US sanctions two Russians for meddling in 2018 midterm elections

Today, the US Treasury sanctioned two Russian nationals accused of working for the Internet Research Agency (IRA) and attempting to meddle in the 2018 US midterm elections. The US has already sanction the IRA and a handful of its members. Now, Igor N...

Fake news campaigns are a growing global problem

Disinformation is a major threat to tech companies, society, even democracy -- and it's only getting worse. In 2019, disinformation campaigns occurred in at least 70 countries, a significant jump from 28 countries in 2017. That's according to a new r...

BBC, tech giants will fight fake news with an ‘early warning system’

Tech companies know disinformation remains a major threat, and they're forming an alliance with a media giant to help fight the online spread of falsehoods. The BBC has partnered with Facebook, Google and Twitter on a strategy to fight fake news and...

NYU report lists likely social media disinformation tactics for 2020

The 2020 US presidential election will serve as the ultimate test for social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter to prove they can combat fake news. But could they be fighting the last war? A report released by NYU's Stern Center for Business a...

An old Instagram hoax is back, and it’s duping celebrities

An Instagram hoax that first circulated in 2012 is back, and celebrities from Usher to Waka Flocka Flame, Julianne Moore, Julia Roberts and Rob Lowe have allegedly fallen for it. The post claims Instagram is changing its rules and everything you've e...

Alphabet subsidiary Jigsaw paid a Russian troll to spread disinformation

In the name of research, Alphabet subsidiary Jigsaw and a partner security firm paid a Russian troll $250 for a disinformation campaign. As Wired reports, the experiment was meant to prove how easy it is to purchase social media propaganda campaigns....

Google explains how it is fighting fake news

Like all online platforms, Google is not immune to the scourge of fake news that has dominated headlines over the last few years. The company has taken various steps in fighting the problem -- from partnering with fact-checking networks to launching...

Twitter banned 2,600 Iran-linked accounts for election meddling

Since September, Twitter has suspended 2,617 accounts linked to Iran, it said in a report on its US midterm election efforts. Some of the accounts claimed they were American news outlets and discussed US political and social issues. Twitter claims it...

Facebook purges more than 500 Russian-led disinformation pages

"Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior" is such an anodyne way of describing weaponizing information to poison attitudes and democracies. That's the euphemism that Facebook is employing to talk about its latest purge of accounts and pages that may be part...