Trans Black Hawk pilot wrongly named in crash rumors wants people to stop sharing fake news; Mississippi Clarion Ledger, January 31, 2025

Bonnie Bolden,Mississippi Clarion Ledger; Trans Black Hawk pilot wrongly named in crash rumors wants people to stop sharing fake news

[Kip Currier: Thou Shalt Not Bear False Witness Against Thy Neighbor.

Call out the people and social media sites that knowingly spread falsehoods and harmful statements.]

[Excerpt]

"UPDATE: A video and additional statement from Jo Ellis have been added since the article was originally published.

A trans woman who has been wrongly named as one of the pilots in a deadly mid-air collision between a helicopter and plane in Washington, D.C., is asking people to help stop the spread of the fake news online. The crash killed 67 people, including U.S. Army members and some families tied to the figure skating community.

"Some craziness has happened on the internet and I’m being named as one of the pilots of the DC crash," posted Jo Ellis, a Chief Warrant Officer 2 (CW2) – UH60 Black Hawk Pilot in the Virginia National Guard...

She took to Facebook on Friday morning, asking for help stopping the spread of the wrong information, including uploading a proof of life video and issuing a statement.

She said neither she nor the families of the crash victims deserve to be tied to this tragedy for a political agenda, calling the move "insulting."...

Trump cites FAA DEI efforts as factor in crash with no evidence

On Thursday, President Donald Trump said the crash "could have been" the fault of Biden- and Obama-era hiring practices focused on diversity, equity and inclusion.

“Hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability and dwarfism – all qualify for the position of a controller of airplanes pouring into our country," he said, specifically talking about the Federal Aviation Administration's criteria to hire air traffic controllers."

Disinformation Transformed Miami Politics. This Radio Station Is One Reason Why.; Politico, November 29, 2024

ALI BIANCO , Politico; Disinformation Transformed Miami Politics. This Radio Station Is One Reason Why

"If you’re from Miami, Radio Mambí’s celebratory vibe is no surprise. This is, after all, the radio station that has been a touchstone for Miami’s Cuban exiliados, or exiles, since they arrived. It’s the radio station that made Miami Cuban politics. But since the 2016 election, it’s morphed into a hotbed of misinformation — one that impacted the 2024 presidential election...

If you tuned in to Radio Mambí 710 AM in 2020, you might have heard a caller questioning the results in Georgia and Pennsylvania, demanding recounts or denouncing the election as a fraud. In 2021, you might have heard the hosts repeat claims that Black Lives Matter and Antifa members were behind the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6 — and you definitely would have heard claims that President Joe Biden was a socialist. In 2024, listeners tuning in heard callers and hosts calling Vice President Kamala Harris a Marxist extremist, sharing concerns about the “humanitarian crisis” in Springfield, Ohio, or spreading theories about voters being registered without proof of citizenship — with the hosts rarely stepping in to correct the record.

You’d never guess that Mambí, the focus of a national controversy about disinformation in Latino communities, is now owned by Democrats."

‘We live in a climate of fear’: graphic novelist’s Elon Musk book can’t find UK or US publisher; The Guardian, November 23, 2024

David Barnett , The Guardian; ‘We live in a climate of fear’: graphic novelist’s Elon Musk book can’t find UK or US publisher

"A biography by a British graphic novelist of Elon Musk is struggling to find an English-language publisher due to feared “legal consequences”.

Elon Musk: Investigation into a New Master of the World is the latest graphic novel by Darryl Cunningham, from West Yorkshire. Cunningham, 64, has written and illustrated seven nonfiction books on topics ranging from the 2008 global economic meltdown (Supercrash), to Russian leader Vladimir Putin (subtitled The Rise of a Dictator)...

“Delcourt had lawyers go over every single word and picture to make sure there were no problems. I didn’t use any information that hadn’t been published elsewhere, much of it from the book by Musk’s own mother, Maye.

“But it looks like we live in a climate of fear where the worst people have immense power, and because of this there’s a tendency for the individuals, institutions, businesses and the state to run for cover.”

Cunningham praised Delcourt, who also put out the French edition of his book on Putin, for “having the courage” to publish the book...

Cunningham said: “Knowing what I know about the man, my conclusion is that it’s incredible that such a mediocre figure can amass such wealth, but it was ever thus.”"

