This Week in Misinformation: J6-Republicans, Florida (!) Audit, Vaccines-Freedom, More Iver-stuff, Google-Gateway Pundit, Cheerleader Uniforms
9 September 2021
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As always, links to all the misinformation articles cited are found below the summary. 👊🏼
January 6th caught our attention this week, with new developments in the courtroom and some drama between the Republican leader in the House of Representatives and the House committee investigating the attack on the Capitol.
Frank Scavo, who chartered buses to bring 200 people to Washington, DC for “Stop the Steal” rallies, pleaded guilty to participating in the Capitol riot.
An FBI analyst clearly warned of violence in advance of the Electoral College certification.
More recently, the FBI has released video of the person planting pipe bombs on the eve of January 6th. Other new details of the day emerged from the accounts of paramedics and first responders.
Kevin McCarthy used an interview with a California TV station to wrongly assert that the FBI found Trump had nothing to do with the Capitol attack (he was repeating a media report based on an anonymous source). The Select Committee chair and vice chair quickly rebuked him for the claim, which they knew to be “baseless.”
11 Republicans followed up their caucus’s verbal warnings to telecoms companies last week with signed letters to 13 of them. The lawmakers vowed to “pursue all legal remedies” if the companies complied with the Committee’s requests for call records and data, specifically saying they do not consent to release of the same.
Some in the pro-Trump camp are seeking new, odd ways to keep litigating the 2020 election. Some “election integrity” groups are headed to Washington, DC to look back on Trump’s loss and their own losses on January 6th.
A pro-Trump state legislator in Florida sponsored a bill calling for an audit of the election that Trump won in that state.
Anti-Trump Republican Adam Kinzinger said state election audits are about Republicans being “scared” to admit Trump lost.
A rally to support the people arrested for January 6th is still planned for September 18th, but there might be less cause for concern than previously thought. Prominent “Stop the Steal” groups, for example the Proud Boys, have told members to steer clear of the event.
We learned more about the Trump connections to the funding of the Arizona audit, which still has not produced its report.
A Trump adviser was reported to have helped fund the Arizona audit.
The delay in releasing the audit report may be ending as soon as next week (really this time!). But not having the report hasn’t stopped pro-Trump Arizona politicians from proceeding to call for “decertifying” the state’s electors.
A canvassing effort organized separately from the audit has produced its own report, which committed several immediate fouls against the truth with images published on its cover and abused statistics to extrapolate widespread fraud from no fraud at all.
The fallout of the FDA approval of Pfizer’s vaccine is being felt as vaccine mandates are being put in place—and challenged. Fake vaccine cards are lucrative business, including for corrupt state troopers in Vermont.
On the one hand, President Biden announced that civilian federal government officials and contractors would soon be required to be vaccinated. At least one doctor, in Florida, has started to refuse treatment to unvaccinated patients.
On the other hand, attempts to enforce previously announced vaccine mandates in the military and among police officers and firefighters were met with lawsuits challenging their legality. A survey found that 43 percent of parents would withdraw their children from a school that required vaccines for students.
Coming to the aid of the anti-vaccine camp, an assemblage of doctors and Trump loyalists—and QAnon personalities sprinkled in—have embarked on a “health and freedom” tour. Tickets start at $250; discounts available for pastors.
In Vermont, three state troopers were busted for creating fake vaccination cards and have resigned.
Vaccine hesitancy has been on a decline, but it is still prevalent in the United States compared to other countries, including notably in Black and Latino communities.
We’ve got that ivermectin feeling. Whoa, that ivermectin feeling. (Wish it was gone, gone, gone!)
More mainstream outlets covered the ivermectin phenomenon. The MIT Technology Review took a particularly insightful look at the issue from the perspective of people who take prescription ivermectin for diseases that are not COVID.
QAnon got in on the ivermectin action, with adherents harassing hospitals into treating COVID patients with it.
A judge in Ohio reversed a decision from last week; the latest is that hospitals can NOT be forced to give ivermectin to patients.
An old study suggesting that ivermectin could contribute to sterility in men taking it, not corroborated by others or more recently, made an appearance.
Controversy erupted over high-profile media boosting a local Oklahoma story about ivermectin that was poorly sourced and was incorrect. Another ivermectin story, about poison control center calls in Mississippi, was corrected by the Associated Press for wildly overstating the scale of the problem.
[Editor: We linked to the original Oklahoma story last week. The story was badly framed, and some outlets rushed to amplify it with sensational headlines before verifying and, but the underlying story was one that was and is common in many places around the country. For example, this week saw new ivermec-demic reports out of Washington, Arizona, and New Mexico.]
