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Category: Social media

Elon Musk’s X is spreading deepfakes of Kamala Harris

Elon Musk’s X is spreading deepfakes of Kamala Harris

Mother Jones reports: For the second time in less than two weeks, a doctored video of Vice President Kamala Harris has spread widely on Elon Musk’s social media platform X. A video known as a “deepfake” that was posted on X on Saturday appears to show Harris repeating herself over and over again, using a crude audio rendering made to seem like Harris is struggling to finish a complete sentence. The altered video uses footage from an appearance by Harris…

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The far right has moved online, where its voice is more dangerous than ever

The far right has moved online, where its voice is more dangerous than ever

The Observer reports: The resurgence of far-right violence in the UK is in part due to Elon Musk’s decision to allow figures such as Tommy Robinson back on to the social media platform X, researchers say. Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, and those of his ilk are not leaders in the traditional sense and the far right has no central organisation capable of directing the disorder and violence that has been seen, experts say. Jacob Davey, director of…

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A polarisation engine’: How social media has created a ‘perfect storm’ for UK’s far-right riots

A polarisation engine’: How social media has created a ‘perfect storm’ for UK’s far-right riots

Carole Cadwalladr writes: The 1996 Dunblane massacre and the outcry that followed are held up in the US as a textbook example of how an act of terror mobilised a country to demand effective gun regulation. The atrocity, in which 16 children and their teacher were killed, provoked a wave of national revulsion that, within weeks, led to 750,000 people signing a petition demanding a change to the law. Within a year and a half, new legislation had outlawed the…

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How an Elon Musk PAC is using voter data to help Trump beat Harris in 2024 election

How an Elon Musk PAC is using voter data to help Trump beat Harris in 2024 election

CNBC reports: If a voter in Michigan performs a search on Google, a somewhat shocking ad might pop up. The ad shows a young man lying in bed late at night when someone else texts him, “Hey you need to vote,” and then sends the man a video of the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump. The man can hear the gunshots and people screaming in the background. As Trump is rushed off stage with blood pouring down his…

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Trump Media quietly enters deal with a Republican donor who could benefit from a second Trump administration

Trump Media quietly enters deal with a Republican donor who could benefit from a second Trump administration

By Justin Elliott, Robert Faturechi and Alex Mierjeski This story was originally published by ProPublica This month, former President Donald Trump’s media company announced it was making its first major purchase: technology to help stream TV on Truth Social, its Twitter-like platform. There was a mystery at the center of the deal: One of the companies on the other side of the transaction, which went unmentioned in Trump Media’s press release but was named in securities filings, is an obscure…

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Will Elon Musk ban himself from X after he clearly violated policy on deepfakes?

Will Elon Musk ban himself from X after he clearly violated policy on deepfakes?

Mashable reports: Amid a surge of political misinformation across the internet, X (formerly Twitter) CEO Elon Musk has taken to his own platform to share a manipulated video of Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign video. The Tesla founder and billionaire reposted the video Friday afternoon featuring an AI voice of Vice President Harris calling herself the “ultimate diversity hire.” The video, a “parody” created by right-wing YouTuber Mr. Reagan, is a re-edited version of Harris’ “We Choose Freedom” campaign video. In…

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An online army rises, this time on Kamala Harris’s side

An online army rises, this time on Kamala Harris’s side

The Washington Post reports: Jaelyn Richter, a 27-year-old therapist in the Minneapolis suburbs, was painting her basement with her husband on Sunday when she realized she had the perfect song for a TikTok video about Kamala Harris. Sitting for an hour at her kitchen island, she pieced together a music video on her phone by splicing emoji-adorned clips of Harris dancing over the voice of pop star Chappell Roan singing, “He doesn’t have what it takes to be … a…

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WARNING: Social media can be harmful to your mental health

WARNING: Social media can be harmful to your mental health

Dr. Vivek H. Murthy, the U.S. surgeon general, writes: One of the most important lessons I learned in medical school was that in an emergency, you don’t have the luxury to wait for perfect information. You assess the available facts, you use your best judgment, and you act quickly. The mental health crisis among young people is an emergency — and social media has emerged as an important contributor. Adolescents who spend more than three hours a day on social…

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Stanford’s top disinformation research group collapses under political pressure