Satire publication The Onion buys Alex Jones' Infowars at auction with Sandy Hook families' backing; AP, November 14, 2024

Dave Collins | AP; Satire publication The Onion buys Alex Jones' Infowars at auction with Sandy Hook families' backing

"The satirical news publication The Onion won the bidding for Alex Jones’ Infowars at a bankruptcy auction, backed by families of Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims whom Jones owes more than $1 billion in defamation judgments for calling the massacre a hoax.

“The dissolution of Alex Jones’ assets and the death of Infowars is the justice we have long awaited and fought for,” Robbie Parker, whose daughter Emilie was killed in the 2012 shooting in Connecticut, said in a statement Thursday provided by his lawyers.

The Onion acquired the conspiracy theory platform’s website; social media accounts; studio in Austin, Texas; trademarks; and video archive for an undisclosed sales price. The purchase gives a satirical outlet — which carries the banner of “America’s Finest News Source” on its masthead — control over a brand that has long peddled misinformation and conspiracy."

‘Chaos and confusion’: Microsoft braces for foreign election interference in days ahead; Politico, November 4, 2024

STEVEN OVERLY, Politico;  ‘Chaos and confusion’: Microsoft braces for foreign election interference in days ahead

"“I do think people should expect that the noise levels — the sort of chaos and confusion — will continue through Election Day and then most certainly in the days after,” Ginny Badanes, the general manager of Microsoft’s Democracy Forward program, told the POLITICO Tech podcast.

In recent months, Russian disinformation campaigns designed to disparage Vice President Kamala Harris have experimented with artificial intelligence to create or enhance fake content. And Iranian hackers have successfully infiltrated former President Donald Trump’s campaign.

Microsoft’s election defense efforts focus on these foreign adversaries because they “have the funding to be persistent over time” and are willing to “pick up on whatever narratives are working, regardless of the source,” Badanes said.

But many of the rumors and conspiracy theories that emerge in the days ahead are expected to originate from American political groups. Trump and his allies have preemptively churned up claims about voter fraud in swing states like Pennsylvania.

Since 2020, attempts by tech companies and academic researchers to crack down on American-made disinformation have drawn accusations of censorship from Republicans. And some tech firms, chiefly Elon Musk-owned X (formerly known as Twitter), have pulled back on their efforts to police political content this election cycle.

For its part, Microsoft has tried to carve out a different lane. “What you’ll find is we’ve been more vocal about what we’ve seen this cycle than any year before,” Badanes said. “We feel like the American public deserves more information, not less.” Listen to the full interview."

Disinformation Watchdogs Are Under Pressure. This Group Refuses to Stop.; The New York Times, November 1, 2024

Steven Lee Myers and Stuart A. Thompson, The New York Times; Disinformation Watchdogs Are Under Pressure. This Group Refuses to Stop

"Inside two small, windowless conference rooms on the campus of the University of Washington in Seattle, a group of students and researchers is prowling the internet to track the rumors and conspiracy theories eroding faith in this year’s presidential election...

“We can’t possibly track them all down,” Kate Starbird, a founder of the university’s Center for an Informed Public, said of the rumors, which began with a steady drip in recent weeks and have now turned into a torrent.

Four years ago, the center’s researchers were part of a larger coalition formed to debunk claims by President Donald J. Trump and others that the 2020 election was rigged. At its peak in the weeks around that vote, the effort had 120 analysts working around the clock to monitor disinformation.

In the last two years, however, that work came under a concerted political and legal attack from conservatives who portrayed it as a secret scheme to censor critics.

Called the Election Integrity Partnership, the coalition has since collapsed under the weight of that attack, smothered by civil lawsuits, Congressional subpoenas and records requests that have been time consuming and costly.

But the Center for an Informed Public has persevered, adapting to more limited resources, even as disinformation about the country’s electoral process has become more pernicious than ever."

Top election official says colleagues gave Elon Musk ‘hand-delivered’ notes to stop him from spreading misinformation; Fortune, November 1, 2024

SASHA ROGELBERG , Fortune; Top election official says colleagues gave Elon Musk ‘hand-delivered’ notes to stop him from spreading misinformation

"Elon Musk is accused of rampantly spreading election misinformation, and it has been a thorn in the side of election officials working double time to try and mitigate the spew of unfounded claims about meddling and alleged voter fraud. Some officials have even gone to measures like dispatching personal notes to the CEO of Tesla and X, who endorsed Donald Trump in July following as assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pa.

“I’ve had my friends hand-deliver stuff to him,” Stephen Richer, the Maricopa County, Ariz.  recorder, told CNN. Richer, a Republican, has come under fire from conservatives for defending the 2020 election outcome that Trump lost.

