DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

Election officials in pivotal battleground states including Pennsylvania, Michigan and Arizona have all tried – and largely failed – to fact-check Musk in real time. Election officials say they are simply outmatched up against Musk’s followers and the X algorithm. “Election officials, they have a very hard job – their job is to be election officials not to be Tweeters,” said Renée DiResta, an expert in disinformation and an associate research professor at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy. Election officials in Pennsylvania are similarly attempting to fact-check Musk’s false claims on X but acknowledge those efforts are unlikely to stymie the spread of election lies. In Georgia, election officials see little point in trying to engage with Musk directly, instead turning to the method they relied on in 2020 to beat back misinformation: Regular press conferences with election officials rebutting the latest election falsehoods.

Persons: CNN — Elon, CNN they’re, “ I’ve, ”, Stephen Richer, “ We’ve, ” Richer, Donald Trump, Joe Biden, –, Jocelyn Benson, ” Benson, Musk, Benson, “, Renée DiResta, Georgetown University’s, DiResta, “ It’s, Nina Jankowicz, I’d, Elon Musk, Jim Jordan’s, they’ve, ” Jankowicz, I’ve, ” Sen, Mark Warner, X, Nick Pickles, Pickles Organizations: CNN, Republican, Trump, Georgetown, Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public, Musk’s America PAC, American Sunlight, Meta, Republicans, Democrats, Capitol, Virginia Democrat, Global Affairs Locations: Pennsylvania, Michigan, Arizona, Maricopa County, Wolverine, Georgia

☆ How some of the biggest right-wing media stars ended up as unwitting puppets of Russian propaganda
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-07 | by ( Hadas Gold | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +13 min

Now, the Justice Department is alleging that some of the biggest stars in right-wing social media were, unwittingly, part of a sinister Russian operation to influence the 2024 US election. What is Tenet Media? “Overt shilling”The Russians also pushed Tenet to promote videos that were going viral on social media, according to the indictment. Tenet Media has not responded to requests for comment and stopped posting content on Wednesday. After the 2016 US presidential election, congressional and federal investigations showed Moscow had successfully co-opted unwitting Americans to stage protests, run social media accounts and host events at its behest.

Persons: CNN — They’re, weren’t, Tim Pool, Benny Johnson, Lauren Southern, Tayler Hansen, Matt Christiansen, Dave Rubin, Johnson, MAGA influencers, Rubin, Glenn Beck’s, Enrique Tarrio, Jack Posobiec, Pool, Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr, Christiansen, Lauren Chen, Liam Donovan, Chen, Donovan, ”, Donald Trump’s, Vladimir Putin, Viktor Orban, Evgenia Novozhenina, “, Trump, Q, Justin Trudeau, Putin, Trudeau, Israel, ” Rubin, Eduard Grigoriann, “ Grigoriann, Tenet, Tucker Carlson, Carlson fawned, I’ll, Nina Jankowicz, ’, unvarnished ’, Renee DiResta, Donie O’Sullivan Organizations: CNN, Justice, Justice Department, Tenet Media, Kremlin, Vice Media, Independent, Young Turks, YouTube, Tenet, Google, Proud Boys, Blaze Media, Ukraine, The Justice Department, Republican Party, Trump, Democrats, ”, United, ISIS, Hungary's, Reuters “, Canadian, Hamas, FBI, Fox News, American Sunlight, Media, DOJ, Soviet, Stanford Internet Observatory Locations: Tennessee, Russia, Ukraine, ”, “ Ukraine, United States, Moscow, Russian, Colorado, American

☆ It’s not just you. More weird spam is popping up on Facebook
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-03 | by ( Clare Duffy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

Posts with obviously AI-generated images and confusing captions sometimes receive thousands of likes and hundreds of comments and shares. “The Facebook Feed … at times shows users AI-generated images even when they do not follow the Pages posting those images. Experts who track this kind of online behavior say there are likely several different kinds of actors behind the Facebook spam, with varying motives. Meta also automatically labels AI-generated images created with its own tools. However, there are still ways for users to strip out that metadata (or create AI images without it) to evade detection.

Persons: you’re, “, ”, Ben Decker, Erin Logan, De Marco, Lewis Hine, Hany Farid, Amy Couch ”, Kris, influencer, We’ve, Amy Couch, Renee DiResta, Josh Goldstein, David Evan Harris, Harris, ” Harris, cheeseburgers, Jair, Bolsonaro, ” Farid, Meta Organizations: New, New York CNN, Facebook, Meta, National Child Labor, Google, Library of Congress, CNN, UC Berkeley, “ Cubs, Stanford, Georgetown, Media Locations: New York, TikTok, New Jersey, Meta

☆ Renée DiResta: We Are Losing the Battle Against Election Disinformation - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-25 | by ( Renée Diresta | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In 2020, the Stanford Internet Observatory, where I was until recently the research director, helped lead a project that studied election rumors and disinformation. As part of that work, we frequently encountered conspiratorial thinking from Americans who had been told the 2020 presidential election was going to be stolen. First, an image or video, such as a photo of a suitcase near a polling place, was posted as evidence of wrongdoing. The poster would tweet the purported evidence, tagging partisan influencers or media accounts with large followings. Partisan media would follow.

