It’s not all about elections. Putin also tries to destabilize Western democracies by stoking culture wars. Continue reading Russia’s Other Propaganda War »
Publication: propaganda
Truth or Fiction?→ Mass Shootings, Violence in California Highlight Issue of Disinformation in Immigrant Communities
Two mass shootings in California in the first weeks of 2023, both committed by immigrants in their sixties, have highlighted the issue of disinformation and propaganda targeting American immigrant communities, and how the prods and pulleys of stochasti
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?→ Russia Calling for ‘Desatanization’ of Ukraine
On October 25 2022, Daily Beast columnist and Russian media watcher Julia Davis tweeted that Russia’s security council “called for … the desatanization” of Ukraine: Meanwhile in Russia: since Putin's phony "denazifica
Truth or Fiction?→ ‘Republicans Are Introducing the Stop the Sexualization of Children Act’
On October 18 2022, Louisiana Rep. Mike Johnson (R) tweeted an announcement about a piece of proposed legislation with an attention-grabbing title — “The Stop the Sexualization of Children Act”: BREAKING Republicans are introducing
The Dispatch→ The Price of Propaganda
Those who deal in it start to believe it. And we all pay.The post The Price of Propaganda appeared first on The Dispatch.
Truth or Fiction?→ ‘I’m Very Worried for Our Agent Trump’: Host on Russian State Media
On August 17 2022, a post to Reddit’s r/worldnews suggested that a broadcaster on Russian state media had said “I’m very worried about our agent Trump,” during a segment mentioning the August 2022 Federal Bureau of Investigatio
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?→ Russian State Media Claimed Ukraine Showed Signs of ‘Black Magic’ Use
On May 4 2022, Ukrainian journalist Anastasiia Lapatina tweeted about Russian state media purportedly accusing the Ukrainian military of engaging in “black magic”: Russian state media: “Signs of black magic were found in Ukrainian milit
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?→ How to Fight Disinformation — Part III: Distraction
On September 20 2021, shocking photographs and accompanying video made the rounds on news networks and social media appearing to show border agents on horseback whipping asylum-seekers on foot as they ran in terror: A mounted U.S. Border Patrol agent
Truth or Fiction?→ ‘A 1916 Propaganda Map Created by the Allies During World War I’
On April 6 2021, an Imgur user shared a screenshot of an undated tweet that purportedly depicted a “propaganda map” created by the Allied powers during the first World War: A 1916 propaganda map created by the Allies during World War I.
Truth or Fiction?→ Far-Right U.S. Legislators Using Disinformation to Gain, Strengthen Positions
Even as acolytes of former United States president Donald Trump consider running to replace retiring Republicans, his allies already in the U.S. government are trying to throw up barriers to passing broadly popular legislation — but all are leani
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?→ How to Fight Disinformation — Part I: Firehosing
This is part of an ongoing series about how communities can fight back and protect themselves against weaponized disinformation. Any anthropologist can tell you that human lives are created, bounded, and defined by stories: the stories we tell ourselv
Truth or Fiction?→ How to Fight Disinformation: Introduction and Overview
This is the first of a series about how communities can fight back and protect themselves against weaponized disinformation. In 2015 and 2016, new and paranoid strains of political ideology took social media discourse by storm. The details varied by c
Truth or Fiction?→ Does This Photograph Show Syrians Leaving Idlib?