But so far, the efforts of Richer’s colleagues have fallen short. “We’ve pulled out more stops than most people have available to try to put accurate information in front of [Musk],” Richer said. “It has been unsuccessful.”

Musk cast false information about election security, including insisting Americans vote in-person and on paper, citing a debunked conspiracy that ballot machines switched votes, at a Philadelphia town hall event on Oct. 18. Musk historically has voted by mail, and his super PAC, America PAC, has encouraged mail-in voting.

His social media platform X has also failed to quash election lies. A report from Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) on Wednesday found X’s Community Notes feature “failed to counter false” claims about the election, with 209 of 283 (74%) analyzed posts not showing notes correcting false information."

Election Falsehoods Take Off on YouTube as It Looks the Other Way; The New York Times, October 31, 2024

Nico Grant , The New York Times; Election Falsehoods Take Off on YouTube as It Looks the Other Way

"From May through August, researchers at Media Matters tracked 30 of the most popular YouTube channels they identified as persistently spreading election misinformation, to analyze the narratives they shared in the run-up to November’s election.

The 30 conservative channels posted 286 videos containing election misinformation, which racked up more than 47 million views. YouTube generated revenue from more than a third of those videos by placing ads before or during them, researchers found. Some commentators also made money from those videos and other monetized features available to members of the YouTube Partner Program...

Mr. Giuliani, the former New York mayor, posted more false electoral claims to YouTube than any other major commentator in the research group, the analysis concluded...

YouTube, which is owned by Google, has prided itself on connecting viewers with “authoritative information” about elections. But in this presidential contest, it acted as a megaphone for conspiracy theories."

2 years in, Trump surrogate Elon Musk has remade X as a conservative megaphone; NPR, October 25, 2024

Shannon Bond, Bobby Allyn , NPR; 2 years in, Trump surrogate Elon Musk has remade X as a conservative megaphone

"For the owner of one of the internet’s most influential public squares to openly endorse one political party shocked many observers — especially since only six months earlier, as Musk agreed to buy the company, he declared that "For Twitter to deserve public trust, it must be politically neutral, which effectively means upsetting the far right and the far left equally."

Now, as both the 2024 election and the second anniversary of Musk's takeover of Twitter loom, the billionaire has completely evaporated any notion of political neutrality on the platform he's renamed X because his influence on it remains outsized.

Musk has put his money and mouth behind returning Donald Trump to the White House, pouring $75 million into a super PAC he created to turn out voters in battleground states and using X to cheerlead for Trump, smear Vice President Kamala Harris, and amplify rumors and conspiracy theories to his 202 million followers."

Elon Musk targets Michigan with voter misinformation; The Washington Post, October 21, 2024

 Sarah Ellison, The Washington Post; Elon Musk targets Michigan with voter misinformation

"Two weeks before the presidential election, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (D) accused billionaire Elon Musk of spreading “dangerous disinformation” about voting in her state after Musk, owner of X and Tesla, shared a post suggesting falsely that the state’s voter rolls, swelled by large numbers of inactive voters, were likely to result in widespread fraud."

Trump refuses to denounce threats to FEMA, doubles down on falsehoods; The Washington Post, October 21, 2024

Marianne LeVine

 and 

Isaac Arnsdorf

, The Washington Post, ; Trump refuses to denounce threats to FEMA, doubles down on falsehoods

"Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump declined to condemn violent threats to Federal Emergency Management Agency workers providing relief to Americans impacted by Hurricane Helene, instead criticizing the government’s storm response using false allegations.

Asked during a news conference here about whether the former president is harming the recovery effort after a man was arrested for threatening federal relief workers this month, Trump responded by repeating falsehoods, including those the suspect said motivated him. Trump did not offer any concern for the workers’ safety or a denunciation of violence."

Elon Musk peddles debunked 2020 election conspiracies at first solo town hall supporting Trump; CNN, October 18, 2024

Marshall Cohen, , CNN; Elon Musk peddles debunked 2020 election conspiracies at first solo town hall supporting Trump

"Elon Musk promoted several debunked conspiracy theories about the 2020 election during his first solo town hall Thursday in Pennsylvania, as he urged voters in the battleground state to support former President Donald Trump.

Asked by a member of the audience gathered at the event in the Philadelphia suburbs about supposed “cheating” in 2020, Musk delivered a somewhat rambling response filled with basic inaccuracies and blatantly false claims about US elections."

