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CBS News Confirmed, launched late last year, is focused on tackling misinformation, including the growing scourge of deepfakes and photos, videos and audio created by generative artificial intelligence. Now, Mahtani will be tasked with figuring out how best to bring its reporting to TV, digital and social platforms. Segments will run on CBS News programs leading up the the 2024 election, and a dedicated streaming show is planned for later this summer. “CBS News Confirmed is the right initiative at the right time,” Mahtani said. “We are witnessing an onslaught of misinformation that makes it harder for people to distinguish...

We feel strongly that public discussion and civil debate are crucial to our society. We know that you, our readers, know things that we don’t. You come from different backgrounds and have different experiences. We’re all better when we can hear one another and learn from different perspectives. That’s why the USA TODAY Network invested in extensive research and testing with the Center for Media Engagement before deciding to enable comments on our news sites in 2020. But for all their benefits, we also know that comment sections across the internet can quickly devolve when they’re left unmonitored. We wanted...

The keynote speaker of the World Economic Forum’s 2024 annual conference in Davos was Ursula von der Leyen, European Commission President. She stated the top global risk for the EU is disinformation and misinformation, declaring disinformation destroys trust and limits the ability to “tackle the big global challenges.” In plain English, trust can only be restored by censoring inconvenient facts and evidence. Below is a short clip (1:39) highlighting her disinformation sermon. The top risk in the WEF’s 2024 Global Risk Report is disinformation. If not controlled, societies will be polarized, elections will be disrupted, and there will be mistrust...

The internet has been a huge boon for the accessibility of information. There are very few barriers to consuming classic literature or detailed scientific analyses or catalogues of news reports. There is also an exorbitant amount of garbage information, of course, and an entire universe of people who say stuff that they think will get people to click links that will earn themselves money. Cut through the 2024 election noise. Get The Campaign Moment newsletter. While confidence in American institutions has been in decline for some time, it’s not hard to imagine how the economic incentives of the internet contribute....

Russian YouTube vlogger Marina investigates the alleged egg shortage in Russia at a Globus supermarket in Moscow, finds that the shelves are fully stocked and prices are only slighter higher than they were two months ago.

Half a century ago, George Orwell, writing on literary censorship, wrote that “unpopular ideas can be silenced, and inconvenient facts kept dark, without the need for any official ban.” That dynamic now broadly extends to an opaque network of government agencies and self-proclaimed anti-misinformation groups that have repressed online speech. There’s no official ban on discussing the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines or criticizing American involvement in the Ukraine-Russia war, but editors and journalists have realized that writing on such topics can come at a cost. News publishers have been demonetized and shadow-banned for reporting dissenting views and the bureaucratic means...

In a recent budget announcement, Freiland Bitch revealed a comprehensive set of measures signaling significant financial support for Canadian journalists. The Trudeau government is set to cover a substantial 55% of journalists’ salaries, albeit with a notable twist—this aid is exclusively directed towards newspapers and news organizations deemed “reliable.” Under the newly amended Bill C-18, the government has responded to News Media Canada’s calls for increased support by enhancing the Labour Journalism Tax Credit. Formerly covering 25% of journalist costs up to $55,000 per employee ($13,750), the fall economic statement outlines a more generous system. Qualified Canadian Journalism Organizations, encompassing...

Former President Barack Obama helped draft the new White House artificial intelligence policy that President Joe Biden rolled out earlier this week, according to aides familiar with the situation. … Ahead of its debut, Obama -- who has long had interest in AI -- assisted the Biden team with the plan, an Obama aide told ABC News. Obama held meetings with AI industry leaders, where he pressed them and made them aware of not just the national security concerns AI poses, but also other issues with AI such as bias and discrimination, the aide said. Obama also met with congressional...

About ten days ago, after the Hamas attacks in Israel, Drew Holden had a threat about the worst of the hack media takes. The "journalism" that followed Palestine's claims of Israel attacking a hospital in Gaza and killing hundreds of people might even put that to shame, which was a high bar to clear. Holden (@DrewHolden360) has another thread chock full of examples of media malpractice following reports that were more concerned with setting a narrative instead of publishing factual information: One of those threads I knew was coming, knew it’d be bad, and it’s still worse than I thought...

