Category Archives: Fake News

One thing that really struck us as interesting is the fact that freedom of speech is protected even more here than it is in our home country. For example, unlike in America, denying the Holocaust is a criminal offense there. Also, freedom of the press goes further in the U.S. than in Germany: There, it is perfectly normal to send the shortened and edited transcript of an interview to the interviewee for authorization before publishing. That way, they can check whether the final print version of the interview stays true to what they meant to convey in the actual conversation. If interviewer and interviewee disagree, however, the interviewer still has the last word on what to publish. This procedure is not a legal obligation, but common practice. We were surprised to learn that this is utterly unusual in America. (Here, however, some journalists might refrain from publishing certain parts of an interview for fear of facing lawsuits. That, too, might impact freedom of the press.)

Like in the U.S., fake news have been on the rise in the past few years in Germany. Especially during the pandemic, many people started to distrust public broadcasters. Even though public TV and radio stations strive to be as politically independent as possible, they are often accused of reporting in a way that is too uncritical of the government. Commercial broadcasters, on the other hand, have a different credibility problem: In order to be able to compete with the heavily-funded public news outlets, headlines and push messages of many private media companies are becoming increasingly lurid. By appealing to the readers and viewers sensationalism, some hope to get more subscriptions or higher ratings. This is very dangerous: Many people do not read the entire article or watch the entire video, but only see the headline. Thus, without meaning to, television stations and newspapers can contribute to negatively influencing public opinion and dividing society.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, however, many viewers turned to commercial broadcasters, who are not funded by the German government. Some assumed that their reports might be more independent. And, indeed, many commercial news outlets were not afraid to criticize the federal governments decisions regarding pandemic response, some of them rather harshly. In a democracy, it is essential to have a variety of opinions and independent news sources to draw from.

However, many people who were critical of the governments crisis management began to look for alternative information and news on social media. A lot of them, among them vaccine skeptics and conspiracy theorists, gathered on the messenger app Telegram to share dubious articles and studies. While big tech companies like Facebook or Twitter are legally required to flag and/or remove false information, the German state has so far had no recourse against Telegram. The company is based in Dubai. Several attempts by the government to contact the operators of Telegram failed. The fact that more and more people are looking for alternative news on these platforms instead of relying on quality media poses a massive threat. Both commercial and public TV broadcasters as well as radio stations and newspapers must fight to win back the trust of this group of readers. Otherwise, our democracy may be at stake.

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Freedom of the press and fake news The Daily Egyptian - Daily Egyptian

Conspiracy theories and false information have dogged this years French presidential election. We recap some of the claims that have been debunked.

Cartes lectorales electors cards were sent out, as usual, before the election containing useful information such as the nearest polling station. People were invited to present them along with their ID when they go to vote although this is not obligatory. In smaller communes it is possible to present them alone without other ID.

However, some social media posts claimed the QR codes that appeared on the front of the cards this year were going to be used to make sure that votes against Emmanuel Macron were not counted, or to discount votes of people who are not vaccinated.

In fact the code simply directs people that scan it to official information on the election at elections.interieur.gouv.fr where they could check their registration status or carry out procedures such as asking for a proxy vote.

According to what appeared to be a tweet from the BBC, that was widely shared especially via Telegram, Emmanuel Macron had warned that Europe would have to take up to 60 million refugees from Africa and the Middle East in the next 20 years, linked to effects of sanctions against Russia. Some posters even said it was one of his campaign promises.

However Mr Macrons electoral team denied he had ever said this. The BBC also denied it made the tweet. In fact the post was faked from one with the less controversial headline:

As in the 2020 American elections when similar claims were made by Trump supporters, claims have circulated, notably on Facebook accounts supporting the far-right candidates, that voting machines are to be used, and manipulated, to falsify the count in Mr Macrons favour.

This was said to be in a partnership with American firm Dominion which was alleged to have made an agreement with the government to supply machines and use them to discount votes against Mr Macrons opponents. The same firm was at the centre of accusations by supporters of Mr Trump after several American states made use of it.

There is no contract between Dominion and the French government.

A small number of French communes 63 do have authorisation to use electronic voting machines to collect votes but the only model used is made by a Dutch firm. The communes concerned were all equipped with them before 2008 and new authorisations are no longer being given.

