicious stories and propaganda.
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DISINFORMATIONExploiting Meta’s Weaknesses, Deceptive Political Ads Thrived on Facebook and Instagram in Run-Up to Election
Eight deceptive advertising networks have placed over 160,000 election and social issues ads across more than 340 Facebook pages in English and Spanish. Some of the people who clicked on ads were unwittingly signed up for monthly credit card charges or lost health coverage, among other consequences.
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DISINFORMATIONFalse Narratives Around the 2024 Presidential Election
False and misleading narratives about the upcoming 2024 U.S. presidential election are spreading widely among extremists and purveyors of hate and conspiracy theories.
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THE RUSSIA CONNECTIONU.S. Officials Say Russia Behind Fake Video of Pro-Trump Votes Being Destroyed
Russia, as part of its broad influence campaign to help Donald Trump win the November election, has released a fake video, which has been circulating on social media, purporting to show the destruction of mail-in votes cast for Trump in Pennsylvania. The fake video is the latest in a series of fake videos produced by an offshoot of the St. Petersburg-based Internet Research Agency, which helped Trump win the 2016 election.
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THE RUSSIA CONNECTIONHow Is the Kremlin Meddling In 2024 Elections? Here Are 5 Tactics.
Russia’s Plan A is always to cooperate with mainstream forces and then corrupt them to align with Russian foreign policy interests. In Plan A fails, Russia falls back on Plan B, which is aligning with far-right parties -– but, at times, even forming alliances with far-left parties. For the Kremlin, the cheapest and most efficient way of boosting its allies is to flood the market with disinformation.
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TRUTH DECAYTo Make Children Better Fact-Checkers, Expose Them to More Misinformation — with Oversight
“We need to give children experience flexing these skepticism muscles and using these critical thinking skills within this online context,” a psychology researcher said.
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EXTREMISMExtremists Co-Opt Hurricane Response to Blame Israel, Incite a Storm of Hateful Narratives
Right-wing extremists have been exploiting the devastation surrounding Hurricane Helene — a storm that has so far claimed the lives of at least 230 people in the southeast U.S.— and now Hurricane Milton, to advance antisemitic or anti-Israel conspiracy theories that federal disaster assistance has been slow or inadequate because they believe the U.S. is sending funds and personnel to Israel instead.
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ELECTION INTEGRITYHow Foreign Operations Are Manipulating Social Media to Influence Your Views
Foreign influence campaigns, or information operations, have been widespread in the run-up to the 2024 U.S. presidential election. Influence campaigns aim to shift public opinion, push false narratives or change behaviors among a target population. Russia, China, Iran, Israel and other nations have run these campaigns by exploiting social bots, influencers, media companies and generative AI.
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DISATER MISINFORMATIONGovernments Respond to Multiple Claims on Helene
Bad actors coming in behind hurricanes in North Carolina to spread false claims is nothing new. This time, the White House felt the need to respond.
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The long view
TRUTH DECAYTo Make Children Better Fact-Checkers, Expose Them to More Misinformation — with Oversight
“We need to give children experience flexing these skepticism muscles and using these critical thinking skills within this online context,” a psychology researcher said.