This Week in Misinformation: Deepfakes Labels, Burning Man, Elon vs. ADL
7 September 2023
Keeping up on misinformation is basically the best thing you can do for your brain. So glad you’re here!
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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.
Now, on to our top stories.
Google is stepping in to insist on labels for the use of deepfakes in politics.
Election advertisers will have to disclose when they are using AI-generated content to be carried on Google’s platforms, including YouTube, according to the company (Reuters, 46.25).
Deepfakes are still detectable, if only just, in 2024 (Roll Call, 46.31), but it isn’t clear to me that labels are going to effectively counteract the powerful, visceral impact that imagery--whether artificial or genuine--has on the human brain.
Add to this that China appears to be deploying AI-generated images to spread disinformation among U.S. voters (CNN, 42.18), and the whole situation is shaping up to be a potential catastrophe. Our other project, AIIA, is working this problem and could use your help; if you are inclined to think something needs to be done, please reach out.
California people get stuck in the desert, conspiracy theorists see foul play.
A rumor that Ebola had broken out at Burning Man may have been sparked in QAnon forums online (@QOrigins via Twitter), or was possibly started after a fake CDC post someone made to that effect went viral (Reuters). Either way, there was no Ebola (Forbes, 40.34).
Separately, actual member of Congress Marjorie Taylor Greene went on InfoWars and told Alex Jones and his audience that floods that marooned the Burning Man crowd were engineered by the Deep State to make people fearful about climate change (@MeidasTouch via Twitter). Also no.
Twitter sank further into antisemitic conspiracy ideation as Elon Musk blamed Jews for the failures of his leadership.
Going a step further than I can remember--though it’s not surprising--Musk nonsensically accused the antisemitism watchdog organization Anti-Defamation League of being one of “the biggest generators” of antisemitism (Mediaite, 39.99). He said this in reply to an anti-ADL post by a well-known white nationalist.
Then it got worse. According to Musk, the ADL was furthermore responsible and possibly legally liable for Twitter’s lost revenue because it wielded its shadowy influence to dupe unsuspecting advertisers into ditching the platform (NBC News, 44.64). Not pictured in this version of events: any of the entirely predictable consequences of Musk’s own actions, for example to unban Nazis and do away with meaningful content moderation, to which I and most others attribute far more of the blame for destroying Twitter’s value than anything the ADL has done. (ADL is mounting a counteroffensive to Musk’s rhetorical onslaught and threatened lawsuit.)
Antisemitism is unfortunately a pressing issue in America this week, as videos show neo-Nazie marched in the open in Florida (Newsweek, 35.20), and yes they were real neo-Nazis despite what you may hear from conservative media personalities (Daily Beast, 33.40). In case you were wondering: yes the white supremacists like Nick Fuentes do love what Elon has been saying of late.
Time to snag a large grab bag: Tucker Carlson uses his Twitter show to stoke a baseless conspiracy theory that Trump will be assassinated soon; the Constitution’s 14 Amendment is going to be put to the test as voters in Colorado and other states move to challenge Trump’s eligibility to hold office; Trump and his 18 co-defendants in Georgia all plead not guilty, and two of them will stand trial separately but together as early as October; the Georgia proceedings will be livestreamed and look set to feature as many as 150 witnesses on the stand; five convicted Proud Boys for January 6th receive hefty sentences; the Republican majority in the House announces media and defendants will be given access to January 6th footage; misinformation about elections continues to fuel death threats and lynch notices against election workers, while Republican Party leaders promote mail voting despite Trump calling it a scam; some doctors say that social media misinformation about birth control is leading to an increase in abortions; there is a rash of fake "Karens"; and China is using disinformation to get its citizens even madder at Japan over the Fukushima nuclear disaster.
All that, and a lot more, below. This is This Week in Misinformation.
-- Kevin