Deception Blog

Notable stories on disinformation

The Week of June 23, 2025

FPRI. Burkina Faso: Powerful disinformation lab is an international security disaster

Report by Raphael Parens: Burkina Faso government is struggling to deliver basic services, the country’s literacy rate is low--both the quality of education and the number of students enrolled in primary and secondary schools are low. The lack of education is problematic on its own, but when combined with the junta government’s approach to propaganda and controlling the flow of information, it is a fiasco. Echo chambers exist across the world, but in Burkina Faso they are heavily enforced by the government and fostered by an education system that does not prioritize critical thinking. -gjw

MSNBC. Disinformation' from the top down is being used against judges

Podcast: U.S. District Judge for the District of New Jersey, Esther Salas, discusses Speak Up for Justice, a forum of legal voices aimed at warning against the dangers of politicizing and intimidating legal figures. -gjw

The Week of June 16, 2025

BBC. Israel-Iran conflict unleashes wave of AI disinformation

Videos created using artificial intelligence boast of Iran's military capabilities, alongside fake clips showing the aftermath of strikes on Israeli targets. -gjw

The Intercept. Politically-spun disinformation colors murder before facts known

Bots and influencers distort real-world violence before leads can be investigated and facts determined. -gjw

Guardian. Oklahoma schools teach 2020 election conspiracy theories as fact

Oklahoma state superintendent Ryan Walters installed Heritage Foundation chief, key behind Project 2025, for curriculum guidance. -gjw

The Week of May 7, 2025

BBC. India strike on Pakistan: ‘Operation Sindoor’ unleash wave of misinformation online

One video, which had more than 400,000 views on X at the time of writing, claiming to show an explosion caused by a Pakistani response was actually from the 2020 Beirut Port explosion in Lebanon. -acb

Science/AAAS. Vaccine experts rally together to counter US administration misinformation

The Vaccine Integrity Project is being spearheaded by the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) at the University of Minnesota and funded by Christy Walton, an heir to the Walmart fortune. -acb

The Week of April 14, 2025

Politico. State Department eliminates office fighting foreign disinformation

Secretary of State Rubio claimed the Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference office at the State Department, formerly known as the Global Engagement Center, had “spent millions of dollars to actively silence and censor the voices of Americans they were supposed to be serving.” -gjw

The Week of March 24, 2025

NYT. Trump fuels a “machinery of misinformation”

Government watchdog Common Cause said the administration had pursued a strategy of “disinformation overload” that was overwhelming not only its opponents but also the judicial system. - gjw

EHN. EPA staff letter accuses Trump of deception to support fringe ideology

Trump is making accusations of fraud, waste, and abuse as justification for firing federal workers and defunding critical environmental programs. But the real waste, fraud, and abuse would be to strip away these funds from the American people. - gjw

NYT. Vast quantities of climate and environmental information have been removed from official websites

Hundreds of volunteers, including EOT Harvest members Internet Archive and EDGI, are working to download government data recreate the digital tools that allow the public to access that information. - gjw

PBS. First-hand stories of digital misinformation boosting paranoid thinking

Zach Mack and David Robert Grimes wanted to find out why people we think we know, in this case Mack’s father, turn to conspiracy thinking. Truncated, flawed, simplistic report, yet with some valid analysis. - gjw

Guardian. More US states report measles cases amid vaccine misinformation

RFK jr has shied away from directly recommending vaccinations during the recent outbreak while also promoting alternative treatments. He has also suggested the Texas child who died of measles last week was unhealthy or malnourished, despite medical reports that she was healthy and had no underlying conditions. - gjw

The Week of March 17, 2025

CAAD. German elections: AfD-led disinformation puts climate action at stake

Climate misinformation spread during the German election period primarily on X, Telegram and TikTok. This was supported by platform and media amplification, and was part of a wider trend of climate denial worldwide. - gjw

The Week of March 10, 2025

The Free Press. How the U.S. Government Controls Ukrainian Media
USAID funded the vast majority of 'independent' media in Ukraine. What American taxpayers don't realize is that their money went to suppressing the truth. - ab

Times of Israel. Gaza documentary translates ‘Jihad’ to ‘resistance,’ ‘Jews’ to ‘Israeli army’
In fresh scrutiny of controversial film, report accuses broadcaster of ‘whitewashing’ terror support with what an Israeli diplomat calls ‘intentional mistranslations’. “Gaza: How To Survive a War Zone” was deleted from the news agency’s streaming service when mentions of ‘Jihad’ and ‘Jews’ had been mistranslated, the Telegraph newspaper reported. The Telegraph also reported the narrator was the son of a Hamas leader. - dg

The Week of February 24, 2025

France 24. US propagandist paid by Kremlin targets German election with network of fake news sites
A US fugitive linked to the Kremlin runs AI-generated fake news sites to boost Germany's far-right AfD. - jy
Newsweek+Newsguard. Russia's War on Ukraine: Three Years, Three Hundred and Two False Claims
NewsGuard debunked 302 Russian propaganda claims on Ukraine, increasingly driven by AI and false corruption narratives. - jy

The Week of February 4, 2025

BBC. Kari Lake to lead Voice of America
Election loss-denier nominated to lead America’s voice to the world. - gw

The Week of January 28, 2025

AP. FACT FOCUS: A look at false and misleading claims Trump made at inaugural events
The AP fact-checked statements made during Trump's inaugural events, including false claims about the 2020 election, inflation rates under the Biden administration, and the impact of tariffs. - jy