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Media and Manipulation

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How three conspiracy theorists took 'Q' and sparked Qanon. Trump Left Behind A Monstrous Predicament. Here's How To Tackle It - clareluxor - Gmail. The Smears Against Biden Don't Need to Make Any Sense. But this, of course, is not the point.

The Smears Against Biden Don't Need to Make Any Sense

Why Social Media Makes Us More Polarized and How to Fix It. Every time I log onto Facebook, I brace myself.

Why Social Media Makes Us More Polarized and How to Fix It

My newsfeed—like everyone else’s I know—is filled with friends, relatives and acquaintances arguing about COVID-19, masks and Trump. Facebook has become a battleground among partisan “echo chambers.” But what is it about social media that makes people so polarized? To find out, my colleagues and I ran a social media experiment in which we divided Democrats and Republicans into “echo chambers,” or small groups whose members affiliate with just one political party. Debunking (again) a 14-year-old post on immigrants in Los Angeles. If you believed the statistical claims in a recent Facebook post being shared by thousands, you would think that Los Angeles is overrun by law-breaking immigrants.

Debunking (again) a 14-year-old post on immigrants in Los Angeles

The factually flawed Facebook post that claims the Los Angeles Times as its source has long roots; it’s been circulating in various forms since at least 2006. Social Media Posts Use Graphic, Unrelated Photos to Smear BLM Protesters. Quick Take Posts circulating on social media this summer falsely claimed that Black Lives Matter activists were responsible for the beating of five elderly white people shown in the posts’ photos.

Social Media Posts Use Graphic, Unrelated Photos to Smear BLM Protesters

But the pictures have been online for at least five years — and most early uses identify the photos as originating in South Africa. Full Story Social media posts that feed into the narrative that Black Lives Matter protesters are violent have been circulating, as policing practices and the deaths of Black Americans at the hands of police officers drew millions to demonstrations across the country this summer.

Jim Steyer: the man who took on Mark Zuckerberg. With more than two billion users Facebook is bigger than Christianity,” says Stanford law professor Jim Steyer.

Jim Steyer: the man who took on Mark Zuckerberg

“Their ability to amplify hate speech or white supremacy or racist messages is so extraordinary because of the scale of the platform.” It’s a typically bold statement from the man who set up the Stop Hate for Profit (SHFP) campaign calling on advertisers to withdraw from Facebook for the month of July. More than 500 firms have joined the temporary boycott, including Coca-Cola, Adidas and Unilever. Facebook’s stock price has taken a tumble, though it still remains high, and last week its communications chief, Nick Clegg, was busy trying to persuade anyone who’d listen that the platform has a “zero tolerance” approach to hate speech.

As far as Steyer is concerned, Clegg, the former deputy prime minister and leader of the Liberal Democrats, has become a mouthpiece for social destruction. (1) Social-Media Companies Threaten Democracy. Is Greta Thunberg the 'Highest Paid Activist'? In September 2019, as the spotlight shined bright on teenage environmental activist Greta Thunberg, detractors attempted to discredit her with a variety of false rumors.

Is Greta Thunberg the 'Highest Paid Activist'?

For instance, some started sharing a doctored photograph of Thunberg with alt-right boogeyman George Soros (the original photograph featured former Vice President Al Gore). Others shared a miscaptioned image purportedly showing Thunberg with a member of ISIS (Thunberg was not in this photograph.) Another image purported to show Thunberg on the cover of People with Money magazine after she was named the “highest paid activist.” This is not a genuine magazine cover. This image was created by the website MediaMass from a template the site has frequently employed in the past. Viral video of Nancy Pelosi slowed down her speech. A video circulating on Facebook gives the impression that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi spoke in a very slurred manner at a public event.

Viral video of Nancy Pelosi slowed down her speech

That video isn’t an accurate representation of Pelosi’s speech — the audio is slowed down to a point that some social media users questioned whether she was drunk or medically impaired. "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on President Trump walking out infrastructure meeting: ‘It was very, very, very strange,’" said text accompanying the approximately three-minute clip. The video was posted on the Facebook page for an account called Politics WatchDog. The Washington Post published a story May 23 headlined, "Faked Pelosi videos, slowed to make her appear drunk, spread across social media. " The story included Politics WatchDog’s video and mentioned other videos posted on YouTube that slowed her speech or suggested Pelosi spoke drunkenly. Politics WatchDog’s post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. Fox News' ad chief admits that advertisers are leaving. Here's what's going on.

A new report published by Politico examines the rejection that Fox News’ most prominent programs are experiencing from advertisers.

Fox News' ad chief admits that advertisers are leaving. Here's what's going on.

Just how bad is it? According to the article, Fox News host Laura Ingraham’s advertiser base has effectively evaporated. Most national “blue-chip” advertisers won’t advertise on her show. Her advertiser base, which had included 229 brands prior to April 2018, has shrunk down to 85, with many of those either being short-burst political advertisers or less desirable direct-response ads. Ilhan Omar has had spike in death threats since Trump attack over 9/11 comment. The Muslim American congresswoman Ilhan Omar has said she has received an increased number of death threats after Donald Trump repeatedly tweeted video footage of September 11 and accused Omar of downplaying the terror attacks.

Ilhan Omar has had spike in death threats since Trump attack over 9/11 comment

Omar issued a statement on Sunday night saying: “Since the president’s tweet Friday evening, I have experienced an increase in direct threats on my life – many directly referencing or replying to the president’s video.” Omar said the Capitol police, the FBI, the House sergeant at arms and the speaker of the House were all aware of the threats and she thanked them for their assistance. Do High Percentages of Refugees Receive Food Stamps, 'Medicard,' and Cash Welfare? - Truth or Fiction? Why we need to talk about the media’s role in far-right hate. When it comes to the threat of Islamist terrorism, no one doubts the role of radicalisation.

