Science

Study: Far-Right Propaganda Gets the Most Engagement on Facebook, Especially When It's Lies

Shocker: Despite conservatives’ endless kvetching about the supposed liberal bias of Silicon Valley technocrats, one of the easiest ways to go viral on Facebook is spouting extreme, far-right rhetoric, according to a new study by New York University’s Cybersecurity for Democracy project.Read more...
Tags: Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, Science, Articles, Social Media, Software, Computing, Silicon Valley, The New York Times, Misinformation, Deception, Ben Shapiro, Fake News, QAnon, NewsGuard, Laura Edelson

America's Leaders Have No Clue What to Do About Disinformation

As disinformation and misinformation have increasingly been blamed for rising political extremism and polarization in the U.S., lawmakers have naturally sought to cobble together some sort of legislative response. The problem is that Congress is, themselves, so polarized that they can’t seem to agree on how to do…Read more...
Tags: Twitter, Politics, Science, Congress, Articles, America, Journalism, Comcast, Att, Fox News, Human Behavior, Donald Trump, Anthony Fauci, Bernie Sanders, Luna, Misinformation

Nashville Bombing Suspect Was Anti-Government Extremist, Believed in Lizard People: Report

In the early hours of Christmas Day in 2020, an RV in downtown Nashville, Tennessee, began broadcasting the sounds of gunfire and warnings for anyone in earshot to immediately evacuate. After about 15 minutes, it exploded, killing the perpetrator, wounding at least eight others, and damaging hundreds of buildings.Read more...
Tags: Science, Articles, Nashville, Conspiracy Theories, Deception, Nashville Tennessee, Alt Right, David Icke, New World Order, Fake News, QAnon, Nashville bombing, Pseudohistory, Far Right Politics In The United States, Terrorism In The United States

MyPillow Genius Says He's Absolutely Thrilled to Be Sued By Dominion for $1.3 Billion

MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, the rabidly pro-Trump pillow magnate who bafflingly became one of the key figures in the ex-president’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 elections, is now facing a billion-dollar defamation lawsuit from election tech manufacturer Dominion Voting Systems. While the suit appears to…Read more...
Tags: Science, United States, Rudy Giuliani, Trump, Deception, Sidney Powell, Lindell, Dominion, One America News Network, Big Lie, Mike Lindell, My Pillow, Dominion Energy, Dominion Voting Systems, Politics Of The United States

TikTok Users Are Burning Snowballs in Viral Videos to 'Prove' the Snow is Fake

Have you seen those viral videos on TikTok and Twitter where users are burning snow to “prove” that it’s actually fake? Needless to say, the snow is real. The viral videos actually show a perfectly normal reaction to placing the flame of a lighter or match against a snowball. But that hasn’t stopped these videos from…Read more...
Tags: Weather, Science, Articles, Snow, Software, Bill Gates, Internet Culture, Video Hosting, Deception, Alt Right, Fake News, QAnon, Tiktok, Pseudohistory, 911 Conspiracy Theories

A Phishing Scam Targeting Postmates Drivers Pretends to Represent the Company to Empty Out Victims’ Accounts

As if gig workers didn’t have it hard enough already, they now have to be on the lookout for possible phishing scams from malicious actors that pretend to represent their company. Read more...
Tags: Uber, Science, Crime, Fraud, Social Engineering, Phishing, Postmates, Spamming, Online Food Ordering, Deception, Meghan Casserly, Confidence Tricks

Facebook to Restrict Content From Myanmar's Military Government Following Coup

Facebook has pledged to restrict the widespread distribution of content from Myanmar’s military regime following a successful coup that toppled the democratically elected government on Feb. 1. The pledge comes from a new blog post at Facebook’s website that seems to implicitly acknowledge the potential for…Read more...
Tags: Facebook, Asia, Politics, Science, Social Media, Software, Myanmar, Operating Systems, Misinformation, Deception, Tatmadaw, Rohingya people, Social Information Processing, Technology Internet, Islam In Myanmar

