• How Russia Turned America’s Helping Hand to Ukraine into a Vast Lie

    Russia’s sustained disinformation campaign about a fictional U.S. bioweapons program in Ukraine is an example of how, “In a world that connects billions of people at a flash, the truth may have only a fighting chance against organized lying,” the Washington Post writes. “Disinformation is not just “fake news” or propaganda but an insidious contamination of the world’s conversations. And it is exploding.”

  • Antisemitism, False Information, and Hate Speech Find a Home on Substack

    Substack continues to attract extremists and conspiracy theorists who routinely use the site to profit from spreading antisemitism, misinformation, disinformation and hate speech. Platforms with more lenient content moderation policies, like Substack, provide fertile ground for the spread of hateful rhetoric and false information – a known catalyst for offline harm and violence.

  • China Accused of Meddling in Canada’s Elections

    Allegations are mounting that China may have interfered in Canada’s most recent federal elections to favor Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his Liberal Party. Chinese information campaign appeared to have influenced votes in districts with large ethnic Chinese population.

  • Education and Awareness Are Key to Stopping Online Radicalization

    The current battlefield for terrorism is not a faraway country but the computers and phones right next to us. Terrorists have taken advantage of this technology to allow conflict to transcend its geographic borders. They know that reaching one sympathetic viewer can create catastrophic consequences in support of their agenda. The social network is now an environment where everyone is vulnerable to encountering propaganda or misinformation online, making everyone susceptible to radicalization.

  • Hard-Right Social Media Activities Lead to Civil Unrest: Study

    Does activity on hard-right social media lead to civil unrest? With the emergence and persistent popularity of hard-right social media platforms such as Gab, Parler, and Truth Social, it is important to understand the impact they are having on society and politics.

  • Understanding Antisemitism on Twitter After Musk

    New research has found a major and sustained spike in antisemitic posts on Twitter since the company’s takeover by Elon Musk on October 27, 2022. Researchers found that the volume of English-language antisemitic tweets more than doubled in the period following Musk’s takeover.

  • Extremist Propaganda Soars to All-Time High in 2022

    In 2022, there has been a significant increase in racially or ethnically motivated violent extremist (RMVE) propaganda efforts, which included the distribution of racist and antisemitic fliers, stickers, banners, graffiti, and posters, as well as laser projections - with a total of 6,751 cases reported in 2022, compared to 4,876 in 2021.

  • 5 Key Takeaways from State of Antisemitism in America Report 2022

    For too many American Jews, being Jewish no longer feels as safe as it once did. And the younger those American Jews are, the more they experience that threat firsthand.

  • Americans’ Trust in News Continues to Decline – but Local News Are Much More Trusted Than National News

    A new study explores the disconnect between newsrooms’ efforts to rebuild the public’s trust and the continued decline of confidence in that effort. The study distinguishes between the practical and emotional dimensions of trust, and finds that that more than twice as many Americans have higher emotional trust in local news than in national news.

  • Foolproof: A Psychological Vaccine Against Fake News

    Even an optimistic account of our ability to spot fake news has to come to grips with the fact that not everyone needs to be fooled in order for misinformation to be highly influential and dangerous. After all, major elections are often decided on small margins, and cyber propaganda is playing an increasingly important role in tearing down the fabric of our democracy.

  • Since Elon Musk’s Takeover, Twitter Has Seen a Rapid Rise in Gen-Z, Neo-Nazi Antisemitism: Study

    A new study has demonstrated that extremist elements have viewed Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter as an opportunity to rejoin the social media platform en masse. The study also indicates that a sea change is taking place on Twitter with respect to the proliferation of extremist antisemitic content.

  • Content Moderation Sacrificed in Left-Right Deals on Tech Reform

    With time running out on the lame-duck Congress, tech reformers are pushing for votes on a package of bills that stalled over the summer. Three bills—the American Innovation and Choice Online Act (AICOA), the Open App Markets Act (OAMA), and the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA)—would write special competition rules for large tech companies in ways that could fundamentally change how tech platforms moderate content like hate speech, disinformation, and incitement to violence.

  • Smart AI Tools Could Protect Social Media Users’ Privacy

    Digital assistants could help prevent users from unknowingly revealing their views on social, political and religious issues by fighting AI with AI, researchers say.

  • FBI Says It has ‘National Security Concerns’ About TikTok

    FBI Director Christopher Wray said on Tuesday that the bureau has “national security concerns” about popular short-form video hosting app TikTok. The FBI’s concerns about TikTok include “the possibility that the Chinese government could use it to control data collection on millions of users.”

  • Empowering Social Media Users to Assess Content Helps Fight Misinformation

    An experimental platform that puts moderation in the hands of its users shows that people do evaluate posts effectively and share their assessments with others.