Misinfo 3
estb 2 25
disinfo was originally systemically boosted by putin; this is stuff that is wrong/ lies includes trump admin/doge
MERRI OK
SEE SOCIAL MEDIA BIAS bs
see COVID CONSPIRACY PIVOTAL?
SEE TIKTOK
SEE MUSK LIE ARREST GOV EVERS MASS DEPORT HOMAN
NOTE RETRACTION/CORRECTION GET ONLY TINY % VS ORIG, NOT BOOSTED BY ALGO? DRAINED OF EMOTION? NO ONE WANTS TO ADMIT FALLING FOR IT, POSTER OR READER?
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an 5 26 thom
And let’s not forget Elon Musk, who bought Twitter in 2022 and, according to peer-reviewed research published in Nature and the Queensland University of Technology study, tilted the X algorithm in mid-July 2024 to dramatically boost his own posts and Republican-leaning accounts. After that change, views on Musk’s posts surged 138 percent, and right-wing accounts saw engagement leaps that progressive accounts simply never get any more on billionaire-run social media.
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MMA
01/13/26
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AN 11 25
Arizona Central reports high school teachers in Pima County are still reeling from online harassment and attacks after their Halloween costumes sparked outrage from Turning Point USA and Republican critics last week. But school officials say the educators wore the “bloody” shirts to advocate for math education, not to mock the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
“These shirts were part of a math-themed Halloween costume meant to represent solving tough math problems,” Vail School District Superintendent John Carruth said in a letter to the school community. “The shirts were never intended to target any person, event, or political issue.”
AZ Central reports the firestorm erupted on Oct. 31, after teachers in the Cienega High School math department were photographed wearing bloodied white T-shirts with the phrase “Problem Solved” in black text. The school district shared a photo of the Halloween costumes on Facebook, which exploded over the internet thanks to lingering tension around Kirk’s murder seven weeks ago.
Turning Point’s online megaphone opened the gates to a blast of criticism and denunciation on X and other social media platforms, according to AZ Central. But the costumes had been used in reference to solving math problems at earlier events in 2024, long before Kirk’s assassination.
“But to leaders at Turning Point USA, Kirk’s political organization, the costumes resembled the white T-shirt Kirk wore when he was shot in the neck at an event in September. That shirt had also been emblazoned with black text, which read ‘FREEDOM.’ It became a symbol for his mourners after he died,” AZ Central reports.
“@vailschools, shut your school down, it's nothing more than a den of vile verminous scum. Shut this place down,” posted one commenter on X the day after Halloween, seemingly without knowing the full context of the image. “At the very least defund it entirely.”
Top elected leaders in the Republican Party also chimed in, with Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis accusing the teachers of “glorifying a murder just because they disagreed with the victim” in a post on X.
Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), who is himself known for incendiary comments regarding accident and death when victims are Democrats, amplified a post identifying each teacher with their name, phone number and email address.
Arizona state Sen. Jake Hoffman (R-Queen Creek) called the teachers “BLOODTHIRSTY” and “psychopaths” before deleting his post demanding they be fired.
“The fact that this photo was taken so out of context and spread so quickly without doing some simple fact-checking has been really harmful,” said Superintendent Carruth.
But Turning Point spokesman Andrew Kolvet was unwilling to let go of his claim against the teachers despite the shirts also appearing last year.
“It's a very weird costume for teachers in general, but after what happened to Charlie, I'm absolutely floored they wore it again,” Kolvet said on X. “I do not believe for a second that all of them are innocent.”
Read the AZ Central report at this link.
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AN 10 25
SFGate columnist Drew Magary tested out Elon Musk's new "Wikipedia clone" known as Grokipedia and says he found it's full of racism, antisemitism and lies.
"There is nothing this man cannot make cheaper, wonkier and 20% more Hitler-y," Magary writes about Musk's latest foray into "his own optimized version of Wikipedia."
Groikpedia's entry on Adolf Hitler, for example, includes a “Debates and Intent on Functionality” section, "which is absent in Wiki’s entry on the man," Magary notes.
“The historiographical debate on the intent and functionality of Nazi racial policies, particularly the Holocaust, centers on whether the systematic extermination of Jews was the fulfillment of Adolf Hitler’s premeditated master plan or the unintended outcome of bureaucratic radicalization and wartime improvisation,"Magary quotes Grokipedia, boldfacing the most egregious part.
"You already know about people who deny that the Holocaust ever happened, so kudos to Grokipedia for introducing, 'The Holocaust was real, but also it was just a happy accident!' as a new means of discrediting Jewish history," Magary writes.
While Magary says no one knows who wrote that passage, the entry links to the Associated Press, but sourcing still remains vague.
"Musk’s site uses an ambiguous mix of crowdsourcing and its owner’s proprietary AI software — which he already appended to Twitter/X to predictably virulent results — to compose its more than 850,000 entries. I never would have sorted this without Wikipedia, so thanks, Wiki!" Magary says.
While Wikipedia remains non-profit and written entirely by humans, Musk's version is the antithesis, Magary explains.
"Elon Musk is perhaps, second to Donald Trump, our greatest disseminator of bad faith," he writes, with his priorities remaining clear.