Organizations: Stanford Internet Observatory

☆ Opinion | Why MAGA Loves Russia and Hates Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-08 | by ( David French | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

As I type this newsletter, continued American aid for Ukraine is in grave doubt. And we’re receiving reports from the front lines that Russia is advancing, in part because of Ukrainian ammunition shortages. Ronald Reagan isn’t just rolling over in his grave; he may also lurch from it in a fit of incredulous rage. To explain the intensity of Republican resistance to Ukraine aid, I need to return to a concept I wrote about in November: that of bespoke realities. But the mass Republican movement against Ukraine is rooted far less in policy than it is in a particular bespoke reality of the MAGA universe, in which Ukraine is a pernicious villain, Putin is a flawed hero and Russia should have crushed Ukraine long ago.

Persons: Tucker Carlson, Vladimir Putin, Ronald Reagan isn’t, Renée DiResta, MAGA, Putin Organizations: Stanford Internet Observatory Locations: Ukraine, Moscow, Russia

TikTok app logo is seen in this illustration taken, August 22, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsNov 16 (Reuters) - TikTok will prohibit content that promotes Osama bin Laden's 2002 letter detailing the former al Qaeda leader's justifications for attacks against Americans, the short-form video app said on Thursday. "Content promoting this letter clearly violates our rules on supporting any form of terrorism," TikTok said in a statement, adding that reports that it was "trending" on the platform were inaccurate. A search for "Letter to America" on TikTok surfaced no results on Thursday, with a notice that said the phrase may be associated with "content that violates our guidelines." On Wednesday, The Guardian removed the full text of bin Laden's letter, which it had published in 2002.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Osama bin, al, Laden, TikTok, Josh Gottheimer, Andrew Bates, Renee DiResta, Sheila Dang, David Shepardson, Rosalba O'Brien, David Gregorio Our Organizations: REUTERS, U.S, Democratic, Guardian, Stanford Internet Observatory, Thomson Locations: al Qaeda, Israel, United States, Pakistan, America, Austin, Washington

REGULATORY SCRUTINYWhile disinformation has spread on all major social media platforms including Facebook and TikTok, X appeared to be the most recent to draw scrutiny from regulators. On Tuesday, European Union Commissioner Thierry Breton warned Musk that X was spreading "illegal content and disinformation," according to a letter Breton posted on X. Musk himself recommended that X users follow two accounts that had previously spread false claims for "real-time" updates on the conflict, the Washington Post reported. False information has also spread on messaging app Telegram and short-form video app TikTok, said DFRLab's Trad. Like other online platforms, YouTube has moderation employees and technology to remove content that violates its rules.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Ruslan Trad, X, Bruno Mars miscaptioned, Thierry Breton, Breton, Musk, Renee DiResta, Jack Brewster, Brewster, Tamara Kharroub, DFRLab's Trad, TikTok, Solomon Messing, there's, Messing, Kharroub, Sheila Dang, Riniki Sanyal, Deepa Babington Organizations: Twitter, REUTERS, Elon, European Union, Reuters, Atlantic, Forensic Research, Hamas, Meta, Facebook, European, EU, Stanford Internet Observatory, Washington Post, Washington, Arab Center Washington DC, New York University's Center for Social Media, YouTube, Thomson Locations: Israel, American, New, Dallas, Bangalore

☆ Maui conspiracy theories are spreading on social media. Why this always happens after a disaster
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-26 | by ( Samantha Murphy Kelly | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —A slew of viral conspiracy videos on social media have made baseless claims that the Maui wildfires were started intentionally as part of a land grab, highlighting how quickly misinformation spreads after a disaster. Still, conspiracy theories continue to circulate as nearly 400 people are still unaccounted for. It’s not uncommon for conspiracy theories to make the rounds after a national crisis. Social media platform X did not immediately respond to a request for comment. That means posts sharing conspiracy theories that spark fear and emotion may perform better in a crisis than those sharing straightforward, accurate information.

Persons: hasn’t, Hurricane Dora, It’s, Renee DiResta, ” DiResta, “, ”, TikTok, Elena Hernandez, ” Hernandez, Instagram, Michael Inouye, ” Inouye Organizations: CNN, Electric, Stanford University, SpaceX, YouTube, ABI Research Locations: Maui —, Maui, Hurricane, ”, California, Hawaii

☆ Twitter research group stall complicates compliance with new EU law
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Sheila Dang | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

Twitter signed a voluntary agreement in June with the EU related to the DSA committing to "empowering the research community" through means including sharing datasets about disinformation with researchers. The EU law would require platforms with over 45 million EU users to respond to EU-vetted researcher proposals. THE WORK OF THE CONSORTIUMThe research consortium was formed in response to backlash against Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Twitter had been preparing to disclose at least a dozen new datasets to researchers before then, the former employees said. If the research consortium is eliminated, "we will be returning to the 2017 era of limited shared communication about malicious state actor activity," said Renée DiResta, research manager at Stanford Internet Observatory.

☆ A court just ruled that CFPB's funding is unconstitutional, and that could be 'catastrophic' for mortgage markets
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( Stephanie Dhue | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Mortgage rules at riskIf the agency's legal authority is undermined, it could have a profound affect on home lending markets — an industry that's prone to disruption when laws are murky, especially as interest rates rise. That extended the potential damages to the Wall Street banks as well as mortgage investors Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Appeal likelyIf the Fifth Circuit decision is upheld, it could call into question those long-standing mortgage rules. "The loss of the CFPB mortgage regulations and the effect on the market would catastrophic," said Andreano. "Potential changes in how the CFPB are funded aren't likely to have an immediate effect on the mortgage market."

Search resuls for: "DiResta"

10 mentions found