Twitter Barred Them.: What Happened When Elon Musk Brought Them Back?; The New York Times, October 12, 2024

Kate CongerTiffany Hsu and Aaron Krolik, The New York Times;  Twitter Barred Them.: What Happened When Elon Musk Brought Them Back?

"After Hurricane Helene, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, the hard-right conservative from Georgia, shared on X the widely debunked claim that government scientists could control the weather. “It’s ridiculous for anyone to lie and say it can’t be done,” she wrote in one post.

The conspiracy theorist Alex Jones repeatedly posted on X erroneous claims about Hurricanes Helene and Milton, including that the Pentagon had somehow engineered the storms.

“Treason Alert,” Mr. Jones wrote in one post. “America is the target,” he warned in another.

In just those three posts, Ms. Greene and Mr. Jones racked up a combined 72,000 likes, and over 34,000 shares. They are only a handful of the many misleading diatribes and conspiracy theories that regularly appear on X.

Not long ago, those two would not have been able to publish those posts through their accounts.

Ms. Greene and Mr. Jones are among a large set of users who were barred from the site for spreading misinformation, inciting violence or otherwise violating its rules — and were reinstated after Elon Musk bought the platform, then known as Twitter, two years ago.

Many of these people picked up where they left off, according to a New York Times analysis of 50,000 posts by more than 100 high-profile reinstated users. They include Laura Loomer, a right-wing influencer who has campaigned with Mr. Trump; Mike Lindell, the chief executive of MyPillow; and Rogan O’Handley, a right-wing political commentator. All have a broad reach — at least 100,000 followers — and were identified by researchers who study disinformation or extremism on X."

Trump, at Latino event, stands by false claims of immigrants eating pets; Reuters, October 16, 2024

Alexandra Ulmer and Costas Pitas , Reuters; Trump, at Latino event, stands by false claims of immigrants eating pets

"Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Wednesday stood by debunked claims that immigrants in Ohio were eating pets, telling Latino voters during a town hall he was "just saying what was reported."

Trump in recent weeks has amplified a false claim that has gone viral that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were stealing residents' pets or taking wildlife from parks for food.

There have been no credible reports of Haitians eating pets, and officials in Ohio - including Republicans - have repeatedly said the story is untrue.

At a town hall hosted by Spanish-language TV Univision, an undecided Mexican-born Latino Republican voter from Arizona, a battleground state, asked Trump in Spanish whether he truly believed that immigrants were eating pets.

"I was just saying what was reported... And eating other things too that they're not supposed to be. All I do is report," Trump replied during the event held in Miami. "I was there, I'm going to be there and we're going to take a look.""

FEMA resumes door-to-door visits in North Carolina after threats tied to disinformation; AP, October 15, 2024

MAKIYA SEMINERA AND SARAH BRUMFIELD, AP; FEMA resumes door-to-door visits in North Carolina after threats tied to disinformation

"Federal disaster personnel have resumed door-to-door visits as part of their hurricane-recovery work in North Carolina, an effort temporarily suspended amid threats that prompted officials to condemn the spread of disinformation."

Bizarre Falsehoods About Hurricanes Helene and Milton Disrupt Recovery Efforts; The New York Times, October 10, 2024

 Tiffany Hsu and Stuart A. Thompson, The New York Times; Bizarre Falsehoods About Hurricanes Helene and Milton Disrupt Recovery Efforts

"Wildly improbable conspiracy theories about Hurricanes Helene and Milton have spread largely unchecked on social media. The storms were engineered to clear the way for lithium mining. They were sent to help the Democrats in next month’s election. They were formed by weather-controlling lasers.

The claims persist despite attempts by scientists and government officials to debunk them with evidence. They survive all calls to reason.

The falsehoods, which have been circulating on X, TikTok, YouTube and other platforms, can resemble the conspiracy theories that plague modern American politics. Prominent figures are pushing them, citing unrelated, misleading or outdated evidence.

But the risks are often more immediate. Online climate-related conspiracy theories can quickly cause damage offline, disrupting emergency communications and recovery efforts. Officials have said this week that the disinformation about Hurricanes Helene and Milton was making relief workers a target, and the American Red Cross warned that the outlandish claims could prevent survivors from seeking help."

'Enraging': Republicans ‘suddenly’ see disinformation problem amid hurricane crisis; MSNBC, October 9, 2024

 MSNBC; 'Enraging': Republicans ‘suddenly’ see disinformation problem amid hurricane crisis

"Republicans "suddenly see a conflict between the welfare of their constituents and the toxic effect of their party's propaganda," says Chris Hayes on GOP officials debunking hurricane disinformation spread by members of their own party."

