This Week in Misinformation: Conspiracy Massacre, Disinfo Ascendant, Too Much Elon, Joe Rogan-Australia
19 May 2022
This Prism newsletter strives to be the paper of record for all that’s happening in misinformation. For any citizen whose life is impacted by misinformation, it helps you see how storylines evolve from multiple, sourced angles on important stories in one place. For amateur and professional misinformation watchers, it is your go-to resource for updates on peers, platforms, propagandists, and politicians. Learn more about Prism and our other products on our Substack page, follow us on Twitter, or like us on Facebook!
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Reliability scores for media outlets cited in the summary are in parentheses for each, courtesy of the terrific folks at Ad Fontes Media.
We did a fun thing this week, hosting expert fact-checkers in an audio chat on Twitter to talk about a range of issues in the business of debunking! Check it out.
Now, on to our top stories.
In Buffalo, a young white man acted out the logical, murderous conclusions of racist conspiracy theories he had fallen into.
Targeting a Buffalo neighborhood with a relatively high concentration of Black people (New York Times, 43.98), the shooter (who we won’t name) entered a grocery store with intent to unload his AR-15. And unload he did, killing ten people and injuring many others (Washington Post, 41.31). We know his motives because he left a lengthy written explanation of his racist, conspiratorial convictions (NBC News, 45.80) and had also splashed them across the Internet for months beforehand (New York Times, 43.98). He had learned somewhere online, wrongly, that Black people were being sent to replace white people in America--and decided to take matters into his own hands (Associated Press, 48.82).
The theory that inspired him, sometimes shorthanded “Great Replacement,” is one whose precepts have been given voice and credibility in recent years by the conservative infosphere’s use of them to stoke anti-immigration fear and outrage (Washington Post, 41.31). Republicans, including a party leader in the House of Representatives (New York Times, 43.98) and even some people running for U.S. Senate (Associated Press, 48.82) have been peddling a version (New York Times, 43.98)--if sometimes watered down (The Atlantic, 39.31)--of the theory. Less watered down is the way Fox’s Tucker Carlson has repeatedly asserted that a shadowy “they” intends to replace real Americans with nonwhite people (NBC News, 45.80). President Biden, by contrast, was somehow able to denounce white supremacy in all its forms in his speech following the massacre (NPR, 44.46).
The tragedy has experts discussing what tech platforms should do, and what they will be able to do under the new Texas law (Politico, 42.75), with respect to the extremist propaganda that came from it (New York Times, 43.98). Some have noted that the gaming communities this young man took part in probably played a role in indoctrinating him into this hateful ideology (Axios, 44.39).
As is by now common in the wake of mass violence by white men, conservatives and conspiracy theorists like Laura Loomer (Mediaite, 39.99), Q followers (@coolfacejane via Twitter), Alex Jones (Media Matters, -), and Arizona’s own elected Republican Wendy Rogers (@Garrett_Archer via Twitter) almost immediately came out saying the attack was a false flag. That it was staged. They say these things because many people believe it, and many people believe it because they hear it said so often.
In a story that’s almost too on the nose for Prism Metanews, the Disinformation Governance Board is no more.
The Department of Homeland Security’s internal working group, which set out to safeguard civil liberties as teams across the organization work against foreign disinformation, was disbanded. The Wall Street Journal (45.38) editorial board took an obligatory victory lap and claimed the mere creation of the board “sparked public mistrust”--without mentioning that the premise of that mistrust was faulty in the first place. The move moots efforts by House Republicans to defund the office (The Hill, 43.56).
By falsely labeling the board a “ministry of truth” and attributing to it authorities it never had or aspired to, opponents of the Board lured even center-left outlets like the Associated Press (48.82) and PBS (48.36) into blaming the closure on “free speech questions.” The New York Times (43.98), similarly, highlighted the supposed irony of the panel becoming a victim of what it was supposed to prevent (New York Times, 43.98)--again ignoring that its charter was actually to minimize real and perceived infringements on Americans’ freedom of expression, not combat disinformation directly. Too savvy by half, guys; you fell back into the fake version a little there.
Nina Jankowicz, the disinformation expert tapped to chair the working group, resigned shortly after news broke of the operation going on pause. Out of context and old comments by Ms Jankowicz, and the board’s mission itself, were grossly and repeatedly misrepresented online (Associated Press, 48.82). Some are blaming the Biden administration for letting right-wing attacks derail the effort and leaving Ms. Jankowicz out to dry (Washington Post, 41.31).
We were going to do a full third paragraph here about Elon Musk and Twitter, but with so much above and a camping trip to pack for in the morning, let’s keep it short! 1) Uncle Elon put the deal “on hold,” which isn’t a thing, 2) Trump and Snoop Dogg shared thoughts, 3) there was a poop emoji tweet, and 4) things got really political, kind of bigoted, and a little conspiratorial before finally 5) Insider (43.21) dropped a story about sexual harassment allegations against Musk. More, most assuredly more, next week.
You know what, we both deserve a grab bag: Masha Gessen is out with a deep dive into Putin’s propaganda machine; tech companies are asking the Supreme Court for relief from the Texas law; Twitter moved to add some content guardrails during crises such as natural disasters and public health emergencies; far-right plans to sabotage elections continue to proliferate, led by a QAnon influencer in South Carolina; Joe Rogan does a whole bit, dopey voice and all, about how Australia has outlawed growing your own food only to learn it was fake in the middle of his show; anti-abortion groups are targeting women with misleading ads that lure them to phony, manipulative “advice clinics”; anti-vaccine grifters, hustlers, and charlatans have made the COVID-19 death toll much worse; Donald Trump Jr. posts a New World Order conspiracy meme that includes pro-Russia sentiment AND an anti-sememtic dog whistle; a QAnon fan secures the GOP nomination for governor in Pennsylvania, and he's not the only election truther, either, and by the way Pennsylvania Senate GOP primary looks likely to be riven with “rigged” claims; and the map graphics in 2,000 Mules are straight deceptive.
That, and a lot more, below. This is This Week in Misinformation.
-- Kevin