This Week in Misinformation: Disappearing Call Logs, Facebook Rake-Stomp, Trump Begs a Putin Favor, Fake ICBM, Crypto Critic Explainers
31 March 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.
Now, on to our top three stories.
Where did those January 6th call records go, anyway?
No one seems to be sure why, and possible explanations are many (CNN, 42.82), but what is clear is that the January 6th Committee is miffed (CBS News, 46.08) that parts of the official White House call logs from when the Capitol attack was underway were never handed over with the rest (Associated Press, 48.82). For more than seven hours calls were being made by Trump and others, including from White House telephone numbers (The Guardian, 43.84), and now the legally required documentation is conspicuously absent. Could have something to do with a Trump aide who was out that day (Axios, 45.34)--or could be something else. Watch this space.
The Committee pursued its wish to question Trump’s social media point man, Dan Scavino, including about the QAnon material that he promoted on multiple occasions (VICE, 41.50), aided by the Biden White house declining to assert privilege over Scavino's testimony (Politico, ). Jared Kushner provided 'helpful' details in hourslong questioning of an unspecified nature (NPR, 44.57), and there are signs the Committee is thinking it might recommend Trump be charged with crimes (Vox, 40.13). All this still happening, but the clock ticketh for the panel to present its findings (ABC News, 46.80)
The Department of Justice is moving to expands its January 6th investigation to cover those who planned and financed the rallies in DC as well as the immediate assaulters and trespassers. (Washington Post, 41.84). The Department had been under pressure on multiple fronts, for example recently from both the Committee (Politico, 43.33) and from a federal judge who indicated Trump was probably guilty of the crime of obstructing Congress (New York Times, 44.30). The likelihood that January 6th cases will make it to the Supreme Court--where Justice Thomas should but probably won’t recuse (NPR, 44.57)--is growing.
Could Facebook possibly make worse messes for itself if it was trying?
First, it was reported in The Washington Post (41.84) that the company paid a Republican-affiliated firm to spread rumors about TikTok, for example that TikTok was responsible for harmful content that actually originated and flourished on Facebook. Thanks Taylor Lorenz and Drew Harwell; it was a gripping read.
Second, we learned from The Verge (44.19) that an algorithm has been glitching out for at least the last six months, causing harmful content to be elevated in News Feeds. Nice reporting, Alex Heath!
Maybe over at Trump’s Truth Social things will be--oh, well, ah, no. Whether it’s a QAnon influencer asking for, and getting, a show of support for the Q team (@2022_Karma via Twitter) or both downloads and financial prospects sinking (Bloomberg, 45.56), it’s not great all around for platforms this week.
Trump said what to Putin?
The biggest misinformation story related to Russia happened to also be related to Trump, who straight up asked, again, for Vladimir Putin to help him take down Joe Biden (Washington Post, 41.84). The Biden White House naturally found this abhorrent (Reuters, 48.04), as did virtually every American who isn’t in thrall to the former president. Unfortunately in that column are everyone currently leading the Republican Party (Newsweek, 38.36), so the only conservatives calling Trump for this assault on truth and decency, and America itself were castouts like Adam Kinzinger (Newsweek, 38.36).
Over in Russia, meanwhile, state television personalities openly say they hope their lies about Russia’s war in Ukraine can help make Trump president again (Daily Beast, 35.85). So that’s gross.
And speaking of not playing fair, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy gave an interview to Russian journalists only to have the Kremlin order that the interview not run (New York Times, 44.30). Not unexpected, but still not great.
What more could you ask for? Yes, it’s your grab bag moment of zen: misinformation is derailing renewable energy projects; North Korea’s claimed ICBM launch was probably faked; the freedom truckers are going home empty-containered; Alex Jones will have to pay soon for not appearing in court; Madison Cawthorn got in trouble for saying some things and told the minority leader he had exaggerated, followed by Roger Stone claiming Cawthorn never walked back his story; authorities are readying a Ray Epps 'disclosure' for the J6 truther crowd; a bunch of serious people annotated the New York Times piece on crypto from last week, while the Times published about celebrity crypto critic Ben McKenzie; Ron Watkins is bad at campaign finance; ivermectin still does nothing for COVID; and scientists have taken far more abuse from the ignorant during the pandemic.
That, and a lot more, below. This is This Week in Misinformation.
-- Kevin