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This Week in Misinformation: Carlson Out, Epps (Wants) Out, and Musk Toys with Blue Checks

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This Week in Misinformation: Carlson Out, Epps (Wants) Out, and Musk Toys with Blue Checks

27 April 2023

Prism Metanews
Apr 28, 2023
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This Week in Misinformation: Carlson Out, Epps (Wants) Out, and Musk Toys with Blue Checks

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Keeping up on misinformation is basically the best thing you can do for your brain. So glad you’re here!

Give this newsletter a share, won’t you? Posting a snippet to social can be a good taste for people in your network, or sending this email directly also tends to work well. 🙂

Reliability scores for media outlets cited in the summary are in parentheses for each, courtesy of the terrific folks at Ad Fontes Media.

Now, on to our top stories.

Conspiracy theorists across America and beyond mourned the deplatforming of Tucker Carlson.

  • Tucker’s leaving, announced here by Fox News channel (24.83), by all accounts seems to have come on suddenly (New York Times. 42.09). The reasons that caused the breakup (Nieman Lab) are a little unclear still, but we know it wasn’t that Tucker was bad for Rupert Murdoch’s bottom line (ABC News, 46.57); after he left, no small number of Tucker’s viewers jumped over to Fox rival Newsmax (New York Times). His supporters had a lot of theories about what really led to his firing: Tucker had revealed too much for the Deep State’s comfort (he is encouraging this one).; it was because of Ray Epps; or maybe simply that he was close to busting the true truth of January 6th wide open.

  • The QAnon community had all kinds of feelings about this development (VICE, 39.07), but one that came up a lot was that being fired is the best thing that could happen for people who want the truth about the power elites to come out more fully (@QOrigins via Twitter).

  • To appreciate the loss felt by proponents of some pretty racist, conspiratorial stuff this week (@QOrigins via Twitter), one has to understand the great extent to which Tucker’s show was the means by which no small number of fringe conspiracy theories (NPR, 43.29) and far-right ideologies (NBC News, 45.08) were laundered and beamed into millions of Americans’ living rooms. The Russian government saw it similarly, with the foreign minister lamenting that free speech and the richness of perspectives in American discourse had suffered (CNN, 42.39).

January 6th alternate reality main character Ray Epps was featured on 60 Minutes.

  • The interview with the flagship CBS news program was another chance for Mr. Epps to tell his story: he isn't and never has been a federal agent (CBS News, ), and he just wants Tucker Carlson and others to stop destroying his life (Insider, ). He wants to put January 6th behind him, but can’t because of the nonstop conspiracy theories about him and the harassment that follows them (CBS News, 44.09).

  • I won’t link directly to any of it, but the 60 Minutes segment naturally brought out of the woodwork the many, many people who want others to believe Epps was some kind of mastermind and that January 6th as we know it wouldn’t have happened without him. (I cover more about the Ray Epps belief system and a lot else besides in the Prism Guide to January 6th, so head over and check that out!)

Uncle Elon arbitrarily added blue checks back to large-following Twitter accounts.

  • Lots of legacy verified accounts that were recently stripped of the once-meaningful badge had it restored again without warning or explanation (BBC, 46.15). Many of these appear to have been removed again as of this writing, but who even knows anymore?

  • Blue checks were added, then lost again, then added again for some of Twitter’s highest profile accounts, including celebrities who have been dead for some time (Washington Post, 38.07) and a number of news organizations that lost it even before last week (@Shayan86 via Twitter).

  • More than a few of those affected believed it was Musk messing with them, which he seemed to acknowledge. My guess is he was disappointed in the negligibly low number of legacy blue checks that converted to a Twitter Blue subscription, and the efforts of prominent people to avoid association with what the check mark now means--or outright block every account that still has one (Washington Post).

  • As for misinformation: some suggested it was a simple matter of the badge being restored to accounts that had 1 million or more followers, but this was quickly debunked in a couple ways (@Shayan86 and @travisbrown via Twitter). The main reason we’re addressing it in this publication, though, is that by playing these games Musk has rendered “verification” useless as a tool to help users know they’re seeing messages from the people and organizations they think they’re seeing messages from (The Verge, 44.19). And that has consequences (New York Times).