In January 2020, the Syrian region of Idlib — the last rebel bastion in the country — teetered on the verge of further humanitarian disaster as its own government continued airstrikes against the population there. Meanwhile, the Russian government
Truth or Fiction?→ Teen Vogue Publishes, Unpublishes Mysterious Sponsored ‘Facebook Election Integrity’ Piece
Youth-oriented news and politics site Teen Vogue is frequently lauded for its post-2016 foray into political news, a nearly-unequivocal level of approval that suddenly faltered after sponsored Facebook public relations material was published and then
Truth or Fiction?→ Disinformation Inflames Tensions After United States Kills Iranian Commander
Late in the evening of January 2 2020, the United States announced that it had targeted and killed Iranian Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani in Iraq in a major and dramatic escalation: Iran confirmed the death of one of its most active military fi
Truth or Fiction?→ Rudy Giuliani Criticized After Describing Himself as a ‘Former Attorney General’ on Facebook
In late December 2019, the Facebook page of former New York mayor turned “presidential attorney” Rudolph Giuliani was quickly edited after sharp-eyed readers quickly pointed out that it contained glaringly false claims about Giuliani’
Truth or Fiction?→ Was Fox News Taken Off American Forces Network Radio?
A series of tweets in November 2019 pushed the claim that Fox News had been made unavailable for United States military service members. The claim came after the right-wing network’s treatment of Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman following his testimon
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?→ Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Grills Facebook Chief Executive Officer Over Fact-Checking, Political Ads
Democratic Party Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez challenged Facebook chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg on his policy allowing disinformation to be run in political advertisements on the social media platform during the tech magnate’s testimo
Truth or Fiction?→ Trump Administration Rushes To Distance Itself From Massacre Video at Far-Right ‘Meme Event’
United States President Donald Trump’s administration and other right-wing figures attempted to distance themselves on October 14 2019 from a violent propaganda video, as coverage spread of a scene altered to depict Trump gunning down his “
Truth or Fiction?→ Facebook on Allowing Political Ads with Disinformation: ‘A Benefit to See What Politicians Are Saying’
Just one day after a report highlighting an ad for United States President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign based on a claim that Facebook’s own fact-checking partners had already debunked, the social media platform is claiming that al
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
Snopes→ More White Supremacist Propaganda Showing Up on US Campuses
The just-completed spring semester saw more extremist propaganda on campus than any preceding semester, according to a new Anti-Defamation League report.
Snopes→ More White Supremacist Propaganda Showing Up on US Campuses
The just-completed spring semester saw more extremist propaganda on campus than any preceding semester, according to a new Anti-Defamation League report.
Truth or Fiction?→ How to Slow the Spread of Disinformation: A Guide for Newsrooms
Every day, a new fake story emerges with the power to affect policy or further corrode relationships, from interpersonal to international. This is corrosive disinformation, as different from garden-variety scams and hoaxes as a molehill is from a mount
Truth or Fiction?→ Facebook Spread Fake News, Hired ‘Trackers’ to Smear Critics
In mid-November 2018, the New York Times published a bombshell report about Facebook that convulsed both traditional and social media. The beleaguered site has been at the center of scandal after fake news scandal from the mass displacement and genocid
Truth or Fiction?→ White Supremacist Arrested After Calling a Domestic Terror Attack ‘a Dry Run’
A man with ties to some of the most violent hate groups in the United States has been arrested and charged with illegal possession of firearms just weeks after his younger brother — also reportedly a known white supremacist — committed suicide. A
Truth or Fiction?→ Foreign Influence Operations Infiltrated, Polarized Online Communities
The ongoing scandals over data privacy, in which social media giants were found to be (among other things) flooding selected readers with hypertargeted and corrosive political advertising, is still unfolding — and it will continue to evolve for some
Foreign Influence Operations Infiltrated, Polarized Online Communities
The ongoing scandals over data privacy, in which social media giants were found to be (among other things) flooding selected readers with hypertargeted and corrosive political advertising, is still unfolding — and it will continue to evolve for some time as new pieces of evidence and data are unearthed and put together to get a […]
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Bots, Trolls Propelled Faux ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ Controversy
The “Star Wars” franchise was not immune from the sort of controversy that has seeped into every tiny nook and cranny of the American public discourse, thanks to the ubiquity of social media and those who wish to exploit conflicts in order to create chaos. In that vein, the film Star Wars: The Last Jedi was […]
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