In a story that has virtually been ignored by the global media, UK police arrested an independent journalist for posting "malinformation" and misinformation about Ukraine.Under the new UK censorship law called the Online Safety Act, the government can order the arrest or detention of anyone said to be "hateful" or judged by fact checkers to be posting "misinformation."Warren Thornton was literally in the midst of streaming an edition of his podcast The Real Truth on Sept. 24 when Bristol police officers came to his front door and demanded he speak with them.The Liberal government of Canada is preparing its own...

Between the documentation obtained through a recent lawsuit against the White House and the Twitter files1 released by Elon Musk, we now know that every facet of the U.S. government, including its intelligence agencies, has been involved in illegal and unconstitutional censorship.In May 2022, the attorneys general of Missouri and Louisiana, Eric Schmitt and Jeff Landry, along with the New Civil Liberties Alliance and a few individual plaintiffs, filed a lawsuit against President Joe Biden (Missouri v. Biden2), arguing the White House is engaged in illegal suppression of protected speech.Two months earlier, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had also filed a...

The European Union has been accused of creating Orwellian “ministries of truth” that will ensure wrong thoughts are not allowed in a bid to tackle disinformation online. The Mail has the story. It is expected that those in charge of the platforms that must comply with the regulation will prioritise advice given by EU-approved “trusted flaggers” and fact-checkers monitoring information posted online. Cristian Terhes, a Romanian MP and Member of the European Parliament, argued the bloc’s Digital Services Act provides it with enough power to rule on what content is true and false when it appears on the websites of...

Google has partnered with the United Nations, World Health Organisation and others in a new global censorship tool that was introduced last Monday, according to LaToya Drake, head of Google News Lab.Google News Lab is “a team within the Google News Initiative whose mission is to collaborate with journalists to fight misinformation” and other things. And, the Google News Initiative (“GNI”) “works with publishers and journalists to fight misinformation.” The GNI and its Lab seem to be one and the same thing with the Lab simply being a page on the GNI website.Below are the short descriptions from GNI’s ‘About’...

The State Department reportedly postponed its regularly scheduled meeting with Facebook representatives on Wednesday following a court decision on Tuesday that restricted talks between Biden administration officials and social media firms.

Eric Schmidt quotes the judicial order as follows:

Online platforms spreading misinformation could face millions of dollars in penalties under new proposed government legislation that bolsters the power of Australia's media watchdog. The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) would be armed with the ability to require digital platforms to keep certain records about matters regarding misinformation and disinformation and turn them over when requested. Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said this would "essentially mean that the regulator is able to look under the hood of what the platforms are doing and what measures they are taking to ensure compliance". The ACMA would also be able to request the...

he Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency outsourced its "censorship operation" to a nonprofit it funded following a First Amendment lawsuit by Louisiana and Missouri attorneys general, "implicitly admitting that its censorship activities are unconstitutional," according to an interim staff report by House Judiciary Committee Republicans shared with Just the News. CISA also wanted to use the Center for Internet Security, which operates the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC) and Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EI-ISAC), as its "mouthpiece" to obfuscate its own role in censorship, the report says. It cites spring 2022...

It is a tight contest over which U.S. regulatory agency is most captured by industry. But leading the pack is surely the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Many of us in the past believed the main problem with the agency was the costs it imposed on industry. The situation turns out to be more complicated. Whatever its past, it’s become an industry-dominated vending machine for drug approvals enacted with a very expensive rubber stamp.The ordeal of the COVID vaccine proved it. So long as the check cleared, the FDA was ready with committee-based approvals for which no one in particular...

The Democrat-controlled Senate proposed a new bill to censor and police Americans’ First Amendment rights. Brought forth by Democrat Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO), the “Digital Platform Commission Act (DPCA)” would flag misinformation and hate speech on the internet. The bill creates a federal agency to do nothing but the mandate and enforce guardrails against people who spread so-called “misinformation,” giving out consequences for information Democrats deem wrong. The bill would violate the American Constitution. “It’s past time for a thoughtful and comprehensive approach to regulating digital platforms that have amassed extraordinary power over our economy, society, and democracy,” Bennet said....

The Biden administration is looking at expanding how it monitors social media sites and chatrooms after U.S. intelligence agencies failed to spot classified Pentagon documents circulating online for weeks, according to a senior administration official and a congressional official briefed on the matter. The possible change in the intelligence-gathering process is just one potential shift as officials scramble to determine not only how the documents leaked but also how to prevent another damaging incident. President Joe Biden and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin were briefed about the disclosure last week, administration officials say, but the secret documents appeared online in early...