Would ya look at that? It’s a grab bag: the Proud Boys blame Trump for what they did on January 6th as a jury begins deliberations on their fate; former VPOTUS Mike Pence testifies at length to the federal Trump grand Jury; Trump names the “Deep State” as a target for his next presidency; Florida’s surgeon general made some very questionable changes to a study on COVID vaccine safety; Facebook’s oversight board calls for an investigation into the amplification of misinformation on the site; the GOP counterprograms Biden’s reelection announcement with a dark, AI-aided ad warning of imagined catastrophe if he gets a second term; the current Biden administration announces it will take new actions to “manage” regional migration, including addressing rampant misinformation in origin countries about U.S. immigration policy and enforcement; a Czech teacher is on trial over alleged Ukraine war misinformation; and misinformation comes to the NFL draft.

All that, and a lot more, below. This is This Week in Misinformation.

-- Kevin


JANUARY 6TH

Former Vice President Pence testifies to federal grand jury investigating Donald Trump and January 6 (CNN)
Pence testifies before federal grand jury investigating Trump's role in Jan. 6 (NBC News)
Pence Appears Before Grand Jury on Trump’s Efforts to Retain Power (New York Times)
Mike Pence Testifies Before Jan. 6 Grand Jury Investigating Donald Trump (Wall Street Journal)
Mike Pence testifies before special counsel’s 2020 election grand jury: Sources (ABC News)
Mike Pence testified to federal grand jury about Donald Trump and Jan. 6 (USA Today)
A second firm hired by Trump campaign found no evidence of election fraud (Washington Post)
Video: 60 Minutes features supposed January 6th conspiracy figure Ray Epps (via Twitter)
Transcript: January 6 protester Ray Epps says he relives Capitol riot every day (CBS News)
Jan. 6 committee staffer: ‘Zero evidence that Ray Epps was a federal agent’ (CBS News)
Jan 6: Ray Epps says Tucker Carlson is trying to 'destroy' his life (Insider)
Special counsel investigating January 6 interested in former Fox News producer's audiotapes, her lawyer says (CNN)
Dominic Pezzola blames police for inflaming mob (WUSA 9)
In closing arguments, Proud Boys say 'lying' witness — also a Proud Boy — can't be trusted (WUSA 9)
Prosecution and Defense Sum Up at Proud Boys Jan. 6 Sedition Trial (New York Times)
Proud Boys were 'thirsting for violence' on Jan. 6, DOJ says in closing arguments (NBC News)
'A fighting force lined up behind Trump' | Prosecutors say Proud Boys came to D.C. ready for war on Jan. 6 (WUSA 9)
Proud Boys were ready for ‘all-out war’ before January 6, prosecutors argue (The Guardian)
Prosecutor: Proud Boys viewed themselves as ‘Trump’s army’ (Associated Press)
Proud Boys saw themselves as ‘Trump’s army,’ U.S. says in trial closings (Washington Post)
Proud Boys blame Trump as defendants prepare to find out fate in sedition trial (NBC News)
Proud Boys leaders: Trump caused Jan. 6 attack (Politico)
Proud Boys' seditious conspiracy trial in hands of jury (PBS)
Jury deliberates on major Jan. 6 case against Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio (PBS)
Ex-Proud Boys head rails against DOJ in Twitter Spaces event as case heads to jury (NBC News)

ELECTIONS

Fox’s settlement with Dominion unlikely to cost it $787.5M (Associated Press)
Dominion CEO on Fox News: ‘They knew the truth’ (CBS News)
Smartmatic wants more than Dominion’s $787 million payout, plus a retraction from Fox for its 2020 election lies, lawyer says (CNN)
Fox News to hand over additional documents in Smartmatic case (The Hill)
Fox News to turn over more evidence in Smartmatic defamation suit, including Murdoch documents (ABC News)
Fox agrees to give more Murdoch docs to Smartmatic in its defamation case (CNN)
The Fox News Defamation Trial Hurt Trust Among Some Viewers (FiveThirtyEight)
Debunking MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell's false election theories (NPR)