Former presidential candidate Nicolas Dupont-Aignan was cited as the source of information that the whole election could be invalid if the turnout was low.

In fact, his actual quote to BFMTV was that the election would be invalid in peoples hearts in this case.

The president is elected by majority vote no matter how low the turnout.

Salah Abdeslam, being tried for involvement with the 2015 Paris terror attacks, was said in a post originating from an anti-vax and pro-Russia account to have spoken out in tears at his trial, to tell voters not to commit an irreparable harm by voting for Le Pen.

The claim was widely refuted, including by Abdeslams own lawyers.

A gilet jaune activist, Gregory Pasqueille, was shown in a video saying that some 22,552 gilets jaunes supporters had been banned by law from voting.

In fact official figures record some 3,200 convictions in relation togilets jaunes protests in the period when they were most active, from November 2018 to November 2019, and the addition of a voting ban as an additional punishment is rare, lawyers say.

One lawyer who has represented many of those involved in the movement told French media none of those he had defended had received this penalty.

French election live first results: Macron 58.2%, Le Pen 41.8%

Presidential election: What happens after Sundays vote?

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How fake news posts tried to skew French election result - The Connexion

Here's how you know you're watching your first Randy Rainbow video. For a few seconds, you're wondering whether you've played the wrong one, because some well-dressed talking head seems to be interviewing, say, Marjorie Taylor Greene, a politician you loathe. You're thinking,I thought this was supposed to be funny. Before you can scroll away, though, you realize something's just . . . not . . . real.

The graphic in the lower left corner of the screen reads "Fake News," not Fox News. The interviewer starts insulting Greene right to her face. He responds to her first comment by muttering "Who gives a s**t?," donning a pair of sparkly glasses, and calling her a few names you really wish you could call her yourself . . . and then it gets interesting.

Suddenly, the "interview" becomes a music video. That talking head is now wearing a lab coat and singing "Gurl, You're a Karen" while Lauren Boebert another of your "favorites" rambles behind him. As you keep listening, the melody starts to feel familiar. Is that . . . a show tune? (It is. It's "Dentist!" from "Little Shop of Horrors.") Wait: now he's in drag. Now there are THREE of him in drag! This thing is spectacular!

Welcome to Randy Rainbow.

His chief comedic achievement is his mastery of the song parody. Videos from his ever-growing catalog, like "Cheetoh Christ, Stupid-Czar" and "Braggadocious," are routinely streamed by millions. Scrolling through his YouTube channel is like salivating over a tray of petit fours in an exquisite patisserie. Every song he produces is yummy, delightful, and expertly artificial. Sharing a new one on social media is like bringing the dessert everyone ends up raving about to the party. It really doesn't hurt that they're easy to look at, too.

RELATED: 10 musicians who refused to let "Weird Al" Yankovic parody their songs

Rainbow himself, however, is more than just a pretty face framed by his signature pink glasses. For more than a decade, bit by bit, he has constructed a magnetic persona that serves as an avatar for contemporary rage and bewilderment, giving voice to our collective anxieties throughout the Trump-and-COVID era.

Rainbow ...has constructed a magnetic persona that serves as an avatar for contemporary rage and bewilderment.

Lest anyone mistake that persona for the real man, Rainbow has written a fetching memoir, "Playing with Myself" (St. Martin's Press) that reveals more of who he really is and where he comes from, both comedically and personally.

"I really wanted to write this book to kind of introduce myself because people came to know me just through this sort of two-dimensional version of me," he explained in an interview with Salon. "And I really wanted to take down the curtain. I was craving, like, being real a little bit."

Still, it's Rainbow's comedic character which he describes as "a slightly arrogant, somewhat ignorant, hopefully loveable, part gossip girl, part man-about-town, part vapid social media star"that has met the present moment so perfectly.

Playing With Myself by Randy Rainbow (Dirty Sugar Photography)Although he started releasing videos in 2010, Rainbow became a cultural touchstone during the 2016 presidential election campaign. While Donald Trump shattered political norms left and right, conventional media struggled to keep up with his torrent of falsehoods. Guided by Steve Bannon's insidious strategy, Trump "flooded the zone" with what Kellyanne Conway later called "alternative facts." All the major newspapers and networks wrestled with whether to call them lies while new lies replaced the originals.

