This Week in Misinformation: COVID Prevention-Violence, Google-Climate, J6 Subpoenas, Trump in Iowa, Ben/Jerry-Israel, Grifter vs. Grifter
14 October 2021
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Reliability scores for media outlets in the summary are in parentheses in the citation for each, courtesy of the terrific folks at Ad Fontes Media.
Now, on to our top four stories.
First, our occasional look at that phenomenon in which COVID prevention inflames so much misinformation-fueled anger that people hurt themselves and one another without reference to the virus at all.
In rural Missouri, an employee worker is willing to lose her job if that’s what it takes to avoid the vaccine (CNN anchor Anderson Cooper via Twitter). In Maryland, a man was accused of shooting his pharmacist brother for “killing people” with vaccines (Insider, 43.32). In New York City, somebody stabbed a security guard after being asked to wear a mask (NBC News, 45.66).
Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed an executive order outlawing the enforcement of COVID vaccine mandates by “any entity” in his state (Fox News, 35.92). Major employers based there, including Southwest Airlines and American Airlines, however, moved ahead under Biden’s federal requirement that either vaccines or frequent testing be done for all employees (CNN anchor Ana Cabrera via Twitter).
In (un)related news, Southwest Airlines canceled more than a thousand flights out of Florida, which gave life to a false rumor that a vaccine-opposition “walkout” by pilots was to blame (Associated Press, 49.36). Another aviation-themed fake story that circulated, and was debunked by the airline, was about a Delta pilot who supposedly died in flight after taking the vaccine (NBC affiliate reporter via Twitter).
The World Health Organization (WHO) stood up a new panel to study the origins of new pathogen strains, including one member who served on the COVID Wuhan mission last year (Reuters, 48.85). We predict this development will be the subject of no small number of future conspiracy theories.
Google took action against climate change denial ads, including on YouTube, while the Nobel Committee raised the profile of a Facebook critic and whistleblowers are empowering those who want to regulate the platform.
It will be harder to monetize climate change denial content via Google and YouTube after this week, with Google announcing it would crack down on targeted ads that propagate climate misinformation (Associated Press, 49.36).
Philippine journalist Maria Ressa, who along with Russia’s Dmitry Muratov won the Nobel Peace Prize this week for speaking truth to power, used the occasion to assert that Facebook is “biased against facts” (Reuters, 48.85) and to call on journalists to band together against disinformation (NPR, 46.24).
Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen will share her story in Europe, while other whistleblower Sophie Zhang, who previously shared documents with law enforcement (Insider, 43.32), said she was willing to go before Congress as well. The spotlight on Facebook’s missteps has spurred lawmakers and the public to discuss how the government can and should regulate it (New York Times, 44.73).
In a thought piece for The Atlantic (39.53), Renée DiResta suggested a new term (“ampliganda”) to convey how misinformation is spread by users, not just media producers, on social media. Perhaps relatedly, The Associated Press (49.36) released a poll showing that 95 percent of Americans believe misinformation to be a problem—but that only 20 percent are very concerned that they might be part of it.
The January 6th Committee is trying to get documents and testimony for its investigation with Biden’s help, but some witnesses are not cooperating in a timely fashion.
The saga of the subpoenas came to a head this week when, as of this writing, none of the four Trump confidants Congress had served subpoenas to had appeared. The committee announced it would continue “engaging” with three (MSNBC, 37.18), but that it would vote on Tuesday to hold Steve Bannon in criminal contempt (Reuters, 48.85) for refusing to even negotiate. The committee also issued an additional subpoena to the former Justice Department official who Trump wanted to name acting attorney general just before the Capitol attack (Roll Call, 46.31).
A U.S. Capitol Police whistleblower came forward with testimony about the failure of police leadership (Politico, 43.44), which Trump quickly disinterpreted to assert that weak security was to blame for the attack. Meanwhile Trump made a video lionizing Ashli Babbitt (The Hill, 44.83), the highest profile casualty of the attack, as a conservative martyr for her attempted assault of the Speaker’s Lobby.
The Claremont Institute, employer of the John Eastman who wrote that now-infamous memo, weighed in to defend the document’s sham legal argument—but in doing so itself misrepresented what Eastman had called on Pence to do.
Trump still can’t put the election behind him, but his falsehoods on repeat are now making Republicans happier to be on his team.
Trump rewarded Arizona’s Andy Biggs with by-name, written praise for saying “we don’t know” who won the state in 2020 during a House hearing about the Maricopa “audit” last week—but confusingly added “we won Arizona,” as if both incorrect statements are equal in meaning. Meanwhile, Trump’s supporters have begun to turn against the partisan group that raised their hopes with the ballot review (VICE, 41.67).
At his rally in Iowa, Arizona Republican Mark Finchem warmed up the crowd with the “Trump won” lie and a call to “decertify” the election, after which Trump took the stage and turned not conceding the election into an applause line. Leading Iowa Republicans, including a sitting U.S. senator whom Trump endorsed on the stage, took no evident issue with any of this (ABC News, 46.65).
Steve Scalise, a member of the GOP leadership in the U.S. House, was asked three times in a Fox News interview if the election was stolen from Trump, but he declined to answer each time (Associated Press, 49.36). Misinformation about the 2020 election is playing a defining role in the internecine feuds of the Republican Party of Michigan (Detroit Metro Times, 44.89) and the race for governor in Virginia (Associated Press, 49.36).
And finally, our grab bag: The actual Ben and Jerry corrected misinformation about their stance toward Israel; a photographer faked a photo essay about fake news (then used a fake account to expose his fraud!); state-level elected officials went public with their Q beliefs in Arizona and in Michigan; and a Q-world grifter factions beef raged on Telegram.
That, and a lot more, below. This is This Week in Misinformation.
-- Kevin