Why we need to talk about the media’s role in far-right hate

The internet, hate preachers such as Anjem Choudary and Abu Hamza, and the western-armed, extremism-exporting state of Saudi Arabia: all play their part in radicalising the impressionable. When it comes to the far right, however, this consensus is absent. The reason for this is as obvious as it is chilling: the hate preachers, recruiting sergeants and useful idiots of rightwing extremism are located in the heart of the British, European and American establishments. Paula White: the pastor who helps Trump hear 'what God has to say' Paula White, Donald Trump’s spiritual adviser and personal pastor, re-enacted a moment at a private White House dinner last month which would eventually make headlines for showing the president’s hardline stance on abortion.

The evening before the National Prayer Breakfast, Trump approached the US senator Chris Coons, a Democrat and Presbyterian, about an expansion of abortion rights in New York state. The law is reviled by evangelicals like White. Trump thrust his face over the Democrat’s shoulder, so they were nearly cheek to cheek, and said in his ear: “So, you can do that to a baby … And that’s not a human, is it? And you have no problem?” View Your Rollup – Unroll.Me.

A Russian 'troll slayer' went undercover at a troll factory. Slaying online trolls can be a lonely business. Islamophobia is not confined to online groups. It leaks across public life. On Friday morning, as the news from Christchurch was still rolling across radio bulletins, Sir Mark Rowley, the former head of counter-terrorism at the Met, was commenting on the horror on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. Fifty Muslims had been brutally murdered, and 48 seriously injured.

For 17 horrifying minutes, a white supremacist terrorist unloaded round after round of bullets into men, women and children. The Making of the Fox News White House. In January, during the longest government shutdown in America’s history, President Donald Trump rode in a motorcade through Hidalgo County, Texas, eventually stopping on a grassy bluff overlooking the Rio Grande. The White House wanted to dramatize what Trump was portraying as a national emergency: the need to build a wall along the Mexican border. The presence of armored vehicles, bales of confiscated marijuana, and federal agents in flak jackets underscored the message. But the photo op dramatized something else about the Administration. After members of the press pool got out of vans and headed over to where the President was about to speak, they noticed that Sean Hannity, the Fox News host, was already on location.

Donald Trump Jr. tweets misleading 2012 headline about Florida noncitizen voters. Trapped in a hoax: survivors of conspiracy theories speak out. Eu.usatoday. President Trump plans to make a prime time address about the “Humanitarian and National Security crisis on our Southern Border.” Christopher Wylie: 'The fashion industry was crucial to the election of Donald Trump' This is what Trump’s caravan 'invasion' really looks like. Who let the trolls out? Researchers investigate state-sponsored trolls. Meet the man who makes fake news for millions of conservative Trump supporters. The only light in the house came from the glow of three computer monitors, and Christopher Blair, 46, sat down at a keyboard and started to type.

US declines in internet freedom rankings, thanks to net neutrality repeal and fake news. How Trump-Fed Conspiracy Theories About Migrant Caravan Intersect With Deadly Hatred. No evidence that Andrew Gillum is running from FBI. A Republican ad portrays Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum as a man on the run from law enforcement amid an FBI corruption probe in his city. Donald Trump, Brett Kavanaugh, and the Rule of Pampered Princelings. How much dark money is fueling the Kavanaugh confirmation fight? Sen. Trump tweet labels anti-Kavanaugh protesters as 'paid professionals' Donald Trump condemned protesters who have turned out in droves to oppose the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the supreme court, calling them “elevator screamers” funded by professional interest groups.

How feelings took over the world. On a late Friday afternoon in November last year, police were called to London’s Oxford Circus for reasons described as “terror-related”. The News Literacy Project is teaching kids to stop fake news. Trump meets with promoter of 'QAnon' conspiracy theory in Oval Office. You Could Be Kicked Offline For Piracy If This Music Industry Lawsuit Succeeds. UN human rights chief: Trump's attacks on press 'close to incitement of violence' Choice page. Choice page. - The Washington Post.

QAnon-sense - by Scott Bateman. Did Principal Mamasai Mamakusa Expel Two Children for Wearing Crucifixes? Did David Hogg Lie About Being on Campus During Mass Shooting? Trump and Brexit: how can the US and UK media tackle a culture of lies? How America Got Divorced from Reality: Christian Utopias, Anti-Elitism, Media Circus. Truth, truthiness, triangulation: A news literacy toolkit for a “post-truth” world.

'I was shocked it was so easy': ​meet the professor who says facial recognition ​​can tell if you're gay. Fact-checking an immigration meme that's been circulating for more than a decade. The Problem with Fake News (and how our students can solve it) Chomsky on Edward Bernays Father of Propaganda. The Century of the Self - Part 1: "Happiness Machines" Factchecking Trump's Energy Boasts. Rinse and Repeat - by Ann Telnaes. Now That’s What We Call Diplomacy! - by Scott Bateman. They Were Asking For it - by Eli Valley. How Facebook’s news feed algorithm works. 5 things the media does to manufacture outrage. Fake news. It's complicated. - First Draft News.

The tricks propagandists use to beat science. 'The most dangerous US company you have never heard of": Sinclair, a rightwing media giant. Social media is protecting men from periods, breast milk and body hair. How did the news go ‘fake’? When the media went social. False, Misleading, Clickbait-y, and Satirical “News” Sources. Former Facebook executive: social media is ripping society apart. Fake news 2.0: personalized, optimized, and even harder to stop. How America Lost Faith in Expertise.