The Mishandlings of Misinformation

https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/albany/story/2021/06/08/burning-the-midnight-oil-eric-adams-mysterious-whereabouts-off-the-campaign-trail-1385412

https://nypost.com/2021/06/09/eric-adams-shows-off-nyc-home-after-suggestion-that-he-lives-in-nj/

During New York City's mayoral election in 2022, news and media sources stopped at nothing to spread gossip about the large number of candidates. Sources like the Politico article linked above knew the kinds of subjects that New York voters would be particularly about, like a mayoral candidate's residence if it wasn't in New York. Potential voters would think of a mayoral candidate as more suspicious if he wasn't even living in the city he was campaigning to run. 

Politico reported that they had done research into some car registrations of frontrunner, Eric Adams, and noticed that they were associated with an apartment complex in New Jersey. This brought attention to social media postings that noticed that he would never sleep at the residence in Brooklyn hat he would claim on documents he was living at. 

Politico's largely left-leaning policies were not supportive of Adams' mayoral campaign and "competed for the public's attention" by posting "scoop"-related content without asking for a comment from Adams himself. This information that Politico was revealed as false by a New York Post interview conducted by Eric Adams, in which he invited the press on a tour into his Brooklyn home. 

This was done in efforts to fight against the disinformation spread by news sources trying to lower his popularity amongst New Yorkers that would oust him for not living in New York. Although the tour allowed him to prove that he lived there by showing the press around his kitchen and living room, the New York Post's article is similarly fishy in its content becuase Adams seems to leave out a lot of details that would probably confirm that the residence he is showing around is his son's apartment that he owns.

https://deadline.com/2023/07/writers-strike-hollywood-studios-deal-fight-wga-actors-1235434335/

Deadline is one of the film industry's vital trade sources, sharing news ranging from box office numbers, celebrity/pop culture news, and reporting on the statuses of films in production. The ongoing WGA/SAG-AFTRA strike has halted the film and television industry and has affected the output of publications like Deadline. Particularly in the beginning of the WGA strike, much of the reporting that Deadline was involved in was purposefully downplaying the severity of the lasting affects the strike on the economy. 

The article can be seen as more of a "persuasive information campaign" in efforts to get its readers to side against the strikes rather than factually reporting on the situation. It "blends facts and interpretations" of the situations to make its reporting biased by stating that the strikes won't have much of an impact, therefore the strikes are unnecessary. Deadline's line of thinking allows them to switch up the narrative by saying the impact will be small, which tells its readers that the reason for the strikes themselves similarly lack impact. 

Week 2 Assignment - Melany Keroglyan

Week 2 Assignment - Melany Keroglyan

Post 2-3 examples of mis/disinformation from social media or other digital sources to our course blog and explain how your examples relate to themes or arguments in at least two of the readings above. Be specific, glossing each of your examples with at least a few sentences that make clear ties to the readings. Be prepared to discuss the articles in class, paying attention to how they are alike and how they differ.

Disinformation is quickly spread on the platform “Twitter” through satirical hashtags and the ability to retweet/quote tweets. In Caroline Jack’s reading, “Terms for Problematic Information,” they explain, “The “trending topics” lists on social networking platforms such as Facebook and Twitter are a relatively simple example of computational systems affecting the circulation of content. Such lists elevate a particular topic’s perceived importance, and can be gamed relatively easily if an individual or group wants to create the impression of widespread public interest in a topic.” (Jack 3). These features on the app can be manipulated by online users circulating disinformation as gags, as they can share misleading texts with hashtags, spreading their news to a broader audience and, in turn, gaining widespread visibility, leading to online popularity. Viral retweets and quote tweets are sometimes the rapid spread of fake news if individuals unaware of the falsely presented information as a farce transmit deceptive content without confirming it as factual first. For example, Hurricane Hilary caused an uproar of satirical tweets; some users claimed that the flood attraction during the Universal Studios tour ride was a real outcome of the hurricane, while other users were digitally altering their videos to show homes and garages flooding. With over 1,000 retweets and quotes, @jeremyjudkins_, a verified user on Twitter, tweeted, “Hurricane Hilary is so bad. Look at this Tesla owners garage. It’s completely totaled.” However, this tweet was fact-checked by the community notes feature on the app which stated, “This video appears to digitally altered using the Lidar 3D AR Camera Effect iOS app.” 