Joe Rogan has tested negative for COVID and confirmed that a doctor gave him ivermectin.
Shifting away from ivermectin to other controversies: some guys in Arizona threatened to “zip-tie” a school principal for enforcing policies on COVID exposure and quarantining. The three men have been charged.
In Vancouver, Washington, members of the militant Proud Boys tried to enter a school while participating in an anti-mask protest, prompting a lockdown of that school and two others.
Court: No mask mandates are allowed in Fort Worth public schools until January. Another court: Mask mandates are allowed in Florida schools starting immediately.
The platforms continued to muddle through the misinformation problem, with the exception of Google’s clarion demonetization of a misinformation news site.
Google ended its advertising relationship with serial misinformation offender Gateway Pundit.
YouTube’s guidelines have not stopped videos promoting ivermectin as a cure for COVID from going viral.
TikTok’s algorithm has been cracked by anti-vaccine accounts.
A study found that misinformation-peddling sites’ posts get roughly six times as much engagement as factual content on Facebook.
The Biden administration and progressive lawmakers are naming big names as being unhelpful against the pandemic.
Top Biden adviser Anthony Fauci calls out Tucker Carlson for spreading health misinformation.
In a letter to Amazon, Senator Elizabeth Warren accuses the company of peddling COVID-19 misinformation.
Conservative media outlets published critiques of Biden, the media, and social media companies for putting censorship into practice under the guise of combating misinformation.
In the grab bag, we look at everything from hurricane scams to doctored photos of Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders.
Scams have cropped up around the Hurricane Ida disaster relief effort. Rupert Murdoch’s Australian media holdings say they will champion “net zero emissions.”
The leading Republican challenger to Governor Newsom in California, Larry Elder, preemptively accused Democrats of cheating to win.
Reports of police so demoralized they were quitting en masse were fake, as were pictures of Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders in “handmaid” uniforms.
That, and a lot more, below. This is This Week in Misinformation.
-- Kevin
JANUARY 6TH
Man who bussed 200 people into DC on January 6 pleads guilty in Capitol riot (WUSA9)
'QAnon shaman' pleads guilty for role in Capitol riot, faces up to 4 1/2 years in prison (Fox News)
'QAnon Shaman,' Capitol rioter who wore horns, pleads guilty (NBC News)
Jacob Chansley, Self-Styled 'QAnon Shaman,' Pleads Guilty To Felony Over Capitol Riot (NPR)
‘Keep your head on a swivel’: FBI analyst circulated a prescient warning of Jan. 6 violence (Politico)
FBI releases video of person suspected of planting pipe bombs on eve of Jan. 6 (The Hill)
Paramedics and first responders share new accounts of Jan. 6 insurrection (ABC News)
Rep. Kevin McCarthy discusses Afghanistan, Capitol riot probe (KGET Bakersfield)
Thompson & Cheney Statement on McCarthy’s January 6th Misinformation Campaign (January 6th Select Committee)
Cheney, Thompson slam McCarthy's comments about Trump, Jan. 6: 'Baseless' (The Hill)
11 Republicans send letter to telecom companies threatening “legal remedies” if they comply with Committee requests for call records and data (@AndrewSolender via Twitter)
John Pierce Represents More Capitol Riot Defendants Than Anyone. Should He? (NPR)
THE 2020 ELECTION
Trump Ally State Rep. Anthony Sabatini Filing Bill to Audit 2020 Election in Florida (Newsweek)
Anthony Sabatini Justifies Push for Florida Election Audit, Claims 'Corrupt Counties' Cheated (Newsweek)
Republican Adam Kinzinger Says GOP Audits 'About Being Too Scared' to Admit Trump Lost (Newsweek)
Ex-FBI official says law enforcement needs to take upcoming right-wing rally in DC 'very seriously' (CNN)
Codemonkey disables comments on his Telegram channel and chat until “after September 19th” (@cullen via Twitter)
“Guaranteed Disaster”: Proud Boys Discourage Members From Attending September 18 Rally in DC (Washingtonian)
Opinion: No, you’re not ‘just asking questions.’ You’re spreading disinformation. (Nick Harper via Minnesota Reformer)
ARIZONA AUDIT
Trump adviser Cleta Mitchell is funneling money through an escrow account for Arizona audit (AZ Central)
