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News on Credibility and Trust
A LEAKED UNITED States Supreme Court draft opinion published by Politico on Monday and soon after authenticated by Chief Justice John Roberts is a blaring signal that the Court will overturn the 1973 reproductive rights case Roe v. Wade. Abortion access has already been dramatically curtailed in many states around the US, but a decision from the Court would turn back the clock nearly […]
By Lily Hay NewmanNot being able to distinguish fake news from real news can have serious consequences for a person’s physical, emotional and financial well-being — especially for older adults, who in general have more financial assets and must make more high-stakes health decisions. So how good are older adults at detecting fake news? A new study has […]
By Science DailyFederal Communications Commission member Nathan Simington says the FCC should “applaud” Elon Musk for buying Twitter, arguing that Musk’s “stated intention to ease Twitter’s restrictions on speech… would almost certainly enhance competition and better serve those Americans, the majority, who value free speech.” “The FCC cannot, and should not, block this sale,” Simington, one of […]
By Jon BrodkinThe Department of Homeland Security’s creation of a Disinformation Governance Board has set off a backlash on the right — even as it’s not entirely clear what the perhaps unfortunately named board will do. Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas mentioned the creation of the board in multiple congressional hearings last week. In one, he linked it to […]
By Aaron BlakeRussia has pioneered a model of disinformation to gain political influence in Africa that is now being replicated by other actors across the continent. Disinformation is the intentional dissemination of false information with the intent of advancing a political objective. Africa has been the increasingly frequent target of such campaigns. In recent years, dozens of […]
By Africa Center for Strategic StudiesOn February 27, a few days after Russia invaded Ukraine, radio journalist Valerii Nechay returned to St. Petersburg from a trip to the North Caucasus to find three men in his apartment. Wearing masks to disguise their features, they told him that if he wanted his mother to be left unharmed, he should leave the […]
By Peter GuestIn West Africa, fact-checkers are cooperating to expand their influence on local, national and international levels to curb misinformation about vaccines. Organizations are banding together, forming alliances with intergovernmental groups and creating cross-continent task forces to elevate health knowledge across Africa. “I think the most important thing is to highlight how fact-checkers leverage collaboration to […]
By Seth SmalleyThe chaotic Chinese social network Douban never looked for fame; it was designed for people with niche obsessions and an urge to talk about them. It was founded in Beijing in 2005, the same year that two University of Virginia roommates were busily coding the system that would become Reddit, a year before Jack Dorsey […]
By Viola ZhouWhile trust in political institutions rapidly deteriorates and the technology and media companies that we rely on repeatedly fail to meet our information needs, the public still overwhelmingly trusts libraries. That’s because librarians fulfill a service mission as community information stewards–long serving as the only place people can go for free internet access, computer instruction, […]
The NITRD NCO and the NSF, as part of an interagency working group on information integrity, request input from interested parties on a range of questions pertaining to Federal priorities for research and development efforts to address misinformation and disinformation. The purpose of this RFI is to understand ways in which the Federal Government might […]
By Federal RegisterNew investments flooding partisan media platforms are starting to restructure America’s internet business around the nation’s deepening political divide. Why it matters: For years, internet theorists have warned of the “splinternet,” a breakup of the global internet into regions governed by different rules and laws. Something like that is now starting to happen within the U.S., […]
By Sara Fischer and Scott Rosenberg