America's best-known political satirists Stephen Colbert, Samantha Bee, and John Oliver gamely rose to the occasion, calling out Trump's falsehoods and dissecting his unreal universe night after night. They engaged in what humor theorist James Caron (author of "Satire as the Comic Public Sphere") has called "satiractivism," counteracting the effects of Trump calling real stories "fake news" by presenting real news on fake news programs. No matter how funny they were, though, their satire never fully succeeded, largely because you can't shame a man who, by all accounts, has no shame.

Rainbow's campy caricature proved to be far more effective at skewering the absurdity of the modern GOP than their faux news shows, largely because as he developed his oeuvre, he put comedy and entertainment before rhetoric.

"I really just wanted to be, you know, Carol Burnett and Julie Andrews and Barbra Streisand and maybe some Jerry Lewis," he said.

Want a daily wrap-up of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter, Crash Course.

Rainbow inherited his devotion to entertainment from his family. "That's in my blood," he said. "You know, that old Borscht Belt kind of Jewish humor and performance." Indeed, his great-grandmother Estelle was even a Borscht Belt singer. His grandmother Nanny, a major influence, was a live wire. He describes her in his memoir as "savagely quick-witted, a Michelango of sarcasm, the greatest story-teller around."

Over time, though, Rainbow realized that comedy could do more than generate laughter. "I began to appreciate what an effective tool it actually was for delivering political and social commentary on such widely polarizing issues," he noted in "Playing with Myself." His humor became more personal and took on more of an agenda.

"I think there's always a pearl of my truth in there," he said. "In any comedy, there's always a pearl of truth."

RELATED: Jackie Mason's thorny career: Once a beacon for Jewish pride, the comedian later turned to bigotry

Throughout the Trump administration, while Rainbow continued to release videos, Americans found themselves trapped in social media bubbles. Sociologist Jean Boudrillard called the social world a "simulacrum," a hyper-reality full of noise, images, and symbols designed to mesmerize the mind and replace the boring real world.

To satirize the falsity of conservative politics, he would have to co-opt their methods.

With the advent of that simulacrum, the line between reporting and editorializing was erased. News on social media was delivered via cutesy memes and bot-written tweets. The result was a lack of distinction between news and entertainment, fact and fiction.

"There's no categories any more," Rainbow said. "People are scrolling through their feeds. They see a tweet from Kamala Harris, and then Marjorie Taylor Greene, and then they see something from MSNBC, and then they see Randy Rainbow, and it's all in the same font, so I think people don't take the time to put it into its proper category."

While mainstream comedy largely tried to mock the simulacrum from outside, Rainbow knew the real fight had to take place inside the matrix instead. To satirize the falsity of conservative politics, he would have to co-opt their methods. Caron calls Rainbow's approach "truthiness satire," exposing the simulacrum by creating a competing, obviously false reality, exposing both worlds as fakes.

When Trump's e-troops marched in misleading rhetorical lock-step from tweet to tweet, Rainbow countered by creating digital clones of himself to sing in perfect harmony. Trump coiffed his impossible hair, turned his face orange, and donned ill-fitting suits, and Rainbow responded with wigs, makeup, costumes, and clever video editing. Trump raged, and Rainbow sang back at him, delivering bravura performances that matched the former President's outsized ego with his own larger-than-life character.

In "Playing with Myself," Rainbow offers glimpses of where that character originated. As a boy, he wore yellow pajama pants on his head to imitate the blonde pigtails of the girls he knew at school, foreshadowing his future array of wigs. By middle school, he'd amassed an impressive collection of Broadway cast recordings. (Most of the songs he parodies are from musicals.) As an overweight adolescent, he carried note cards with snappy comebacks in his pocket to defuse the taunts of schoolyard bullies, getting an early start at using words to punch up, just as he does now with his deft lyrics.

The Randy Rainbow persona doesn't seem very far from the man himself.

"I might be saying, as the persona, exactly what I feel," he told Salon, "but it might be perfectly scripted and well-timed, or through song, or it might be in a sassy, witty response that I might not necessarily come up with on the fly if I were just having a conversation with somebody."

