Trump's administration - prime spreader of misinformation - has slashed hundreds of grants for #misinformation research.

https://www.science.org/content/article/trump-s-team-often-accused-spreading-misinformation-slashes-misinformation-research

"The enemy is education, knowledge, and truth."
https://steadyhq.com/de/janskudlarek/posts/0e56c1ea-8bf9-4383-a170-5ae8c457ea00
h/t @DigitalNaiv @newstik
https://mastodon.social/@DigitalNaiv/114431247492410449
#USpol #USpolitics #disinformation #misinformation #antiscience #ElectionsHaveConsequences #ElectionConsequences

Reality Lost: Markets of Attention, Misinformation and Manipulation by Vincent F. Hendricks & Mads Vestergaard, 2018

This open access book looks at how a democracy can devolve into a post-factual state.

Free download:
https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-00813-0

@bookstodon
#books
#nonfiction
#democracy
#information
#misinformation
#manipulation
#media

Modern propaganda is a consistent, enduring effort to create or shape events to influence the relations of the public to an enterprise, idea or group. --Edward Bernays, Propaganda (1928) #EconomicHappinessMachine #uniparty #fakenews #misinformation #disinformation #propaganda

Misinformation ranks high among the many research areas that the Trump administration has targeted for deep cuts. ... “Everyone knows how aggressive the attack is against so-called DEI,” says Brendan Nyhan, a political scientist at Dartmouth College. “But they may not quite realize that the administration is prioritizing #misinformation at that same level.”

https://www.science.org/content/article/trump-s-team-often-accused-spreading-misinformation-slashes-misinformation-research

Propaganda becomes vicious and reprehensive only when its authors consciously and deliberately disseminate what they know to be lies, or when they aim at effects which they know to be prejudicial to the common good. --Edward Bernays, Propaganda (1928) #EconomicHappinessMachine #uniparty #fakenews #misinformation #disinformation #propaganda

The mechanism by which ideas are disseminated on a large scale is propaganda, in the broad sense of an organized effort to spread a particular belief or doctrine. --Edward Bernays, Propaganda (1928) #EconomicHappinessMachine #uniparty #fakenews #misinformation #disinformation #propaganda

What has gender got to do with misinformation?

"Some issues can be addressed through fact-checking, knowledge distribution, and critical digital literacy, but others require deeper shifts in social and patriarchal attitudes."

On @thewire
https://thewire.in/tech/what-has-gender-got-to-do-with-misinformation

Wednesday, April 30, 2025

Journalist Roshchyna’s body missing organs after Russian captivity; brain, eyes, & part of the trachea had been removed — [vlog/video] Expert on US’ declining disinformation defense; Who’s countering Russian propaganda now? — France calls UN Security Council meeting over Russian attacks on civilians in Ukraine — Russian drone attack injures at least 38 civilians in Kharkiv’s high-rise apartment blocks, homes … and more

https://activitypub.writeworks.uk/2025/04/wednesday-april-30-2025/

This invisible, intertwining structure of groupings and associations is the mechanism by which democracy has organized its group mind and simplified its mass thinking. To deplore the existence of such a mechanism is to ask for a society such as never was and never will be. To admit that it exists, but expect that it shall not be used, is unreasonable. --Edward Bernays, Propaganda (1928) #EconomicHappinessMachine #uniparty #fakenews #misinformation #disinformation #propaganda

In theory, every citizen makes up his mind on public questions and matters of private conduct. In practice, if all men had to study for themselves the abstruse economic, political, and ethical data involved in every question, they would find it impossible to come to a conclusion without anything. --Edward Bernays, Propaganda (1928) #EconomicHappinessMachine #uniparty #fakenews #misinformation #disinformation #propaganda

For the sake of simplicity and practicality, that party machines should narrow down the field of choice to two candidates, or at most three or four. --Edward Bernays, Propaganda (1928) #EconomicHappinessMachine #uniparty #fakenews #misinformation #disinformation #propaganda

As civilization has become more complex, and as the need for invisible government has been increasingly demonstrated, the technical means have been invented and developed by which opinion may be regimented. --Edward Bernays, Propaganda (1928) #EconomicHappinessMachine #uniparty #fakenews #misinformation #disinformation #propaganda

PsyPost: Gen Z and conservatives show higher misinformation susceptibility, large-scale study finds. “A large-scale international study sheds light on who is more likely to struggle with identifying false information online. The research found that individuals belonging to Generation Z, those who do not identify as male, people with lower levels of formal education, and individuals […]

https://rbfirehose.com/2025/04/29/psypost-gen-z-and-conservatives-show-higher-misinformation-susceptibility-large-scale-study-finds/

I appreciate the fact we had a very short election campaign. It gave less chance for #misinformation and AI tools to take root on social media and confuse people. Maybe short election campaigns should be a new norm. #CanadaVotes #CanadaElection #election2025

(28 Apr) RFK Jr. Exaggerates Share of Autistic Population With Severe Limitations

https://s.faithcollapsing.com/e356c

Archive: ia: https://s.faithcollapsing.com/goy4y

#cdc #disabilities #hhs #kff-health-news-&-politifact-healthcheck #mental-health #misinformation #trump-administration

Journalist Alex Coyne describes how podcasts offer intriguing stories but lack the editorial standards of traditional media, often blending fact and fiction. From the original Satanic Panic to its revival in South Africa, unchecked narratives can quickly spread fear, misinformation, and lasting societal harm.

https://wildhunt.org/2025/04/are-podcasters-resurrecting-the-satanic-panic-a-dispatch-from-south-africa.html

The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. --Edward Bernays, Propaganda (1928) #EconomicHappinessMachine #uniparty #fakenews #misinformation #disinformation #propaganda