QANON & COMPANY

Kid Rock tweets about ‘Hollywood pedophile ring’ (@RonFilipkowski via Twitter)
Trump zeroes in on a key target of his ‘retribution’ agenda (NBC News)
On Eve of Trial, Discovery of Carlson Texts Set Off Crisis Atop Fox (New York Times)
FOX News Media, Tucker Carlson part ways (Fox News)
Tucker Carlson out at Fox News (CNN)
Fox News Parts Ways With Tucker Carlson Days After Dominion Settlement (New York Times)
What we know so far about Tucker Carlson’s shocking Fox News departure (Vox)
Tucker Carlson is out at Fox News, and what matters is why (Nieman Lab)
Tucker Carlson has lost his job – but the far right has won the battle for the mainstream (The Guardian)
Online, QAnon says firing will free Tucker (@QOrigins via Twitter)
QAnon influencer: Tucker was fired because he was breaking the January 6th case wide open (@PokerPolitics via Twitter)
Jack Posobiec asserts a connection between 60 Minutes doing Ray Epps and the Tucker firing (via Twitter)
Elon Musk megafan suggests the Deep State moved against Tucker for ‘revealing too much’ (@MattWallace888 via Twitter)
QAnon promoter Liz Crokin: Tucker and Pizzagate? (@Shayan86 via Twitter)
Satan Fired Tucker Carlson, Right-Wing Christians Say (Rolling Stone)
RFK Jr thinks Tucker’s firing could have been about his brave reporting on vaccines (via Twitter)
Far right laments Tucker Carlson’s ouster and loss of its shot at the mainstream (NBC News)
How Tucker Carlson mainstreamed fringe conspiracy theories (NPR)
Far-right Telegram: Tucker was the voice for the Great Replacement conspiracy theory (@QOrigins via Twitter)
Tucker Carlson Is Out at Fox News and QAnon Is Taking It Just Fine (@daithaigilbert via VICE)
See how top Russian official reacted to Tucker Carlson's departure (CNN)
Fox ratings tumble in Tucker Carlson slot after his firing (ABC News)
Newsmax Ratings Climb After Tucker Carlson's Exit at Fox (New York Times)
Where is Tucker Carlson going next? Organizations extend offers (CBS News)
Tucker Carlson video nets 57 million views in less than 24 hours (The Hill)

COVID & HEALTH

COVID response exposed ‘collective national incompetence,’ commission says (Axios)
Dr. Fauci Looks Back: ‘Something Clearly Went Wrong’ (New York Times)
Florida surgeon general altered key findings in study on Covid-19 vaccine safety (Politico)
FACT FOCUS: COVID vaccines are not in the food supply (ABC News)
No, brain aneurysms are not a ‘common’ side effect of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines (Poynter)
Fauci mask comments misrepresented online (Agence France Presse)
Tracking and combating the rise of false online information about abortion (PBS)

