This Week in Misinformation: The Root Issue, Arizona Election Truther Candidates, Ye-Parler
20 October 2022
This Prism newsletter strives to be the paper of record for all that’s happening in misinformation in the United States. 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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I have to say, though I’ve said it before: misinformation is THE BEST lens through which to understand news about the world. Remove the garbage cluttering your view, and you can see things clearly for what they are.
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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.
I’ve written a few times that misinformation, and its acceptance, is a core problem from which many others stem. Turns out many Americans agree.
A poll released this week by the Associated Press (48.69) and the National Opinion Research Center found that three-quarters of U.S. adults think misinformation leads to more extreme political views and behaviors, including hate crimes and violence based on race, religion or gender.
By the numbers: 91% of adults say the spread of misinformation is a problem, and 74% call it a major problem, with just 8% saying it isn’t a problem at all. This holds true across political party identification, where large majorities of Democrats and Republicans say misinformation increases extreme political views. Supermajorities of 85% of Democrats and 72% of Republicans say misinformation increases hate crimes and related ills.
All of which makes me, for one, glad that there are such things now as misinformation beat reporters (New York Times, 42.93) and disinformation researchers and always-improving technology (NPR, 44.45) to document the current state and costs of what I call misinformation culture.
We’re close to the election, and that means misinformation and candidates and groups laying the groundwork for more misinformation if their side loses.
Though it was straightforward to predict that conspiracy theories would abound and that belief in them would fuel threats against election workers, what we’ve seen this week in Colorado (Axios, 44.25), Pennsylvania (Axios, 44.25), Texas (Texas Tribune, 45.53), and other places where law enforcement has issued related warnings has been next level.
Overwhelmingly, it is Republicans who are spreading election-related misinformation and it is Republican voters who are being impacted, as documented by The New York Times (42.93) in a neat visuals-rich piece. The center of gravity of this new Republican Party in these midterms is arguably Arizona, where the candidate for U.S. Senate (Daily Beast, 35.71) has suggested Democrats could try and rig the vote against him. In the governor’s race, Kari Lake is (very Trumpily!) refusing to commit to accepting the result if she loses (CNN, 42.71). The candidate for secretary of state is an unrepentant 2020 truther and “decertify” zealot (CNN, 42.71), and the GOP candidates for Congress are generally no better.
The reason getting people riled up about sinister forces out there stealing elections is dangerous is that conspiracy theorists tend to radicalize and then go and attempt to manipulate the election process themselves (Anti-Defamation League, -). In Arizona, for example, fringe groups have made and are carrying out plans to watch ballot drop boxes for behavior that seems suspicious to their untrained eye (AZ Mirror, 43.70).
Remember Parler? Well it’s back in the news because recording artist Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, has said he will buy it.
Parler is sort of famous on the right wing of American politics for its self-bestowed reputation as a place where “free speech” cannot be “canceled” (NPR, 44.45). Ye’s intent to acquire the alternative social media site was reported widely (PBS, 47.92).
Before January 6th, Parler was a haven for people who were kicked off Twitter for posting either hate speech or misinformation about COVID or the election; after it was found to have fueled part of the violence that day, the platform lost its hosting service and has been basically a ghost town since.
Of note, this announcement came in the immediate wake of Ye himself being booted from Twitter and Instagram for antisemitic posts he published. (New York Times, 42.93) and in the context of Ye’s being friendshipped by the current site owner’s wife, conservative media personality Candace Owens. Ye joins Donald Trump of Truth Social and Elon Musk, who is purchasing Twitter, in a dynamic trio of rich guys (Insider, 42.97) getting into the social media platform business.
Lots of good stuff we unfortunately only had room for in the grab bag: the Arizona Attorney General who pandered to conspiracy theorists until he lost his primary race is asking the FBI to look into the group behind the film 2,000 Mules; Mike Lee debates Evan McMullin and maybe doesn’t realize the things he says about the electors scheme are contradicted by his own text messages to Mark Meadows; the QAnon Queen of Canada takes advantage of a family who rented her an RV; Wikipedia has work cut out for itself ferreting out disinformation bad actors on the site; Congress introduces new legislation to boost oversight of foreign government broadcast sponsorship; the footage of Nancy Pelosi from aired by the Janaury 6th Committee revives false January 6 claims and conspiracy theories; Saturday Night Live does its best January 6 Committee impersonation; an FBI official was warned after Jan. 6 that some in the bureau were 'sympathetic' to the Capitol rioters; and John Durham’s latest prosecution is a total bust.
All that, and a lot more, below. This is This Week in Misinformation.
-- Kevin