Beset by delays, ‘audit’ team plans to submit full draft report to Senate next week (AZ Mirror)
Arizona's Election “Audit” Isn’t Done, But Two Trump-Supporting Republicans Are Just Declaring Victory For Him Anyway (BuzzFeed News)
Data on Maricopa shows that difference between voters checked in and ballots counted is fewer than 200 among more than two million (@Garrett_Archer via Twitter)
The second image on the cover of the canvass report was also not what it is portrayed to be (@Garrett_Archer via Twitter)
Maricopa County Recorder: The two misleading photos used by the canvass report are being used to extrapolate an allegation of more than 100,000 “ghost” votes (@stephen_richer via Twitter)
The People Stealing Arizona for Trump Just Made a Seriously Dangerous Mess (@daithaigilbert via VICE)
COVID — VACCINES
Two Service Members Sue Feds Over Military COVID Vaccine Requirements (Newsweek)
Biden to announce that all federal workers must be vaccinated, with no option for testing (CNN)
Biden expected to order all federal workers to be vaccinated, with no testing option (Washington Post)
Oregon governor sued by police, firefighters over vaccine mandate (The Hill)
43 Percent of Parents Say They Won't Send Kids to School if COVID Vaccine Required: Poll (Newsweek)
Florida Doctor to Deny In-Person Care to Unvaccinated (Newsmax)
Anti-vaccine protesters try to storm London offices of medical regulator (The Guardian)
Anti-vax doctors and Trump loyalists going on controversial 'health and freedom' tour (The Hill)
3 Vermont state troopers under federal investigation for creating fake COVID-19 vaccination cards (ABC News)
3 Vermont troopers resign over fake COVID-19 vaccine cards allegations (WCAX Vermont)
Vaccine hesitancy eases in teeth of the delta surge: POLL (ABC News)
America has remained unusually vaccine sceptical (The Economist)
Why some US Blacks and Latinos remain COVID-19 'vaccine deliberate' (ABC News)
Stop Death Shaming (The Atlantic)
COVID, vaccine misinformation spread by hundreds of websites, analysis finds (USA Today)
COVID — NOT VACCINES
Ivermectin, the Crate Challenge, and the Danger of Runaway Memes (New Yorker)
The Rush for Ivermectin (Slate What’s Next: TBD podcast)
Use of Antiparasitic Drug Ivermectin Against Covid-19 Prompts Warnings (Wall Street Journal)
What happens when your prescription drug becomes the center of covid misinformation (MIT Technology Review)
Chinese exile Guo Wengui uses misinformation network to push unproven drugs to treat Covid (CNBC)
QAnon Is Harassing a Hospital Into Giving Bogus COVID ‘Cure’ Ivermectin (@daithaigilbert via VICE)
A Nobel Prize and a horse dewormer: Explaining the controversy over ivermectin and COVID-19 (PolitiFact)
‘Ivermectin Causes Infertility’ Meme (Truth or Fiction)
Does Ivermectin Cause Sterility in Men? (Snopes)
Debunked Ivermectin Sterility Study Only Had Sample Size of 37 People (Newsweek)
One Hospital Denies Oklahoma Doctor’s Story of Ivermectin Overdoses Causing ER Delays for Gunshot Victims (Rolling Stone)
Oklahoma Doctor At Center Of Viral Ivermectin Story Says Report Is Wrong (News on 6 Tulsa)
The Oklahoma ivermectin story shows how disinformation also flows through the center left (@katestarbird via Twitter)
Thread: Twitter posts with the gunshot victims vs. ivermectin ODs story (@DrewHolden360 via Twitter)
How a story about ivermectin and hospital beds went wrong (Columbia Journalism Review)
Thread: National and international media outlets aggregated a poorly framed local story without due diligence to verify how ivermectin was contributing to Oklahoma hospitals congestion (@ddale8 via Twitter)
Comprehensive mess': CNN fact-checks dubious dewormer story (@ddale8 via CNN)
Thread: How the Oklahoma story happened, and how hard it will be for anti-misinformation workers to counter (@JordanWildon via Twitter)
Opinion: Whatever Happened to the Journalistic B.S. Detector? (@rkylesmith via National Review)
'This is not just COVID': Domino effect backs up Oklahoma hospitals, with no relief in sight (Tulsa World)
Associated Press corrects another ivermectin story, this time about the share of poison control center calls related to ivermectin in Mississippi (@Cam_Cawthorne via Twitter)
Ivermectin poison control calls triple in Washington, despite multiple warnings against use for COVID treatment (Seattle Times)
New Mexico Suspects First Ivermectin Death (Santa Fe Reporter)