North Carolina Republican pushes back on hurricane misinformation: "Nobody can control the weather"; CBS News, October 8, 2024

Caitlin Yilek, CBS News; North Carolina Republican pushes back on hurricane misinformation: "Nobody can control the weather"

"Rep. Chuck Edwards, a North Carolina Republican, sent a letter to his constituents debunking the misinformation and conspiracy theories that have spread in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, telling them, "Nobody can control the weather." 

Edwards, who represents western North Carolina, which was devastated by Hurricane Helene, urged his constituents not to believe everything they see on social media and noted there's been an increase in "untrustworthy sources trying to spark chaos by sharing hoaxes, conspiracy theories, and hearsay about hurricane response efforts across our mountains." 

"Please make sure you are fact checking what you read online with a reputable source," he wrote. 

Some of the most bizarre conspiracy theories that have spread online claimed politicians manipulated the weather to target Republicans areas in the battleground state and that the federal government was trying to seize land in the town of Chimney Rock to mine lithium."

Elon Musk is piling onto all the hurricane disinformation, hampering relief efforts; Politico, October 8, 2024

ADAM ATON and SCOTT WALDMAN, Politico; Elon Musk is piling onto all the hurricane disinformation, hampering relief efforts

"Elon Musk is using his social media network to spread election conspiracy theories about U.S. disasters — just as online falsehoods are complicating the federal response to Hurricanes Helene and Milton...

Falsehoods about natural disasters complicate the logistics of disaster response, which can hinge on survivors cooperating with a patchwork of authorities, the FEMA leaders said this week. They warned that conspiracy theories have already hampered the work of rescue and recovery...

Republicans, Democrats and nonpartisan officials have pushed back on the claims from Musk — as well those from Trump, who has gone even further and falsely accused Democrats of blocking aid to Republican-leaning areas. GOP officials in those areas say federal agencies and officials have been in close contact...

Musk’s amplification of conspiracies comes as he prepares to hit the campaign trail for Trump in the next month before November’s election, with a focus on Pennsylvania...

After their conversation Friday, Musk thanked Buttigieg on X: “Just wanted to note that Sec Buttigieg is on the ball.” And in a Monday interview with Tucker Carlson on X, Musk credited Buttigieg with waiving “insane” flight planning requirements.

“I want to give Buttigieg some credit here,” Musk said. “When I complained about it, he reacted in a very levelheaded way. And he reached out to me, and he called me. And we discussed the issue, got to the bottom of it, and he fixed it.”...

Internationally, Musk and his social media company have faced penalties for what other governments have described as disinformation and hate speech." 

Maricopa election officials work to restore belief in the ballot as some continue to sow doubt in elections; 60 Minutes, October 7, 2024

Scott Pelley , 60 Minutes; Maricopa election officials work to restore belief in the ballot as some continue to sow doubt in elections

"Shelby Busch started a political action committee which investigates what she calls widespread fraud in Maricopa County—fraud no credible investigation has found. She's taken in nearly a million dollars in donations for the work of her PAC. And the Arizona Republican Party awarded her the leadership of its delegation at last summer's national convention...

Busch still questions whether signature verification was proper and whether some ballots were collected illegally. She's an administrator in a medical practice.

Scott Pelley: You're self-educated--

Shelby Busch: That's correct--

Scott Pelley: --when it comes to elections.

Shelby Busch: That's correct.

Scott Pelley: In a recent case a judge disqualified you from testifying in the case because he said you were, quote, "Obviously unqualified... not even in the ballpark."

Shelby Busch: That's one judge's opinion. who is a radical leftist who is legislating from the bench and I don't believe that it had any merit in my credibility whatsoever.

Scott Pelley: Is there a danger in undermining people's faith in the election system by persisting with these conspiracy theories that no one has been able to validate?

Shelby Busch: Again, I'm going to disagree with you, sir, respectfully-- it has been validated. And because--

Scott Pelley: Where? By whom?

Shelby Busch: The election officials--

Scott Pelley: Give me-- give me a court case. Give me something.

Shelby Busch: I don't need a government official with a vested interest in disproving information to tell me whether what I have is valid. It's up to each individual citizen, as a member of this society, to review the evidence, to think for themselves and make those decisions.

Scott Pelley: It's valid 'cause you say it is.

Shelby Busch: I say it's valid because I say it is. And if somebody looks at it, they can determine whether it's valid. The evidence speaks for itself. Data does not lie. Data doesn't lie. Election officials do."