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News on Targeted Disinformation
Kat Massey was a visible figure in Buffalo, New York. A longtime civil rights advocate who was active in various local causes, she also contributed articles to the Criterion and the Challenger, two Black newspapers in the city, the latter of which was founded in 1963 to, in its own words, offer the African-American community […]
By Jon AllsopWhen Hana found out she was pregnant, she knew she wanted to have an abortion – but her search for a clinic on Google led her to an anti-abortion centre, set on talking her out of her decision. In many US states, BBC News has seen misleading websites advertising these clinics appearing high up in […]
By Rachel SchraerRSVP for this virtual event by Monday, May 16, 3:00 PM ET. Zuccotti Park, the site of Occupy Wall Street, and One Liberty Plaza, the multi-billion-dollar tower, represent a complex power play between public and private interests. In the digital realm, social media grapples with a similar contention: social networks would not exist without platform […]
Conspiracy theorists have latched on to the debate over US abortion rights on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and TikTok, leading to a spike in misinformation around what is already one of the most politically-charged topics online — and signaling the complex decision-making that lies ahead for social media companies if the procedure becomes illegal in some […]
By Davey AlbaThis paper investigates the link between social media and hate crime. We show that antirefugee sentiment on Facebook predicts crimes against refugees in otherwise similar municipalities with higher social media usage. To establish causality, we exploit exogenous variation in the timing of major Facebook and internet outages. Consistent with a role for “echo chambers,” we […]
Last week, a pair of leaks to the press shined a fresh light on the extent of US assistance to Ukraine in its war against Russia. On Wednesday, Julian E. Barnes, Helene Cooper, and Eric Schmitt, of the New York Times, reported, citing “senior American officials,” that the US has provided Ukrainian officials with locational […]
By Jon AllsopNobel Laureate Maria Ressa warned that a win for Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in the Philippine presidential poll will show the continued potency of misinformation campaigns that could have implications in the U.S. and Brazilian elections this year.“If we fall, this isn’t going to be the Philippines alone,” she told Bloomberg TV’s Haslinda Amin in an […]
By Philip HeijmansAn Italian parliamentary committee has begun an investigation into the spread of disinformation, reportedly amid suspicions that some Russian commentators hosted on television networks could be on Vladimir Putin’s payroll. The probe by Copasir, a parliamentary committee for the security of Italy, was triggered after an outcry over a recent interview with Russian foreign minister Sergei […]
By Angela GiuffridaOne of the reasons that Tucker Carlson is successful at what he does is because of where he does it. Carlson hosts a television show on a cable-news network that is deeply invested in his success. The New York Times’s recent exploration of Carlson’s influence and power at Fox News made clear the extent to […]
By Philip BumpAs The Times has reported, California intends to become a haven for those seeking reproductive health care in America if the U.S. Supreme Court’s leaked draft opinion overturning Roe vs. Wade becomes the law of the land. This may make the state a target, as it has been in the past for its progressive laws […]
By Justin Ray“Cultural heroin.” In July 2016, J.D. Vance used those words, in an Atlantic op-ed, to explain, and ultimately dismiss, the appeal of Donald Trump in “broken communities” across America. It was a weighty charge coming from a man whose just-published memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, had discussed the scourge of opioids in the Ohio town where he […]
By Jon Allsop