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Former Home And Away star Isabel Lucas has voiced her support for anti-vaxxer and COVID denier Pete Evans, after he was booted from Instagram for spreading misinformation. Posting to Instagram on Thursday, the 36-year-old actress penned an impassioned rant about ‘freedom of speech’, comparing reckless conspiracy theorists such as Pete to to lauded icons such … Read more
Facebook will crack down on ‘misinformation’ about Covid-19, including claims that coronavirus was man-made, the tech giant has announced, sparking freedom of speech fears. The news comes despite the outbreak’s source still not being identified, and after WHO scientists researching the origins of Covid in China said it is ‘extremely unlikely’ the virus leaked from a lab. … Read more
Online misinformation about the presidential election plummeted after President Donald Trump was suspended from Twitter and several other social media platforms. Claims of election fraud dropped 73 percent after the ban, according to a new report from research firm Zignal Labs, from 2.5 million mentions to 688,000. The fastest and biggest decline was on Twitter, … Read more
Donald Trump on Monday night tweeted a series of video clips providing a litany of accusations of electoral fraud, which were immediately flagged by Twitter as disinformation. The president began with a clip from Newsmax, owned by his friend Chris Ruddy. The host interviewed Liz Harrington, RNC National Spokesman, who said: ‘what is going on … Read more
Twitter has added a new feature to combat claims that voting by mail is unsafe and a security risk. The social media firm is placing a banner at the top of users’ feeds that preemptively debunks to topic and provides people with ‘factual information.’ ‘With so many more people voting by mail and potentially delayed … Read more
Go Viral! Cambridge University and UK Government release an online game designed to teach people to spot fake Covid-19 news on social media The game puts players in the shoes of someone who shares misinformation They are encouraged to ‘post’ increasingly elaborate messages about Covid-19 Researchers say it can help to demystify the tools used to manipulate … Read more
Facebook is defending a recent update to Messenger that limits the number of times a message can be forwarded. Users can now only forward a message a maximum of five times, as the firm aims to tamp down on misinformation campaigns – especially about the presidential election and coronavirus pandemic. If a user is warned … Read more
Blake Shelton was slammed by fans on Twitter after he shared a false claim relating to coronavirus deaths on Sunday. The debunked claim asserted that only 6% of the 183k COVID-19 related deaths in the US were caused by the virus. Shelton’s tweet came after Twitter took down a post by President Donald Trump sharing … Read more
Pete Evans ‘BANNED’ from Facebook: Disgraced celebrity chef says his ‘reach is disappearing’ as the social media giant cracks down on COVID-19 misinformation The anti-vaxxer and COVID-19 conspiracy theorist, 47, believes Facebook has ‘shadow-banned’ his page ‘Shadow-banning’ is an alternative to permanently blocking someone from a website, and involves making a user’s content harder to find … Read more
Facebook has come under fire recently for allowing medical misinformation to run rampant on its platform and a new report finds it may be worse than previously believed. Non-profit group Avaaz found 84 percent of posts with false claims and advice have gone unlabeled to warn users of the misleading content. Not only did Facebook’s … Read more