• Tweet link: https://twitter.com/jeremyjudkins_/status/1693364978709827830?s=42&t=4Y9pESU8eRv7v3nrAoLSvw

In Rachel Kuo and Alice Marwick’s reading, “Critical Disinformation Studies: History, Power and Politics,” they explain, “Corporations, state actors, and politicians have always spread false and misleading narratives to achieve their ideological goals. This is not just a problem with social media platforms.” (Kuo and Marwick). Disinformation to sway public ideologies is not a recent spectacle. They have occurred for years, influencing and controlling the public view, affecting how people vote and perceive individuals of specific backgrounds. Newspapers, radio, film, and other media have been used to share deceptive reports. For example, the COVID-19 anti-vaccine disinformation began with multiple right-winged individuals using social media to spread incorrect information, leading to reluctance for others to get their vaccinations and declining vaccination rates. People claimed the vaccine was a government scheme to induce autism in individuals and contain radiofrequency transmitters. Others also claim that COVID-19 does not exist and instead share holistic remedies that can result in harmful health consequences. NPR reports on a group named “Disinformation Dozen,” responsible for spreading the hoax on social media. “The claims from the “Disinformation Dozen” range from “denying that COVID exists, claiming that false cures are in fact the way to solve COVID and not vaccination, decrying vaccines and decrying doctors as being in some way venal or motivated by other factors when they recommend vaccines,” Ahmed said.” (Bond). 

Works Cited

Bond, Shannon. “Just 12 People Are behind Most Vaccine Hoaxes on Social Media, Research Shows.” NPR, NPR, 14 May 2021, www.npr.org/2021/05/13/996570855/disinformation-dozen-test-facebooks-twitters-ability-to-curb-vaccine-hoaxes. 

Kuo, Rachel, and Alice Marwick. “Critical disinformation studies: History, power, and politics.” Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review, 2021, https://doi.org/10.37016/mr-2020-76. 

Caroline Jack, “Lexicon of Lies: Terms for Problematic Information” https://datasociety.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/DataAndSociety_LexiconofLies.pdf

Week 2 Readings - Zakariya Syed

 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8618405/

The misinformation of workout videos specifically on social media is something I have been a target of ever sense I started working out at the gym. To get my gym journey started I followed these trendy social media fitness influencers because in my eyes they were the experts on working out. From then I was bombarded with so many video says "Here is how you build abs in 1 month" or "these are the only arm exercises to do when building strength". In "Lexicon of Lies: Terms for Problematic Information" Caroline Jack writes how "digital platforms systematize incentives that can drive the spread of problematic information" (3). She also states how "intentions behind any given piece of media content are rarely clear" so in actuality some of these influencers do not actual care about giving viable information but to just grow their social media to grow their audience in order to get more money from sponsorships. In order to shield myself from this misinformation I started researching on repetable sources such as Men's Health or goverment studies in order to see what workout are best for me and will help me stay health. 

https://keia.org/the-peninsula/fake-news-from-pyongyang-how-north-korea-is-using-the-internet/

Another example of misinformation is how North Korea systematically uses social media and other sources to make their country look like a trusted society while in reality it is a brute dictatorship where there is often food shortages. In the article Robert King explains how North Korea uses videos on social media to show how positive the food culture is specifically in the capitol city of Pyongyang. He writes how in a video "The restaurant is as nice as some of the best restaurants in Seoul.  In the center of the main part of the restaurant is a large fish pond, where diners choose the fresh fish they want as it swims around." King states how the reality of North Korea in actuality is that the common man can not even dream of accessing a restaurant much less afford it. This relates to the reading titled "Critical disinformation studies: History, power, and politics" where Rachel Kuo and Alice Marwick state that "Disinformation is fundamentally related to power.". In the context of the United States misinformation is used to propagate the importance of whiteness in society to control it and in North Korea the use of propagating food security is used to show the positive atmosphere society has there. 

Jacqueline Chavez: Week 2 Assignment

 https://www.xxlmag.com/cardi-b-threatens-sue-person-fake-evidence-offset-cheating-ai/

On Sunday, August 20th, 2023, Twitter user @ayywalker reported alleged evidence and allegations that Offset was cheating on Cardi B. Cardi addressed the claims on Twitter that the person behind the account would be getting sued for using AI to defame Offset. Cardi writes, “You're going to be getting sued, and we're going to make an example out of you. Yeah, and that was a terrible AI voice, by the way, so yeah, bye." This interaction is striking as it raises the question of how problematic AI could be. In Caroline Jack's article "Lexicon of Lies: Terms for Problematic Information," there is a link to an article called "To "keep Americans safe," Biden's AI executive order must ban these practices." This article talks about President Biden establishing new groundwork for the safety and liability of AI in a world where people use it to spread false information on purpose. Although the article touches more on the logistics and harm of AI in criminal and federal systems, I believe the bill would affect Cardi’s situation positively as it aims to protect Americans’ reputations and their safety firsthand by touching on the harms of AI and forbidding it to be used with tampering evidence.

https://x.com/krassenstein/status/1695232102269059376?s=46&t=1Z29QTWXZGZK2Ws054aH9w