Randy Rainbow (Dirty Sugar Photography)

"I don't think that I can really trust other people to know what to do with me."

It took Rainbow years to become who he is now. After graduating high school, he made the classic leap of faith for an actor moving to New York to find work but struggled like so many others before him.

"I was just too afraid to audition," he said. "I didn't have the confidence. I had been on stage my entire life leading up to that point, but to come to New York, that was big-time."

After being fired from a production of "South Pacific" he was just "not butch enough," they told him he realized that in order to make it, he would have to follow a less conventional path. That path began with a revelation.

"I don't think that I can really trust other people to know what to do with me."

Weary of waiting for someone else to say yes to his ample talent, Rainbow decided to say yes to himself. With little more than a wardrobe full of costumes and a homemade green screen, he transformed his dextrous wit and encyclopedic knowledge of musical theater into a profoundly successful career.

"I was able to make the decision to produce myself," he said, "and that was ultimately my success."

RELATED: "Head of the Class" and the man behind the '80s comedy's progressive, even radical agenda

In the 21st century, anyone with a cell phone and a Twitter account can shoot videos and try to win the attention of an increasingly distracted modern audience. Billions make the attempt, in fact, their voices becoming the internet's background hum, but very few succeed. Rainbow is the rare stand-out exception. His self-produced comedy has earned him both industry recognition including three Emmy nominations and the viral enthusiasm of countless fans.

Surprisingly, some of those fans seem to come from across the deep partisan divide.

"I receive lots of email from people telling me things like, 'I'm a strict, conservative, Republican, QAnon anti-vaxxer, but I just love your videos!'" he wrote in "Playing with Myself."

While not naive, Rainbow remains hopeful that he might have some small effect on people.

"I have to assume that while they're laughing and singing along," he wrote. "They might also be ingesting at least a few secondhand ideas that are, shall we say, alternative to their own."

Conservatives aren't the only ones who might have had their minds opened by Rainbow's work. The performer himself seems to have learned a thing or two as well.

"The comedy I've been doing really has also helped me find my voice in other ways," he told Salon. "As a human citizen and also as a comedian."

That voice continues to be necessary in a world that remains stubbornly resistant to reality. With the threat of Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter and Mark Zuckerberg ownership of both Facebook and Instagram, we may need Rainbow more than ever. His continued viral presence could be essential to resisting the privileged and powerful from the inside as they try to control their social media narratives. Anything they can do, after all to borrow, of course, from "Annie, Get Your Gun" he can certainly do better.

More stories from the world of Jewish comedy:

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Randy Rainbow, singing truth to power - Salon

Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Saturday peddled fake news against UP CM Yogi Adityanath, alleging that he called Lord Hanuman a Dalit who cannot be worshipped. The Shiv Sena leader made the statement on 30th April 2022 when he was asked for a reaction to Union Minister Ashwini Kumar Choubeys remarks that Even Balasaheb Thackeray would be shedding tears to see his partys government arresting people for reciting Hanuman Chalisa.

Responding to Bharatiya Janata Party leader Ashwini Kumar Choubeys remarks, Sanjay Raut said, That Choubey or whosoever be the person, he should not worry about Balasaheb Thackeray. These people are conspiring to divide this country by inciting riots over the Hanuman Chalisa issue. Shiv Sena is fighting against them. Balasaheb Thackeray would be showering flowers on us for this.

Sanjay Raut further said, What did honourable Yogi Adityanath say about Lord Hanuman? Yogi Adityanath is the Chief Minister of the state Ashwini Kumar Choubey belongs to. He said Hanuman is a Dalit person. He said there is no need to worship him. He said Hanuman is not God. He said Hanuman is a wild monkey or something like that. Since when did he become a devotee of Bajrang Bali? Leave it. If I start telling things, it will create a mess.

Sanjay Raut concluded by saying, If someone making such statements is trying to teach us, then Ashwini Kumar Chaube should once again recite Yogi Chalisa. He should write one first. We know what Lord Hanuman is. Maharashtra is a state that worships Lord Ram and Lord Hanuman. So dont worry about Balasaheb Thackeray. If at all he would be having a tear or two in his eyes today, it is because you people betrayed his Shiv Sena.

