On February 24 2023, data journalist Derek Willis tweeted a “eulogy” for Politwoops, an archive of deleted tweets in the public interest maintained by investigative journalism organization ProPublica: For six years I had the responsibilit
Publication: Identifying Fake News
Truth or Fiction?→ How to Fight Disinformation — Part V: Resilience Targeting
This is the last in a series about how communities can fight back and protect themselves against weaponized disinformation campaigns. You can read our previous articles here: Part I: Firehosing Part II: Gaslighting Part III: Distraction Part IV: Sign
Truth or Fiction?→ Twitter Wrongfully Flags Stories on COVID-19 Research as ‘Misleading’
Social platform Twitter has started to flag articles about COVID-19 as “potentially misleading,” despite the articles being based on actual research and legitimate reporting, with no explanation. One such article, posted by the Internation
Truth or Fiction?→ YouTube Targeting ‘Abortion Misinformation’ Post-Dobbs
Nearly a month after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on June 24 2022, YouTube indicated that it would identify and remove “abortion misinformation” from its platform in a July 21 2022 statement: YouTube says it will cra
Truth or Fiction?→ Fifth January 6 Hearing Shows Scope of Attempts to Undermine Democracy
The fifth hearing by the January 6 2021 committee covered the pressure that Donald Trump exerted on state and federal officials to call the U.S. presidential election in his favor in 2020 so that he could remain in power. The testimonials came on June
Truth or Fiction?→ Disinformation Takes Center Stage at January 6 Committee Hearings
The role of weaponized disinformation campaigns in the January 2021 attempted coup at the United States Capitol was the main topic at the second January 6 Committee hearing about the events that culminated in a violent insurrection. The House select
Truth or Fiction?→ How to Fight Disinformation — Part IV: Signaling and Dog Whistling
This is part of an ongoing series about how communities can fight back and protect themselves against weaponized disinformation. The Trump administration may be just a memory, but the disinformation that paved its way and the lies that it launched are
Truth or Fiction?→ Anatomy of an Inauthentically Organized Campaign
In mid-2021, as the Delta variant rapidly spread among unvaccinated populations across the United States and public officials began publicly flirting with the prospect of still more measures to quell the spread of the next phase of the COVID-19 pandemi
Truth or Fiction?→ Wi Spa Weaponized Disinformation Campaign
In late June and early July 2021, far-right activists attempted to launch a new disinformation campaign in the wake of a viral video of a woman harassing staff at a traditional public bathhouse in an historic Los Angeles neighborhood The video, which w
Truth or Fiction?→ Foreign Influence Agents Goaded Trump Forums After U.S. Elections, Researchers Say
Foreign agents — particularly those working from or on behalf of Russia — were active on Donald Trump-themed forums in the weeks and months leading up to the January 6 2021 coup attempt at the United States Capitol, a new report says. Accor
Truth or Fiction?→ International Disinfo Machines Turning After State-Sponsored Kidnapping of Belarusian Journalist
On May 24 2021, in the hours and days after Belarusian dissident journalist Roman Protasevich was taken from a Ryanair flight that had been rediverted to Minsk and arrested along with his girlfriend, graduate student Sofia Sapega, in a dramatic state-
Truth or Fiction?→ Anti-Vaccine Disinformation Still Going Strong on Social Media: Report
Just twelve accounts are responsible for fully two-thirds of online disinformation about vaccines — but social media platforms still aren’t doing much about them. In a follow-up to a report tracking a majority of disinformation about vaccin
Truth or Fiction?→ How to Fight Disinformation: Part II — Gaslighting
This is part of an ongoing series about how communities can fight back and protect themselves against weaponized disinformation. You can read Part I here. On January 6 2021, a mob of Donald Trump supporters, enraged by corrosive rhetoric and lies fr
Truth or Fiction?→ Flint Robocalls Purportedly Advised Voters to Avoid Long Lines and ‘Vote Tomorrow’
Election Day 2020 brought with it expectations of widespread, ongoing attempts at voter suppression — and those expectations bore out early and often. One report from Flint, Michigan concerned “robocalls” warning of long lines at
Truth or Fiction?→ As U.S. Election Looms, Agitprop Floods Social Media Platforms
In the days leading up to the 2020 U.S. presidential election, the disinformation that has been a hallmark of the Trump campaign, then administration, then campaign again reached new heights with political smears, Soviet-style weaponized conspiracy t
Truth or Fiction?→ ‘Choose’ or ‘Pick’ Your ‘Quarantine House’ and Other Engagement Bait During COVID-19
Chances are in early April 2020 you saw many “choose your quarantine house” or “pick your quarantine house” memes on social media, the global pandemic version of “would you live in a cabin with no wifi for a month for a m
Truth or Fiction?→ ‘COVID-19 Had Us All Fooled, but Now We Might Have Finally Found Its Secret’ Medium Post
In early April 2020, a post published to Medium.com circulated on social media, titled “Covid-19 had us all fooled, but now we might have finally found its secret.” The post went viral in archived and replicated form even after the site re
Truth or Fiction?→ How Many Moms Are in ‘One Million Moms’?
In December 2019 the group One Million Moms grabbed headlines for purportedly forcing the Hallmark Channel’s decision — quickly reversed — to discontinue holiday season television commercials by the brand Zola due to its inclusion of a lesbi
Truth or Fiction?→ Canadian Conservative Leader’s Resignation Follows String of Public Falsehoods
The leader of Canada’s Conservative Party resigned his position on December 12 2019 after he was accused by party members of misusing their group’s money to pay for his children to attend private schools. According to Global News, senior C
Truth or Fiction?→ Avoid #GivingTuesday Scams
“Giving Tuesday” or #GivingTuesday posts are all over social media the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, but as is often the case when cash is flowing and donations are a click away, scammers and profiteers have made their way into the donations
Truth or Fiction?→ UK’s Conservative Party’s Communications Team Briefly Rebrands to Mislead Public
As a December 12 2019 general election looms over the UK and the rhetoric around its third election since 2015 grows ever louder, distractions and political stunts have hit a fever pitch, injecting misinformation and outright disinformation into its p
Truth or Fiction?→ Vietnam Veterans Group: ‘Foreign Criminals’ Targeting Servicemembers for Online Exploitation
An advocacy group for military service members is calling on similar organizations as well as federal officials and social media platforms to take more steps to protect their fellow veterans from being manipulated by online disinformation. “Serv
Truth or Fiction?→ Scams and Hoax Accounts Proliferate on Instagram
April 2019 saw the culmination of a months-long popular uprising in the country of Sudan, when its former president Omar al-Bashir stepped down from his post. The Sudanese military quickly took control of the country in what it called a transitional p