Instagram Bans Anti-Vaxxer Robert Kennedy Jr. For Spreading Covid-19 Misinformation

Instagram has banned notorious anti-vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for spreading misinformation about covid-19 and the safety of vaccines. Strangely, Kennedy is still doing the exact same schtick on Instagram’s parent platform Facebook, a place where he hasn’t been banned. At least not yet.Read more...
Tags: Facebook, Science, Instagram, Medicine, Pseudoscience, John F Kennedy, Vaccine, Kennedy, Deception, Robert Kennedy, Robert F Kennedy Jr, Kennedy Family, Covid 19 Vaccine, Health Medical Pharma, Misinformation Related To Vaccination, Covid 19 Misinformation

When QAnon Blows Up Your Friend Group

My ex was the first person to tell me about Q. This was near the end of 2016, and we were in the beginning stages of our relationship. I took it as us having the same, passive interest in conspiracy theories. The kind of interest where you go, “LOL sounds like a Dan Brown novel!” I laughed it off, but he dug deeper…Read more...
Tags: Facebook, Science, Articles, Dan Brown, Donald Trump, Deception, Alt Right, Human Interest, Fake News, QAnon, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Pseudohistory, Far Right Politics In The United States, Terrorism In The United States, Conspiracy Theories In The United States

Twitter User Hit With Criminal Charges for Memetic Voter Suppression in 2016 Election

If the online MAGA army wasn’t nervous before today, the Department of Justice just gave them a good reason to tighten their sphincters. In a surprising announcement, DOJ officials said on Wednesday that they’ve charged a prominent Twitter user with taking part in a conspiracy to trick citizens into not voting during…Read more...
Tags: Politics, Science, Articles, Department Of Justice, Donald Trump, Injustice, Doj, Internet Meme, Deception, Robocall, Voter Suppression, QAnon, Far Right Politics In The United States, Business_finance, Religion_belief, Internet Manipulation And Propaganda

Twitter Launches 'Birdwatch,' a Community to Help Moderate Misinformation

Twitter announced on Monday that it had officially launched Birdwatch, a program designed to combat misinformation on the platform by deploying a small group of users to flag potentially misleading content.Read more...
Tags: Twitter, Science, Articles, San Francisco, Software, Donald Trump, Operating Systems, Real Time Web, Text Messaging, Misinformation, Deception, South of Market, QAnon, Birdwatch

Analyzing mouse-movement to see if you're lying

Here's an interesting experiment: Using mouse-movement as a lie-detection technique. Cognitive psychologists and neuroscientists have long noted a big "tell" in human behavior: Crafting a lie takes more mental work than telling the truth. So one way to spot lies is to check someone's reaction time. If they're telling a lie, they'll respond fractionally more slowly than if they're telling the truth. Similarly, if you're asked to elaborate on your lie, you have to think for a second to generate...
Tags: Post, Texas, Science, News, Deception, Lindsey Turner, Voight-Kampff, Damjanski

Could a Long-Absent Character Be Making Their Return to Game of Thrones?

James Cameron talks Avatar 2. Alita: Battle Angel has cast its villain. ABC and Disney are still optimistic about a live-action Star Wars TV show. Plus a new look at another creepy story for Channel Zero, and new footage from the returns of Supernatural and Gotham. Spoilers Now!Read more...
Tags: Star Wars, Science, Abc, Disney, Gotham, Supernatural, Game Of Thrones, Harley Quinn, James Cameron, Avatar 2, Morning Spoilers, Deception, Frequency, Channel Zero

Ancient Insects Had Some Pretty Funky Camo

New evidence shows that insects were using camouflage to hide from their predators as many as 100 million years ago—and wow did these ancient bugs ever employ some strange forms of deception. Read more...
Tags: Science, Biology, Insects, Paleontology, Deception