Twitter ‘super-spreaders’ shared bogus COVID-19 info with 3 million users

A new report by NewsGuard says a handful of COVID-19 misinformation “super-spreaders” have shared false and misleading claims with more than three million Twitter users. The report identified 10 accounts with more than 100,000 followers each that pro...

Facebook and Google are fighting coronavirus misinformation

Google and Facebook are attempting to stay ahead of coronavirus misinformation and to provide users with helpful, accurate resources. Today, Facebook announced plans to flag and remove false information, and Google has created an SOS Alert for corona...

Hundreds of employees criticize Facebook’s political ad policies

Over the past month, Facebook has come under criticism for allowing politicians to run false or misleading ads. Now, employees are speaking out. More than 250 Facebook employees wrote a letter addressed to CEO Mark Zuckerberg and top Facebook officia...

Fake news campaigns are a growing global problem

Disinformation is a major threat to tech companies, society, even democracy -- and it's only getting worse. In 2019, disinformation campaigns occurred in at least 70 countries, a significant jump from 28 countries in 2017. That's according to a new r...

An old Instagram hoax is back, and it’s duping celebrities

An Instagram hoax that first circulated in 2012 is back, and celebrities from Usher to Waka Flocka Flame, Julianne Moore, Julia Roberts and Rob Lowe have allegedly fallen for it. The post claims Instagram is changing its rules and everything you've e...

YouTube sues user who extorted others through fake takedown requests

A lawsuit filed by YouTube yesterday claims that a user abused its copyright infringement reporting system to extort fellow YouTubers and carry out a swatting attack. YouTube alleges that Christopher Brady, of Omaha, Nebraska, filed dozens of Digital...

Instagram users can now flag false content

Beginning today, Instagram users can report content that they believe to be false. Instagram will use those flags to better understand misinformation on the platform and to train its AI to spot false content. In time, Instagram will use the feedback,...

Facebook fact checkers will soon review Instagram posts

Fake news, conspiracy theories and misinformation aren't just problems for Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. They're also rampant on Instagram. While Instagram has been working to reduce the reach of false posts, starting this week, it will go a step fu...

Researchers find Twitter is good for amplifying lies

When it comes to spreading President Trump's false and misleading remarks, Twitter is a perfect storm. A study by Media Matters found that when tweeting about Trump's statements, major news outlets include false information 30 percent of the time. An...