The statement by Yogi Adityanath which Sanjay Raut is referring to is from 28th November 2018 when Yogi Adityanath was campaigning in Rajasthan for the BJP candidates in the assembly elections of 2018. He was campaigning for Ram Kishan who was then a BJP candidate for the Alwar assembly seat. Yogi Adityanath said, Bajrang Bali is such a God of masses, who himself lives in mountains and forests. Be it a Dalit or a deprived person, everyone including all the Indians right from East to West and from North to South, Bajrang Bali unites them all. This is seen from 00:17 onwards in the following video.

While Yogi did call Lord Hanuman a god who lives in the forest, he did not call Him a Dalit. He, in fact, said that how Lord Hanuman does not discriminate amongst his devotees and takes all strata of people along.

As can be heard above, Yogi Adityanath said, In Indian tradition, Bajrangbali is loved by all, lives in a forest and has no place to call it home. The Dalits, the deprived, He (Lord Hanuman) takes them all, everyone in the Indian community, from the north to the south, from the east to the west, together. Bajrangbali has carried out the task of uniting everyone. Hence, (voting for BJP) should be a Bajrangisankalp(vow). Unlike Times Now, which has misquoted Yogi Adityanath.

While Yogi did call Lord Hanuman a god who lives in the forest, he did not call Him a Dalit. He, in fact, said that how Lord Hanuman does not discriminate against his devotees and takes all strata of people along.

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Yogi Adityanath and Lord Hanuman: How Sanjay Raut raked up an old lie to malign UP CM - OpIndia

AUSTIN, Texas Misinformation on social media may seem like an intractable problem, but a new study from The University of Texas at Austin shows that asking a single question can be a powerful weapon against fake news.

Simply asking, How do I know this is true? and attempting to answer the question based on personal knowledge activates the brains critical thinking centers and challenges biases, according to the McCombs School of Business research.

Were all at risk of believing misinformation, said the studys lead author, Tricia Moravec, an assistant professor of information, risk and operations management. When we ask people these so-called self-referential questions, it helps them think more critically, not only about the headlines they see but also subsequent headlines.

The findings are forthcoming, online in advance, in Information Systems Research.

Moravec and her colleagues, Antino Kim and Alan R. Dennis of Indiana University and Randall K. Minas of the University of Hawaii, found that when people dont ask the question, they tend to accept articles that fit their beliefs.

In the study, the researchers asked participants to rate randomly assigned headlines on their truthfulness and believability. Using a mocked up social media page, with both left- and right-leaning headlines from a fabricated news source, researchers then asked participants to rate their personal knowledge of a given news story: How truthful is this story?

Participants selected from choices, including:

Study participants wore an EEG headset so researchers could measure neurophysiological changes as they evaluated the headlines, half of which were true and half false. Researchers found those who rated articles while questioning their own knowledge of the topic had increased activation in several parts of the brain associated with deliberate cognitive activity.

The question caused some participants to realize they had no firsthand way to evaluate the credibility of the news story. They thought more deeply about the news piece, versus automatically assuming articles that aligned with their beliefs are true. Moreover, the researchers found a lingering effect: participants continued to critically analyze content even when they werent prompted to do so by asking a self-referential question.

For social media companies, the researchers said adding a question about the readers knowledge of an articles truthfulness could help curb the spread of misinformation and encourage a more critical evaluation of content. Yet, they note that people tend to turn to social media for entertainment, connecting with friends, or escapism, and asking them a self-referential question that requires cognitive effort might not be enjoyable. Social media companies are unlikely to pursue anything that could annoy users and cut into their profits, she said.

Read the McCombs Big Ideas feature story to learn more.

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Brain Imaging Shows What Happens When We Question Fake News - UT News - University of Texas

Lets see how misinformation experts have demonstrated how effectively use GPT-3 to misinform.

GPT-3 means Generative Pre-trained Transformer 3, is a language model that leverages deep learning to generate human-like text. Not only can it produce text, but it can also generate code, stories, poems, etc. And it is an auto-complete bot whose underlying Machine Learning model has been trained on vast quantities of text available on the Internet.

It is way better than any algorithm language program in existence and it makes huge pre-trained language models that will become an integral part of AI applications in the near future. The ability of GPT-3 to generate several paragraphs of synthetic content that people find difficult to distinguish from the human-written text in section 3.9.4 represents a concerning milestone.