Stanford’s top disinformation research group collapses under political pressure

The Washington Post reports: The Stanford Internet Observatory, which published some of the most influential analysis of the spread of false information on social media during elections, has shed most of its staff and may shut down amid political and legal attacks that have cast a pall on efforts to study online misinformation. Just three staffers remain at the Observatory, and they will either leave or find roles at Stanford’s Cyber Policy Center, which is absorbing what remains of the…

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Pentagon ran secret anti-vax campaign to undermine China during pandemic

Pentagon ran secret anti-vax campaign to undermine China during pandemic

Reuters reports: At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. military launched a secret campaign to counter what it perceived as China’s growing influence in the Philippines, a nation hit especially hard by the deadly virus. The clandestine operation has not been previously reported. It aimed to sow doubt about the safety and efficacy of vaccines and other life-saving aid that was being supplied by China, a Reuters investigation found. Through phony internet accounts meant to impersonate Filipinos, the…

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Secret Israeli propaganda campaign targets U.S. Congress and public using fake accounts with AI content

Secret Israeli propaganda campaign targets U.S. Congress and public using fake accounts with AI content

The New York Times reports: Israel organized and paid for an influence campaign last year targeting U.S. lawmakers and the American public with pro-Israel messaging, as it aimed to foster support for its actions in the war with Gaza, according to officials involved in the effort and documents related to the operation. The covert campaign was commissioned by Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs, a government body that connects Jews around the world with the State of Israel, four Israeli officials…

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Former Meta engineer sues company saying he was fired over handling of Gaza content

Former Meta engineer sues company saying he was fired over handling of Gaza content

Reuters reports: A former Meta engineer on Tuesday accused the company of bias in its handling of content related to the war in Gaza, claiming in a lawsuit that Meta fired him for trying to help fix bugs causing the suppression of Palestinian Instagram posts. Ferras Hamad, a Palestinian-American engineer who had been on Meta’s machine learning team since 2021, sued the social media giant in a California state court for discrimination, wrongful termination and other wrongdoing over his February…

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Tiny number of ‘supersharers’ spread the vast majority of fake news

Tiny number of ‘supersharers’ spread the vast majority of fake news

Science reports: Did you see the article claiming Kamala Harris joked about killing Mike Pence and Donald Trump? Or the one about large numbers of Trump votes being secretly switched to Joe Biden? If stories like this, run by fake news sites such as Infowars or Gatewaypundit, popped up in your social media feed about the 2020 U.S. presidential election, they probably came from a tiny group of people with a massive impact. A mere 2000 or so “supersharers” spread…

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Trump and social media have normalized public expressions of anger

Trump and social media have normalized public expressions of anger

The Observer reports: Last week a video showing 60-year-old Peter Abbott screaming abuse at TV producer Samantha Isaacs gained a viral audience, after Abbott was found guilty at Poole magistrates court of “using threatening words or behaviour to cause alarm, distress or fear of violence”. In the phone-filmed video, Abbott is seen snarling and shouting as he presses his face up against Isaacs’ car window. He looks as if he’s channelling the Harry Enfield character Angry Frank, so cartoonishly aggressive…

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SEC charges Trump Media auditor with ‘massive fraud’ on hundreds of companies, imposes lifetime ban

SEC charges Trump Media auditor with ‘massive fraud’ on hundreds of companies, imposes lifetime ban

CNBC reports: The auditing firm for Trump Media and the auditor’s owner were charged Friday with “massive fraud” by the Securities and Exchange Commission for accounting work that affected more than 1,500 SEC filings, the federal regulator announced. The auditor, BF Borgers CPA, and its owner, Benjamin Borgers, have agreed to be permanently suspended from practicing as accountants before the SEC, and also agreed to pay a combined $14 million in civil penalties, without admitting or denying the allegations, the…

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Extremist militias are coordinating in more than 100 Facebook groups

Extremist militias are coordinating in more than 100 Facebook groups

Wired reports: “Join your local Militia or III% Patriot Group,” a post urged the more than 650 members of a Facebook group called the Free American Army. Accompanied by the logo for the Three Percenters militia network and an image of a man in tactical gear holding a long rifle, the post continues: “Now more than ever. Support the American militia page.” Other content and messaging in the group is similar. And despite the fact that Facebook bans paramilitary organizing…

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