COVID-related disinformation and vaccine hesitancy keep leading the fake news parade. It continues to amaze me that about a third of the people in this country insist on believing random people on social media rather than the legions of doctors, scientists, and other experts who report the facts that the COVID vaccine is both safe … Continue reading Fake News for the Week Ending August 6, 2021
As we come to the end of what many consider the worst year in human history (top ten, maybe, but far from the worst, no matter how it may feel), let's take a moment to review the impact that fake news had on society. Long story short: a lot. Conspiracy theories, misinformation, disinformation, hoaxes, propaganda, … Continue reading Fake News 2020: The Year in Review
If 2020 were a movie, the screenwriter would be fired for writing such an outlandish, ridiculous, unbelievable script. The latest development, just hours old as I write this, is the news that President Donald J. Trump has tested positive for the COVID-19 coronavirus. How this affects the campaign and upcoming election remains to be seen, … Continue reading Fake News for the Week Ending October 2, 2020
It's Labor Day weekend, but fake news is not taking a holiday. Russia is hard at work to disrupt the upcoming elections with all manner of disinformation and fake news. This week both Facebook and Twitter removed multiple accounts linked to Russian state actors who tried to spread false stories about racial justice, the Democratic … Continue reading Fake News for the Week Ending September 4, 2020
I am tired of all the cries of "hoax" and "fake news" around the very real facts and recommendations from scientists and other experts regarding wearing masks and fighting the COVID-19 coronavirus. My fake news choices this week probably reflect that, to some degree. Let's start with President Donald J. Trump and an interview he … Continue reading Fake News for the Week Ending July 24, 2020
What did John Lennon know about fake news? "Nothing is real," he wrote in "Strawberry Fields Forever," and sometimes it seems that is true. Oliver Taylor is a twenty-something student at Britain's University of Birmingham. He's a coffee lover and politics junkie who was raised in a traditional Jewish home. He writes editorials and blog … Continue reading Fake News for the Week Ending July 17, 2020
Here's all the fake news that's not fit to print... Apparently exposure to Sean Hannity can be deadly. According to experts, misinformation spread by Fox News and other conservative media "may have intensified the severity" of the COVID-19 pandemic. Three different studies "paint a picture of a media ecosystem that entertains conspiracy theories and discourages … Continue reading Fake News for the Week Ending June 26, 2020
There was a lot happening in the world of fake news this week, starting with: A 26-minute excerpt from the upcoming video documentary "Plandemic: The Hidden Agenda Behind Covid-19" has been floating around the Internet. This is not a good thing, as the documentary itself is rife with conspiracy theories and dangerous misinformation. As such, … Continue reading Fake News for the Week Ending May 8, 2020
Here's all the fake news that's real this week: Given the developing situation in Iran, it is not perhaps surprising to see this old bit of fake news make a resurgence. (It popped in my personal news feed from a right-wing friend of mine.) It's a fake tweet from a parody account, supposedly by Muslim … Continue reading Fake News for the Week Ending January 10, 2020
Here's the real news about fake news this week: Donald Trump has done a lot of questionable things in his three years as president, but he did not pardon Charles Manson, despite what alleged Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson thinks. Snopes does the debunking. Deepfake videos are a problem not just for politicians but also … Continue reading Fake News for the Week Ending December 13, 2019