OpenAIs text-producing framework GPT-3 has captured a lot of mainstream attention. OpenAI isnt the main association to have strong language models, the computing power and data used by OpenAI to model GPT-n.

AI algorithm capable of generating coherent text is GPT-3. Its makers cautioned that the device might actually be employed as a weapon of online misinformation.

Experts from Georgetown research team on misinformation have demonstrated how effectively GPT-3, could be used to mislead and misinform. The result is, that it could intensify a few types of trickiness that would be particularly challenging to detect.

The team used GPT-3 to generate misinformation, including stories around a false narrative, news articles altered to push a bogus perspective, and tweets riffing on particular points of misinformation.

The dataset on which GPT-3 was trained, got terminated in October 2019. So GPT-3 doesnt know anything about the dataset after that. It can be the weapon of choice for actors who want to promote fake tweets to manipulate the price of crypto.

The team says GPT-3 or AI language algorithm, could prove especially effective for automatically generating short messages on social media, what the researchers call one-to-many misinformation. Making GPT-3 behave would be a challenge for agents of misinformation.

The team showed example tweets written by GPT-3 about the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan and US sanctions on China. In the two cases, they observed that members were influenced by the messages. Subsequent to seeing posts contradicting China sanctions, for example, the level of respondents who said they were against such a strategy multiplied.

In another political situation, GPT-3 had the option to totally change a few people groups perspectives, with the assertions making respondents 54% bound to concur with the position subsequent to being shown one-sided AI-generated text.

AI researchers have built programs capable of using language in surprising ways of late, and GPT-3 maybe is the most alarming show of all. The scientists at OpenAI made GPT-3 by taking care of a lot of text scratched from web sources to a particularly enormous AI calculation intended to deal with language.

The Georgetown work features a significant issue that the organization desires to moderate. Whats more, they effectively work to address dangers related to GPT-3.

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GPT-3 could Eat Up Humans in Spreading Misinformation and Fake News - Analytics Insight

Fake news is a phrase that is often bandied about, but how about fake journalist? Veteran comic Ben Palmer could add that position to his resume.

I call companies pretending to be a journalist, Palmer said. I email CEOs and send them fake quotes. I tell them Im working on a story. They expect a real article that will be published somewhere.

Palmer, 35, who will perform Tuesday at the Spokane Comedy Club, trolls executives Facebook pages. Palmer also pretends to be a city government official making up fake cases. The witty humorist puts together all that he culls to create a presentation, which is the majority of his stand-up.

My show is multimedia, Palmer said while calling from his Denver home. I project it on a screen and present it response by response. I have no idea how I started this.

The Cleveland native, who has been a comic since 2008, has been delivering this type of show for seven years.

I have a blast doing this, and its different than what anyone else is doing, Palmer said

Palmer also works the crowd and enjoys the extemporaneous side of his work. I love that you never know what will happen when you just talk with an audience, Palmer said. I just talk about things, and everybody gets loose.

Palmer will be making his Spokane debut, but he promises that he wont botch the pronunciation of the Lilac City.

When I was in Seattle performing a few years ago, I said Spokane (Spo-kane), and everybody laughed, Palmer said. But they didnt laugh in a good way. It was like, Havent you ever been to Washington?

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Ben Palmer takes fake news to another level - The Spokesman Review

Conspiracy theories and fake news the disinformation kids read online, impacts children, as well as adults, and new research shows young people are more exposed and vulnerable than ever.Report by Dr Nerelie Freeman.

Globally, it is estimated that one child in three is an internet user, and it wont surprise any parent to know that mobile phones are the most popular go-to device.

More children are spending more time online than ever and the age at which children start using the internet is far younger, and yet our kids are highly susceptible to the impact of fake news.

Only 2 per cent of children aged up to 15 years have the critical thinking required to consistently distinguish fact from fiction online.

Online disinformation refers to sharing false information on websites, social media and social networking sites, including Instagram and TikTok.

Disinformation is often used to promote a particular political or moral cause. It can include conspiracy theories, fake news and other content intended to cause harm.

In the time of COVID-19, children are particularly vulnerable to exposure to disinformation and have been targeted with fake news, especially about vaccinations.

