The Atlantic recently published wildly misleading claims about meat consumption — and we deserve better. Readers deserve facts, not pseudo-scientific storytelling.
@TheAtlantic, will you correct the record?
https://open.substack.com/pub/veganhorizon/p/sorry-the-atlantic-but-youre-wrong
#LocalNews #SocialMedia #Facebook #misinformation #PublicSafety #GiftArticle
"...seeking truth in a post-journalism world of Facebook groups and online influencers has left some Oakdale residents feeling less informed than before. And efforts to manage misinformation that culminated in an armed militia storming the town in 2020 have changed the very nature of the community."
#Google #SearchEngines #AI #misinformation
"For over a month now, Google has been spreading lies about us. The text below was created by their generative AI tools and inserted into the first page search results for various searches for 'Clarkesworld' originating in the US.... Numerous people have submitted complaints on our behalf, including some Google employees, but this result continues to display."
Majority of Canadians say misinformation affected federal election: poll
More than three quarters of Canadians believe misinformation had an impact on the outcome of the federal election, a new poll suggests.
#election #politics #misinformation #Canada #canadaelection
https://globalnews.ca/news/11162689/canadian-misinformation-federal-election-poll/
How #Misinformation and #Partisan ‘New Media’ Changed a #California Town
Residents of #Oakdale , Calif., have abandoned traditional media outlets for a mishmash of online sources. These days, they’re often not sure what information to trust.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/03/technology/news-misinformation-facebook-oakdale.html
UNN: Russia spent a record amount on international propaganda last year, despite economic difficulties. “Against the background of economic troubles, Russia has rapidly increased funding for propaganda. Thus, the state propaganda channel RT spent a record 31.7 billion rubles, or 384 million US dollars, in 2024. Twice as much funding is planned for 2025.”
Also I decided I should start posting my occasional Mastodon rants to my weblog, because I never post anything to that poor unloved thing.
https://superhighwayman.com/2025/money-for-sources-but-the-spin-comes-free/
This is either "AI" #slop or someone who really, really doesn't understand electricity and audio signals. It's talking about a standard 3.5mm headphone/mic jack on consumer audio devices, and says this when talking about straight vs. right-angle plugs:
> Straight connectors provide a direct connection between the audio source
> and the output device, minimizing signal loss and interference. This results
> in a cleaner and more accurate representation of the audio, allowing you to
> fully appreciate the nuances of the sound.
>
> In contrast, right-angle connectors can sometimes cause signal degradation
> due to the sharp angle at which the connector is bent. This can lead to audio
> distortion or loss, impacting the overall quality of the sound output.
If this gentleman has discovered a population of electrons that can tell when they've made a 90-degree turn inside a conductor, I think a #Nobel physics prize is in store for him.
Every time I try to read an article in the @HalifaxExaminer I am reminded how paywalls may be to blame for a decent amount of the working-class media-fueled biases we are seeing these days.
I am not picking on the Examiner specifically, honest! It's just that they are in my feed and seeing an interesting article I can't read always reminds me just why I hate paywalls for their self-righteous and sanctimonious classism. "You ain't wearing a tie, you ain't gettin' in". This could equally apply to the New York Times, the Washington Post and thousands of other local news outlets. They love their paywalls! Even the word oozes exclusivity and exclusion. Roll it around your mouth and say it a few times. Paywall, paywall, paywall... Build a big, beautiful paywall to keep the moochers out.
Like many in a poor province or state (and just about all professional misinformation experts), I can't afford a subscription to these news services - And I can't go to the library to read them either, because that's not a thing any more.
Apparently decent, written, political journalism is just for the middle classes with disposable income now.
Is it any wonder that so many of the people who most need to see good political writing can't, because they have to pay for it? There's a reason why you hardly ever see paywalls on the right wing sites. They understand the living situations of the demographic they are targeting.
I don't really have an answer for how non-sensationalist newspapers can exist without paywalls, that's not my area of business. I suspect a "pay what you can afford" model would theoretically work but at this point it's probably a bit late. The providers are set in their middle class business models and the consumers have picked their preferred snake oil vendor.
Right! Happy belated Labour Day. I am off to Rebel News and Twitter to see what I should think about the Western Provinces and CPP.
Source: @ErinInTheMorn
From the article: "At more than 400 pages, the document is poised to draw a wave of fact-checks and scientific rebuttals. The American Academy of Pediatrics has already issued a sharp condemnation, calling it “inaccurate,” “misleading,” and a distortion of “the current medical consensus.” This fact check won’t capture every falsehood in the report—there are hundreds—but it will examine some of its most egregious and harmful pseudoscientific claims."
#Transgender #Misinformation #LGBTQ #LGBTQIA #USPolitics
https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/fact-check-trumps-hhs-review-on-trans
"For as long as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has falsely claimed that vaccines cause widespread harm — from autism to sudden death — he has pointed to the one source he says could immediately prove it...Now, it appears that anti-vaccine activists are similarly girding for the possibility that Kennedy’s promises may fall short — and they’re already laying the groundwork for someone to blame."
https://www.europesays.com/2041950/ Denmark could become the first country to ban deepfakes #Danmark #Deepfake #denmark #law #misinformation
Trump's administration - prime spreader of misinformation - has slashed hundreds of grants for #misinformation research.
"The enemy is education, knowledge, and truth."
https://steadyhq.com/de/janskudlarek/posts/0e56c1ea-8bf9-4383-a170-5ae8c457ea00
h/t @DigitalNaiv @newstik
https://mastodon.social/@DigitalNaiv/114431247492410449
#USpol #USpolitics #disinformation #misinformation #antiscience #ElectionsHaveConsequences #ElectionConsequences
"presents itself as a neutral glimpse into the minds of disaffected #Americans, but... it platforms a dangerous cocktail of #misinformation, grievance #politics & #authoritarian nostalgia—all without a single factual challenge.
This isn’t #journalism. It’s stenography...
In a country where the truth has already been bent into oblivion by years of conspiracy & #propaganda, refusing to correct blatant falsehoods is not neutrality—it’s surrender."
https://www.theindex.media/we-read-the-nyts-trump-voter-focus-group-so-you-dont-have-to/
Reality Lost: Markets of Attention, Misinformation and Manipulation by Vincent F. Hendricks & Mads Vestergaard, 2018
This open access book looks at how a democracy can devolve into a post-factual state.
Free download:
https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-00813-0
@bookstodon
#books
#nonfiction
#democracy
#information
#misinformation
#manipulation
#media
We're all concerned about online dis/misinformation, and fair enough. But a skim of these rural papers are a reminder that not all disinformation is delivered online.
It also strikes me that restoring the media ecosystems of rural areas may be just as important as rejuvenating their soil and wilderness. Indeed, the one might be a prerequisite to the other. So what can be done?
(14/?)
#Vaccine & #PublicHealth experts said the statement from #HHS is a combination of #misinformation & exaggeration or #misrepresentation of scientific studies. [IOW #Lies]
“To make a blanket statement like that, I think that would go against the #science,” said Sean O’Leary, a #pediatric #infectious #diseases physician & chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ [#AAP] committee on infectious diseases.
We know how to mitigate #misinformation, through watermarks and digital signatures.
It's time to implement them.
Misinformation ranks high among the many research areas that the Trump administration has targeted for deep cuts. ... “Everyone knows how aggressive the attack is against so-called DEI,” says Brendan Nyhan, a political scientist at Dartmouth College. “But they may not quite realize that the administration is prioritizing #misinformation at that same level.”
