Tag: disinformation

TikTok fails ‘disinformation test’ before EU vote, study shows

By Joseph Boyle with Anuj Chopra in Washington PARIS, June 4, 2024 (AFP) – Wildly popular social network TikTok approved adverts containing political disinformation ahead of European polls, a report showed Tuesday, flouting its own guidelines and raising questions about its ability to detect election falsehoods. International campaign group Global Witness created 16 ads targeting Irish audiences with false information about this week’s EU elections and tried to get them approved by three platforms — […]

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Russia ramps up disinfo ahead of Paris Games: Microsoft

WASHINGTON, June 3, 2024 (AFP) – Russia is waging an intense disinformation campaign aimed at tarnishing the reputation of the International Olympic Committee and stoking fears of violence at this summer’s Paris Games, according to a new report from Microsoft’s Threat Analysis Center. According to Microsoft, the influence operations utilize a potent mix of fake videos, fictitious news stories, and AI-generated impersonations, including the faked voice of Hollywood star Tom Cruise. “Russia is ramping up […]

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Musk’s X feeds monetization of wartime misinformation

By Daniel Funke and Anuj Chopra WASHINGTON, Feb 14, 2024 (AFP) – Influencers on X are monetizing misinformation about conflicts in the Middle East, leveraging the platform’s contentious policies that researchers say prioritize engagement over accuracy. Since Elon Musk’s turbulent 2022 acquisition of X, formerly Twitter, the site has restored thousands of once-banned accounts and introduced a paid verification system that critics say has boosted conspiracy theorists. X also rolled out an ad revenue-sharing program […]

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EU launches ‘illegal content’ probe into Elon Musk’s X

BRUSSELS, Dec 18, 2023 (AFP) – The EU on Monday announced “formal infringement proceedings” against Elon Musk’s X platform under a law cracking down on illegal online content, after identifying disinformation related to Hamas’s October 7 attack in Israel. The action against the company formerly known as Twitter is the first against a major online platform since Brussels implemented the Digital Services Act (DSA), a sweeping piece of European Union legislation that strengthens online companies’ […]

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News anchors targeted by deepfake scammers on Facebook

By Rob Lever WASHINGTON, Nov 18, 2023 (AFP) – In a Facebook video viewed by thousands, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer appears to hawk a diabetes drug. In another, “CBS Mornings” host Gayle King seems to endorse weight loss products. But the clips are doctored — the latest in a rash of deepfakes that hijack images of trusted news personalities in spurious ads, undermining confidence in the news media. Similar social media posts in recent months have […]

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Meta fights sprawling Chinese ‘Spamouflage’ operation

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug 29, 2023 (AFP) – Meta on Tuesday said it purged thousands of Facebook accounts that were part of a widespread online Chinese spam operation trying to covertly boost China and criticize the West. The campaign, which became known as “Spamouflage”, was active across more than 50 platforms and forums including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and X, formerly known as Twitter, according to a Meta threat report. “We assess that it’s the largest, […]

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Canada wildfires spark ‘ecoterrorist’ conspiracy theory

By Gwen Roley Agence France-Presse MONTREAL, Canada (AFP) — As Canada hurtles towards its worst wildfire season in history, a conspiracy theory has taken off online claiming environmentalists intentionally set some of the blazes. “I bet a good portion of the wildfires raging across the country were started by green terrorists who want to give their climate change campaign a little boost,” Maxime Bernier, a former foreign minister-turned fringe party leader, said in a June […]

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Deepfake ‘news anchors’ in pro-China footage: research

Washington, United States | AFP | The “news broadcasters” appear stunningly real, but they are AI-generated deepfakes in first-of-their-kind propaganda videos that a research report published Tuesday attributed to Chinese state-aligned actors. The fake anchors — for a fictious news outlet called Wolf News — were created by artificial intelligence software and appeared in footage on social media that seemed to promote the interests of the Chinese Communist Party, US-based research firm Graphika said in […]

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Seeing is believing? Global scramble to tackle deepfakes

by Anuj Chopra with Saladin Salem in Berlin Agence France- Presse Washington, United States (AFP) — Chatbots spouting falsehoods, face-swapping apps crafting porn videos and cloned voices defrauding companies of millions — the scramble is on to rein in AI deepfakes that have become a misinformation super spreader. Artificial Intelligence is redefining the proverb “seeing is believing,” with a deluge of images created out of thin air and people shown mouthing things they never said […]

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Vaccine misinformation spawns ‘pure blood’ movement

by Anuj Chopra and Marisha Goldhamer Agence France-Presse Washington, United States (AFP) — Vaccine skeptics blocking transfusions for life-saving surgeries, Facebook groups inciting violence against doctors and a global search for unvaccinated donors — Covid-19 misinformation has bred a so-called “pure blood” movement. The movement spins anti-vaccine narratives focused on unfounded claims that receiving blood from people inoculated against the coronavirus “contaminates” the body. Some have advocated for blood banks that draw from “pure” unvaccinated […]

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Blame the voting machines: Brazil riots fit global pattern

by Anuj Chopra, with Luiza Queiroz in Sao Paulo and Rossen Bossev in Sofia Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Mobs of rioters who stormed Brazil’s seats of power raised conspiracy-laden slogans against voting machines, a prime target of disinformation campaigns seeking to undermine trust in electoral systems around the world. Far-right ex-president Jair Bolsonaro’s supporters, who invaded the presidential palace, Congress and Supreme Court in the capital Brasilia on Sunday, demanded access to […]

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US hoax trials spotlight misinformation profiteer

Washington, United States (AFP) by Anuj CHOPRA American radio host Alex Jones reaped millions spouting conspiracy-laden falsehoods that helped drive up sales of products like libido boosters, exploiting an internet ecosystem that experts say makes misinformation a lucrative business. Jones, a serial provocateur who founded the far-right website InfoWars, has been ordered to pay nearly $1.5 billion in damages for calling a 2012 mass shooting in an elementary school –- which left 20 first graders and […]

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