What do children do with fake news and disinformation? And what can we do to help them identify it?

A UNICEF survey of 14,733 children aged 917 across ten countries found that up to 75% (three-quarters) of children were unable to judge whether the information they read online was true. This was especially true for the youngest age group in the survey, aged 911.

Children also say they find it harder to tell between real and fake news on social media compared to other mediums. This makes social media sites the most common platforms where kids are exposed to disinformation.

Some young people are known to share disinformation with their peers or friends without any thought for the consequences motivated by a sense of fun or the attention they receive from others.

Helping children understand fake news can help stop the impact of disinformation. So what can we do to help kids think critically about online content?

First and foremost we need to make our children aware of different types of disinformation.

In the classroom, teachers can use simple graphics to define different types of disinformation and ask students to rate them from least to most harmful.

This initiates a conversation around the different levels of intent in deceptive online content. Teachers can also explore reasons with students about why this content is being created. For example, is it to make fun of others or to recruit other people to a cause?

Linking disinformation with familiar concepts also helps our kids to better identify whats fake and whats real, for example, one kind of disinformation is imposter content. Lots of primary and secondary school students are familiar with the popular online gameAmong Us: the aim being to identify the imposter. Using imagery of the imposter character from the game in conversations can help extend what children know about imposters in the game to imposter content online.Parents and teachers should also know the platforms kids use. Some teachers have limited knowledge or engagement with online platforms, especially Tik Tok or Instagram, likewise for parents. Its hard to keep up with kids these days and especially the ever-changing platforms they use, but its important to be aware.

Increasing your own knowledge of these platforms will make you more confident to have these conversations with your students;esafetyis one organisation offering professional learning for teachers and great resources for parents too.

One of the key ways to help kids identify fake news is to encourage their critical thinking. Spend time searching online for topics that interest children. Talk with them about the source of the information and who is publishing it. Does the author appear legitimate? How can we tell if an information source is real and reputable? Do they think that the information is fact or opinion? Its also important to maintain childrens awareness of disinformation. Schools can hold an eventon disinformation (For example, during your schools annual Wellness Week or on Global Wellness Day, June 11th). This should be layered with communication to parents, via the school newsletter or classroom so parents are aware that this is being discussed at school and they can continue the conversation at home.

Studies tell us that fake news on social media spreads up to six times faster than true news, and fake news is 70% more likely to get retweeted than truth. Every day our children are exposed to an ocean of disinformation, so its vital that parents and teachers work together to help our kids wade through the waves.

Dr Nerelie Freeman is a Psychologist and researcher at the School of Educational Psychology and Counselling, Monash University.

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Fake News! How To Help Kids Identify When Online Information Is Fake - Women Love Tech

Arlington, TX For those that follow the 2022 Houston Astros, you could be forgiven for thinking that things are not quite going to plan. It is early in the season (the calendar hasnt turned to May), but the defending AL champions find themselves stumbling. Coming into the second game of the Rangers series, the team stood at 7-9. That in and of it itself could be off-putting for fans used to seeing Houston dominate. Yet, it is how the Astros are on the field in addition to their record that is unusual. They rank in the bottom half of the AL in just about any and all offensive categories, from hitting to runs scored towell, it might be useful to say what they arent bottom feeders in (home runs: 3rd in the AL). Their pitching has seen some moments (welcome back Justin Verlander), but overall, they dont rate much higher than fair to middling. Their run differential is in negative numbers and they currently sit 4th in the division.

When asked about this, most Astros players had this to say:

Others didnt bother trying to answer the questions, as they either hung up, called security, or tried to bash our reporters in with baseball bats, old gloves and a couple of extra trash cans.

We did get a chance to talk with a few Astros staffers, who indicated the usual cliches in April:

Eventually, after extensive persistence, the promise of significant financial compensation, and the promise to buy a metric ****ton of Dusty Bakers latest vineyard offerings, we did get to speak to a few leading Astros figures.

Yeah, we havent quite gotten off to the start that most expected. What do I care about April? Do you know how many World Series I won in April as a manager? None! You dont win the World Series in April!!! It is all about fall baseball! October! The Fall Classic! That is when you win! exclaimed a slightly annoyed Dusty Baker.