According to reporter, Brian Krassenstein “another ridiculous conspiracy theory” has been proven wrong. Krassenstein tweets a status that  Bronny James’ cardiac arrest, “was caused by a congenital heart defect, NOT THE MRNA VACCINE.” For Krassenstein to clarify that James’ health was not caused by the mRNA vaccine means there was misinformation purposefully spread regarding the health of Bronny in the first place, as people online are quick to blame vaccines in order to spread misinformation about its credibility. In the reading from Vraga and Bode, the authors contribute to this discussion by stating that “true misinformation” is, “making an important distinction between lack of knowledge (or ignorance) and confident, yet inaccurate knowledge (true misinformation). (Vraga Bode 1) This quote parallels the action of anti-vacciners, who often go online to be ignorant with confidence, with inaccurate and unreliable information. 

Week 2 Assignment

 https://twitter.com/StookTradina/status/1695476310712218042?s=20

In this tweet, a user denies the reveal of Bronny James’s heart defect, claiming that is a cover-up for COVID vaccine damages. This would be misinformation, as it’s confidently spread by somebody who doesn’t realize that it’s false; they sincerely believe it to be true. However, there are conflicting definitions of misinformation. Some believe it’s merely holding a false belief, while others think it’s believing something debunked by expertise and evidence. Even then, expertise and evidence can be difficult to define. In this instance, the evidence is clearly false, as Bronny’s heart defect was announced after performing tests.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/27/technology/pizzagate-justin-bieber-qanon-tiktok.html

On TikTok, the PizzaGate conspiracy theory circulates on the algorithm. The central tenet of PizzaGate is that there is a hidden child trafficking ring underneath the Comet Ping Pong pizza parlor. The circulation of this theory online has had real-world implications, as a gunman opened fire in the parlor, believing he was ‘saving’ the children underneath. Within the context of the readings, this would be misinformation, as it is confidently spread by people who don’t realize it is false; it is not deliberate disinformation, which is often used to promote racist views.

Aurora Hindman - Misinformation Examples

CNN reports on Fox News story: https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/26/business/fox-news-gold-star-family-apology/index.html

PragerU YouTube Short: https://youtube.com/shorts/c3oy0HcB7yo?si=hy3oiLM7hesU4QYS

Lexicon of Lies defines disinformation as information that is deliberately false or misleading, while for misinformation, the inaccuracy is spread unintentionally. These two examples I chose, a YouTube short and a Fox News article, somewhat blur the definition lines in terms of how sure one can be about whether the spread of inaccurate or misleading information is deliberate-- that is, knowingly and purposefully. First, Fox News reported on a false story claiming the family of a Marine killed overseas had to pay $60,000 to ship her remains home because "the Pentagon refused to pay" (CNN). 

Fox News was informed of their story's inaccuracy but at first only changed their headline "to attribute the claims to Republican Rep. Cory Mills of Florida" (CNN). The article was later removed entirely from the site "without a correction or explanation." By keeping the story up but simply tweaking the phrasing to attribute the claims to someone else, Fox appears to be simply "reporting." However, now Fox knew the story was inaccurate. At this point, this is an example of disinformation. Keeping the story on the site continued the spread of misinformation, and not including corrections or fact-checking in the article meant Fox was essentially endorsing this story. Finally, when the article was removed suddenly from the site, Fox did not try to inform its consumers that the information was inaccurate.

Prager University is a conservative media organization that is not an accredited university. In their YouTube short, a young white man interviews a Black man in a casual "man on the street" style video. The interviewer asks the interviewee if he knows which political party founded the KKK, abolished slavery, and gave African-Americans the right to vote. The man guesses the Republican party first, and the Democratic party the second and third time. By asking these questions and not elaborating after the "answers," the video takes a partisan Republican-aligned position as it paints the Democratic Party in a poor light. These questions are all related to race and civil rights-- by having a Black man as the interviewee, a man who accepts the "correct" answers with a positive attitude, he is used as a token minority figure. 

This video works on the premise of technicalities, as the parties have developed and changed considerably, but kept the same names. The modern Democratic ideology is generally more progressive, while the modern Republican is more conservative in ideology. However, historically there was a "party switch" wherein the formerly conservative Democrats became more progressive, and vice versa with the Republicans, in the 20th century. This is the key to PragerU's video, that they do not discuss because they believe the party switch is a "myth." PragerU portrays the Democratic Party as "the racist party" or perhaps Republicans as "the Civil Rights party." In the text Critical Disinformation Studies, the phrase "confident yet inaccurate" is mentioned, along with the idea of misinformation versus misperceptions. Because of the party switch but modern parties keeping the same name, PragerU can imply that the historical ideologies of the parties are still the same. The accuracy of the video's information is debatable, likely based on one's political affiliation. The information is vague, and brief. While presented as facts, it eliminates context. The information is confident, but misleading, as the text describes. The misleading nature perhaps could define it as disinformation. The video spreads misperceptions.

