The results of the 2024 presidential election have ushered in a new era of uncertainty for public health. With Donald Trump back in the White House and his choice of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—notorious for backing some public health conspiracy theories—as a key figure in the health sector, the stakes are immense.
Harvard Public Health
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has taken a lot of heat since announcing that he is pulling his company out of the fact-checking business and curtailing content moderation on its platforms. The criticism is understandable, given the uncertainty over how Meta’s new rules will handle misinformation and otherwise harmful material.
Washington Post
In a strategic step towards combating disinformation and hate speech in Lebanon, UNESCO signed a Tripartite Partnership Agreement this week under the leadership of Ministry of Information with the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie.
UNESCO
Risk specialists identified armed conflict, extreme weather and disinformation among the top global risks for the year ahead, according to a World Economic Forum (WEF) survey released on Wednesday.
CNBC
Europe’s Digital Services Act promised to safeguard democracy from the digital world’s dangerous hazards: disinformation, hate speech, and manipulative online campaigns targeting elections. But the law’s high-minded ambitions have collided with the challenges of on-the-ground enforcement.
Center for European Policy Analysis
Although Republican Bill Gates is no longer a Maricopa County supervisor, he isn’t backing away from those who amplified election lies. Gates, who served two terms for District 3 on the board before deciding to not seek reelection in the past cycle, spoke with The Mike Broomhead Show last week.
KTAR News
California Gov. Gavin Newsom launched CaliforniaFireFacts.com on Saturday to address what he calls ‘mis- and disinformation’ being spread online about the recent fires in Southern California.
KGTV ABC10 San Diego
The Kremlin is using uncertainty following the ouster of Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad, and the potential loss of Russia’s military toehold in Syria, to accuse the United States of sowing instability in the country.
Voice of America
Meta’s plans to scale back fact-checking apply only in the United States for now, the company said, nodding to domestic political realities in a way that is set to widen the gap between what users experience on social media in and outside the country.
The Washington Post
Experts generally agree that dry weather, strong winds, and climate change are to blame for the catastrophic firestorms in Southern California, which since Tuesday have roared across more than 25,000 acres and displaced tens of thousands of people.
Vanity Fair
Less than two weeks before Donald Trump is reinstated as President, Meta is abandoning its fact-checking program in favor of a crowdsourced model that emphasizes ‘free expression.’ The shift marks a profound change in how the company moderates content on its platforms.
TIME Magazine
An artificial intelligence feature on iPhones is generating fake news alerts, stoking concerns about the technology’s ability to spread misinformation.
CNBC
Finland is consistently ranked as Europe's most media literate country and the skills needed to spot online hoaxes are on the school curriculum, amidst a boom of mis- and disinformation campaigns.
Voice of America
Taiwan ’s government says China is redoubling efforts to undermine confidence in the self-governing island’s democracy and close ties with the United States through the spread of disinformation, especially online.
The Associated Press
When does a public relations campaign become something more insidious? When and how does PR slide into propaganda and disinformation?
Psychology Today
When Elon Musk asked his 211 million followers on X to vote on whether ‘America should liberate the people of Britain from their tyrannical government,’ it seemed as if the post could only be tongue-in-cheek.
The New York Times
If the Senate confirms Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health and human services secretary and Dave Weldon as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it would elevate two prominent vaccine critics to the highest levels of U.S. health policymaking.
The Washington Post
The United States has imposed sanctions on two groups linked to Iranian and Russian efforts to target American voters with disinformation ahead of this year’s election.
The Associated Press
Overseeing a social media platform that has grown from 5 million users to more than 25 million in 10 months is about as far as you can get from Aaron Rodericks' former career as a federal public servant.
CBC News
A leading United States government agency that tracks foreign disinformation has terminated its operations, the State Department has said, after Congress failed to extend its funding following years of Republican criticism.
Aljazeera / Agence France-Presse