How many World Series have you won in October as a manager? our intrepid reporter asked.

Baker did not immediately answer. We hoped for a follow-up, but when he rounded on our people with a broken wine bottle with the sharper edges facing us and a maniacal look in his eyes, wwwweeee figured it was best to just move along.

We found the conversation with James Click a little more civil:

What you fail to see here is that we are looking at 2022 as the chance to learn from our past short-comings. In particular, our last two World Series ended in very, very disappointing fashion. So, like any other organization, we took stock of what happened, and is often the case, we looked at who bested us, and how they did it. Which means we would have to adjust our thinking and models to try to change our future performance.

In particular, you had to look at the actions of the 2019 Washington Nationals and the 2021 Atlanta Braves. Well, having done that, we think that we are already off to a good start.

How so? we inquired, especially as we were looking over the latest box scores. To which Click replied:

Well, as you may recall, both Washington and Atlanta got off to rather slow starts. At one point in 2019, Washington was 19-31. Coming into August last season, Atlanta was three games under .500. Based on our current projections, we are on pace to meet those marks.

Additionally, youll note that those teams had suffered the loss of major stars either the season prior or due to season-ending injury. For Washington, who honestly thought they were going to do anything when they let Bryce Harper walk? Did anyone think that Atlanta had a chance to be even decent when they lost Ronald Acuna Jr.? Well, look at us? We up and let Correa walk for nothing. While we havent lost anyone for the season yet, we figured that it would be best for McCullers to just go ahead and miss the 1st half of the season. Atlanta played over half a season with Acunas loss, so we are matching action for action.

Just to make sure, Dusty and I talked some over his latest Riesling, which is quite good, by the way. You still plan to buy those 6 cases, with me getting that 75% cutback, right? Anyway, we chatted in mid-November. So, I told him to just up and treat the first month or so like extended Spring Training. Give guys the random days off where they dont make a ton of sense. Also, I wanted him to put our-not-quite-best-foot-forward for pitching. So, we are getting Odorizzi and Baez on the mound as much as possible early on.

Admittedly, Dusty is getting a little nervous about completely following this plan. He is now gonna let Javier pitch like a starterbut we still have Odorizzi, so that will be ok. He is actually going with rookie relievers more. Told him we would be ok sticking with Baez, but after some wicked Merlot, Dusty convinced me otherwise. Even went ahead and told Altuve and Pressly to get their injuries out of the way now, early on in the season. Wanted to talk to Bregman about that, saying that he should also think about that, but I think he was a bit frustrated after the past season and the World Series. Didnt think it was wise to get in his way.

Admittedly, we werent sure about where this master plan would lead, but we only got Click to say Oh ye of little faith. Trust the process....oh, wait, thats someone elses line. Eh, you know what? Im the GM, youre not, and we will be just fine.

So, to sum up for the Astros plan for 2022:

Step 1: Have a losing record deep into the season

Step 2:

Step 3: Win the World Series

Step 4: Profit

Wait, what about step tw...

And that is all the time we have for this article. Good Night and Good Luck.

See the article here:

Totally Not Fake News: All Going to Plan - The Crawfish Boxes

Beyond Meat Inc BYND shares are trading higher by 9.82% at $39.02 following a report from Fast Company indicating Beyond Meat-based McPlant burger will become a permanent menu item at McDonalds MCD. A subsequent Bloomberg report said McDonalds denied the implications of the report.

Beyond Meat shares were initially halted for volatility at 2:20 p.m. ET, up 20%. Shares resumed out of the halt higher by 27% before a second volatility halt took place at 2:36 p.m. ET.

Before the second volatility halt was lifted, the Benzinga newsdesk reported a Bloomberg update on the matter, with McDonalds saying the company has no new Plans with Beyond Meat to announce, McDonald's calling the Fast Company report "misconstrued."Shares fell to the $39.00-level upon resumption fromthe second volatility halt.

According to data from Benzinga Pro, Beyond Meat has a 52-week high of $160.28 and a 52-week low of $35.41.

See Also: Why Visa Shares Are Trading Higher Today

The rest is here:

Fake News About Fake Meat? Here's What's Going On With Beyond Meat Shares Today - Benzinga - Benzinga