PLATFORMS

State-controlled media experience sudden Twitter gains after unannounced platform policy change (DFR Lab)
Twitter removes labels from state-controlled media, helping propaganda (Washington Post)
Twitter drops 'government-funded' label on media accounts, including in China (Reuters)
Twitter changes stoke Russian, Chinese disinformation (PBS)
Some large news organization handles get their verified marks back without explanation (@Shayan86 via Twitter)
Many large accounts report having blue check restored without request or explanation (@ddale8 via Twitter)
The relabeling appears to have started with dril, who had been outspoken about blocking blue checks after the change (via Twitter)
dril had the blue check for a short time (@chrissyteigen via Twitter)
Then dril’s blue check went away (via Twitter)
Chrissy Teigen also got the blue check briefly after she complained about dril (via Twitter)
Users report that changing your screen name seems to make the blue check go away (@alexplank via Twitter)
So that’s what dril does, to mixed success (@AFeralDavid via Twitter)
In the middle of dril dodging his blue check punishment, Twitter notifies him his account is under review (via Twitter)
Twitter's blue tick restored to high profile accounts (BBC)
Some say the criteria for restoral is 1M followers, but it is more arbitrary than that (@Shayan86 via Twitter)
More than 100 accounts above 1M followers did not get the blue check again (@travisbrown via Twitter)
But overall the policy seems be targeted mostly at power users, celebrities (@JoyceWhiteVance via Twitter)
Kara Swisher got ‘LeBroned, Shatnered, Kinged’ without her consent (via Twitter)
Famous deceased people had blue checks applied, falsely saying they had subscribed to Twitter Blue and provided their telephone number: Kobe Bryant, Norm Macdonald, Anthony Bourdain, Chadwick Boseman, John McCain (via Twitter)
These celebrities ‘subscribed to Twitter Blue.’ Except they’re dead. (Washington Post)
Soledad O’Brien’s badge came back as the gold check for some reason (@MuellerSheWrote via Twitter)
dril suggests the false implication of celebrity endorsement could be legally actionable (via Twitter)
Twitter users are now wondering if mandatory blue checks are illegal (The Verge)
How Elon Musk Turned the Blue Check Mark Into a Scarlet Letter (Slate)
Twitter users #BlockTheBlue as ‘verified’ accounts take on new meaning (Washington Post)
Paul Krugman says he doesn’t want the blue check because of what it now means, and Elon Musk mocks him in replies (via Twitter)
Musk appears to admit ‘trolling’ #BlockTheBlue leaders (@MattBinder via Twitter)
On the business side, Twitter’s move to de-badge legacy blue checks pushed just a couple dozen users to subscribe to stay ‘verified’ (@oneunderscore__ via Twitter)
Blue subscribers accuse accounts, including MIT and the Auschwitz Memorial, who clarify they didn’t pay for verification of being against free speech MIT and Auschwitz Memorial examples (@oneunderscore__ and @EricColumbus via Twitter)
Blue subscriber favorably compares paying for a checkmark to being in demand the same way the ‘unvaccinated’ are (@knowmiun via Twitter)
Twitter seemingly now requires all advertisers to have a verified checkmark (TechCrunch)
Twitter verified a previously banned far-right party in the UK and its members (@lizziedearden via Twitter)
Tweets Become Harder to Believe as Labels Change Meaning (New York Times)
Disaster alert accounts are preparing for a world after Twitter (The Verge)
Meta Oversight Board urges investigation into platform’s role in amplifying misinformation (The Verge)
Meta phased out Covid-19 content labels after finding they did little to combat misinformation, Oversight Board says (CNN)
To mark Earth Day, TikTok will begin removing 'climate change misinformation' (Yahoo! News)
Inside the Discord Where Thousands of Rogue Producers Are Making AI Music (VICE)
RNC slams Biden in AI-generated ad (Axios)
Republicans counter Biden announcement with dystopian, AI-aided video (Washington Post)
Magazine editor sacked over AI-generated Schumacher interview (Reuters)
Misinformation machines? Tech titans grappling with how to stop chatbot 'hallucinations' (Fox News)
Our misplaced faith in AI is turning the internet into a cesspool of misinformation and spam (Salon)
Study sheds light on how deplatforming after the Jan. 6 riot impacted the larger online ecosystem (PsyPost)

GOVERNMENT & POLICY

U.S. Government Announces Sweeping New Actions to Manage Regional Migration (Department of State)

INTERNATIONAL

Twitter once muzzled Russian and Chinese state propaganda. That's over now (NPR)
Czech teacher on trial over Ukraine war misinformation (BBC)

GENERAL/OTHER

‘Tell a more complete story’ and other lessons from a new report on mistrust of news media (Nieman Lab)
As NFL draft hysteria ramps up, so too does misinformation around teams (USA Today)
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This Week in Misinformation: Carlson Out, Epps (Wants) Out, and Musk Toys with Blue Checks

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