Unproven ivermectin roils COVID-19 treatment (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
Ivermectin flying off Phoenix feed store shelves for COVID despite controversy (3TV/CBS 5 Phoenix)
Joe Rogan reveals he's negative for COVID-19 in health update (Fox News)
Joe Rogan: I Literally Got Ivermectin From A Doctor (One America News)
The Media Shouldn’t Make Ivermectin a Culture-War Football (National Review)
Police on-scene at Vail elementary school after group threatens to zip-tie principal over COVID-19 protocols (KVOA News 4 Tucson)
Arizona father threatens to zip tie principal after son told to quarantine (The Hill)
3 charged after threatening Tucson principal with arrest, zip ties over COVID-19 rules (AZ Central)
3 Vancouver schools placed on lockdown after Proud Boys try to enter during masks protest (Oregon Public Broadcasting)
Fort Worth public schools cannot require masks until at least January, court orders (Fort Worth Star-Telegram)
Florida judge rules mask mandates allowed in schools (The Hill)
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis files emergency appeal on school mask mandates (CNN)
Mask tracker: State mask mandates are trickling back (NBC News)
Worried about Covid, most parents no longer want kids in school full time, survey finds (NBC News)
Spanish-language Covid disinformation is aimed at Latinos as delta surges (NBC News)
He Was Just Trying to Study COVID Treatments. Ivermectin Zealots Sent Hate Mail Calling Him a Nazi. (Mother Jones)
PLATFORMS
Google Ads terminates relationship with Gateway Pundit for repeatedly violating its publisher policies (@nandoodles via Twitter)
Videos promoting ivermectin as a COVID-19 treatment are all over YouTube, despite the platform's guidelines (Media Matters)
Anti-Vaxxers Are Learning How To Game TikTok’s Algorithm – And They’re Going Viral (@sophiasgaler via VICE)
Misinformation on Facebook got six times more clicks than factual news during the 2020 election, study says (Washington Post)
Facebook turns down the dial on political content again—especially the stuff that drives comments (Nieman Lab)
Amazon and Reddit take steps in fight against online misinformation (USA Today)
Could the Wisdom of Crowds Help Fix Social Media’s Trust Problem? (Wired)
QANON & COMPANY
QAnon and anti-vaxxers brainwashed kids stuck at home — now teachers have to deprogram them (CNBC)
AFGHANISTAN
Jim Acosta Calls Tucker Carlson 'Human Manure Spreader' Over Afghan Refugee Conspiracy Theory (Newsweek)
Taliban Won’t Gain Much From U.S. Military Equipment Left In Afghanistan (Forbes)
GOVERNMENT/PUBLIC POLICY
Dr. Fauci Calls Tucker Carlson’s COVID Disinformation An Enemy Of Public Health (PoliticsUSA)
Sen. Warren sends Amazon a letter, accuses it of peddling misinformation about COVID-19 (KOMO News Seattle)
Government should not be the information police (Jeffrey McCall via The Hill)
Opinion: The ‘Misinformation’ Excuse for Censorship (Jason Richwine via National Review)
Uninhibited speech is the ultimate weapon in the fight against misinformation (Amstrong Williams via The Hill)
Joe Biden Promised to 'Defeat the Lies.' Then His Presidency Hit a Crisis (Newsweek)
Lies, omissions and false fact checks – a banner week for media disinformation (New York Post Editorial Board)
GENERAL/OTHER
People Hurricane Ida frauds 'have probably already started,' investigators warn storm victims (USA Today)
Be On The Lookout For Hurricane Ida Scams And Rumors (Forbes)
Storms and fires will not bring an escape from America’s stuck climate politics (The Economist)
Rupert Murdoch’s newspapers, 24-hour news channel to champion net zero emissions (Sydney Morning Herald)
Fears rise over disinformation in California's recall election (The Hill)
Video: Republican candidate Larry Elder says he has lawyers ready to go for when Democrats cheat to win California’s gubernatorial recall election (@RonFilipkowski via Twitter)
Police Say Demoralized Officers Are Quitting In Droves. Labor Data Says No. (The Marshall Project)
Did Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Get New ‘Handmaid’ Uniforms? (Snopes)
“Disinformation influencers” for hire, only $15 a day (rest of world)
Pro-China social media campaign expands to new countries, blames U.S. for COVID (Reuters)
Pro-China misinformation operation attempting to exploit US Covid divisions, report says (CNN)
‘The most conspiratorial demographic’: white evangelicals and the QAnon connection (Conversationalist)