Week 2 Assignment - Khalil Siddeeq

One of the more high-profile cases of disinformation which is 'relatively' harmless but straddles the line between satire and genuine attempts to sow confusion is a viral video which emerged in the wake of the 2023 'Crazy Plane Lady' TikTok. Said viral video, which was also in TikTok form, is of a man claiming to have been on the plane and witnessed the 'Plane Lady''s interaction with an enigmatic passenger in a hoodie, culminating in the speaker saying the man in the hoodie winked at him, but winked sideways, implying that he was inhuman in some way. Notably, the one making this claim includes a disclaimer in the video description that the story of the hoodie person was fictional, but this didn't stop his video from being shared far beyond its target audience and being stitched by dozens of people who seemed to take what he was saying seriously. Additionally, there are sour associations between conspiracies of secret inhumans and 'lizard people' with anti-Semitic and xenophobic tendencies by the people who peddle them. According to Caroline Jack in "Lexicon of Lies", this instance seems to be part hoax, part satire, part disinformation. Whether there was any intent to truly deceive is unclear, and this further illustrates just how hard it is to classify inaccurate information in any of these boxes.

Another recent example of something which intentionally or unintentionally straddles the line between dis and misinformation is another viral TikTok purportedly documenting the last moments of the Titan submersible disaster. If this is a purposeful instance of disinformation, what makes it extra insidious is how much effort was put into the production to make it look presentable. The TikTok is a sensational, almost documentary-style breakdown minute-by-minute of what was allegedly said and transmitted between the submersible and the mothership. The poster uses the word 'unconfirmed' to describe these logs, but doesn't let that stop him from spinning a gripping tale with voice-acting and animation which amassed more than 3 million likes and tens of millions of views. This example demonstrates that information need only appear convincing to gain traction, and wrapping half-truths inside of truths is extremely effective at making it so viewers don't even reasonably question what it is they're seeing.

(1) In the video posted below, the DeSantis' team posted pictures where Donald Trumps kisses Anthony Fauci on the face. The intent of this false information is obvious as DeSantis and Trump are both candidates for the Republican nomination for 2024 presidential election. Thus, it is an example of disinformation online.  https://twitter.com/DeSantisWarRoom/status/1665799058303188992?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1665799058303188992%7Ctwgr%5E073236d1681bf5eb082323f7b735e9aa536c46eb%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.reuters.com%2Fworld%2Fus%2Fis-trump-kissing-fauci-with-apparently-fake-photos-desantis-raises-ai-ante-2023-06-08%2F 

(2) Instead of finding a deepfake sex tape and then posting it, I will just forward the news on this site: https://www.popbuzz.com/celeb/manu-rios-video-ai-fake-deepfake-twitter/. The context for this story is that online users appropriate the face of Manu Rios, a Spanish actor, to make an erotic video for attention and money. In response to this video, Rios calls the online environment "scary and weird sometimes." To spread false and harmful information online for intended propose, such as clicks, is the definition of disinformation.

week 2 assignment

 https://www.tiktok.com/@camdogfx/video/7269661553358638382?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7272144550589580846

This video is clearly an example of disinformation from TikTok. The definition of disinformation matches up to the way it was defined in the article called “Lexicon of Lies: Terms for Problematic Information.” It was defined as information that is deliberately false and misleading. The creator of this video was well aware of what he was doing and it was a great example of the satire theme by exaggerating Hurricane Hillary to his audience on TikTok. He was actually at Universal Studios on a ride but tricking the audience that there was a real flash flood due to Hurricane Hillary. Satire was defined in the “Lexicon of Lies'' article as the usage of exaggeration, irony, and absurdity to amuse the audience (Jack). 

https://www.tiktok.com/@mattgarbarinofitness/video/7130696916840549674?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7272144550589580846

This video is a clear example of misinformation. The creator’s viewpoints of diet soda match up to the definition of misinformation in the article called “Defining Misinformation and Understanding it Bounded Nature.” This is so that misinformation was defined as “people hold inaccurate beliefs, and do so confidently” (Vraga and Bode). The creator is posing the argument that diet soda is absolutely harmless and you should be drinking it. While there is no true study saying diet soda is deadly and will for sure kill you if you occasionally consume it, he is promoting and encouraging people to drink the soda saying it has benefits. He also does not have credible sources and does not cite any expert. His video is ultimately coming off as misleading to many people. It also matches the theme of defining who is the expert may be hard in some misinformation cases as shown in the “Defining Misinformation and Understanding it Bounded Nature '' article. There is no way to truly define the expert in this instance of misinformation from social media. 

Welcome to the 478 Blog!

 This is the CTCS 478 Course blog. We'll use this space to post homework responses and other info throughout the term.