"So it makes sense that he would cobble together a half-assed competitor to Wikipedia that is motivated by profit, and by his own demented worldview. Grokipedia exists strictly as a reactionary product, and that was plainly evident when I took the site for a test drive," Magary says.
The site, he says, is a mess, and an "attempt to rewrite the bulk of history" to suit Musk's "own ends."
"That’s why, when I tried to search for a “Grokipedia” entry on Grokipedia, I found no entry at all," Magary notes, adding that it's "More like WOKE-ipedia. Am I right, fellow plantation owners?! Huh? Anyway, if you think these suggested results make sense, then you’re on more ketamine than Musk himself."
In response to Slavery, Musk's "slurbot is free to denigrate Black and mixed race folks any way it pleases. Or it ignores denigration of those people entirely; there is no Grokipedia entry for the N-word," Magary says.
Musk, he writes, catered the site directly to his audience. "I got the feeling that his pet project tweaked the hot button entries to tilt MAGA, and then just stole content for all of the normal s——," he writes.
"This is the whitewashing machine at work," Magary explains, whose intention is to spread racist lies.
"It has no real purpose other than to strategically plant lies into a reference manual. This renders it not only a malevolent product, but a lousy one. But hey, maybe Elon didn’t mean for his baby to be such a piece of s——. Maybe it was just the unintended outcome of bureaucratic radicalization and wartime improvisation," Magary concludes.
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NOTE TWIT BANNON NEWSMAX
Right-wing media and MAHA figures are celebrating Trump’s Tylenol announcement and pushing unproven claims that vaccines cause autism
Some right-wing media figures celebrated the announcement while others pivoted to claim that “Tylenol is not what’s driving this epidemic” and vaccines are “the primary driver”
Written by Jack Winstanley & Payton Armstrong
Research contributions from Helena Hind & Gideon Taaffe
Published 09/26/25
President Donald Trump’s promotion of an unproven connection between the use of Tylenol during pregnancy and autism has drawn widespread rebuke from world health officials and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, even as right-wing influencers cheered the news, declaring that “what was once dismissed as ‘conspiracy’ is now official policy discussion” in the Trump White House.
Right-wing media personalities and “Make America Healthy Again” acolytes have bolstered the HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.-created movement to exploit post-pandemic mistrust of public health infrastructure and pharmaceutical companies. Now, they are celebrating the president’s announcement as “incredibly bold” and the “most decisive action that could be taken.” Others highlighted Trump’s comments about vaccines, with some declaring that “Tylenol is not what’s driving this epidemic” and claiming that vaccines are “the primary driver.”
Trump announced the FDA will notify doctors that the use of Tylenol during pregnancy is linked to autism, leading OB-GYNs to denounce the policy as “not backed by the full body of scientific evidence”}:
- On September 22, Trump pushed an unproven causal connection between autism and the use of Tylenol (also known as acetaminophen or paracetamol) during pregnancy. In a press conference, Trump thanked Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — who has a long history of promoting discredited theories about vaccines causing autism — for bringing the subject to the “forefront of American politics, along with me,” adding, “We understood a lot more than a lot of people who studied it.” CNN, [9/22/25;The Guardian, 9/24/25]
- World health officials have rejected Trump’s claim that acetaminophen use during pregnancy causes autism. The European Medicines Agency told NBC that “a large amount of data from pregnant women who used paracetamol during pregnancy indicates no risk of malformations on the developing fetus or on newborns.” Australian health officials also rejected the claims, saying they are “a misrepresentation of the science.” NBC News, [9/23/25]
- The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists — a group that represents more than 60,000 doctors — rebuked Trump’s announcement and called it “irresponsible” and “not backed by the full body of scientific evidence.” The group’s president, Dr. Steven Fleischman, said in a statement: “Today’s announcement by HHS is not backed by the full body of scientific evidence and dangerously simplifies the many and complex causes of neurologic challenges in children,” adding, “it is highly unsettling that our federal health agencies are willing to make an announcement that will affect the health and well-being of millions of people without the backing of reliable data.” PBS, [9/22/25; American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, accessed 9/24/25]
- Discussing vaccines during the press conference, Trump also said, “Don’t let them pump your baby up with the largest pile of stuff you've ever seen in your life.” However, studies have shown no causal link between vaccines and autism, and “over the last 50 years, it is estimated that essential vaccines have saved at least 154 million lives,” according to UNICEF USA president and CEO Michael J. Nyenhuis. Reuters, [9/23/23; NPR, 9/23/25]
- ## Some right-wing and MAHA media figures praised and endorsed Trump’s press conference connecting Tylenol to autism
- Ahead of the press conference, Daily Wire host Michael Knowles claimed Trump “has apparently cured autism.”Knowles said that Trump’s announcement was “another feather in the cap” for the administration, which he claimed has “achieved some of the greatest scientific progress in our lifetimes.” The Daily Wire, *The Michael Knowles Show*, [9/22/25]
- On Steve Bannon’sWar Room, MAHA Action President Tony Lyons declared: “I don’t think you can look at what happened today and think that it was anything short of the boldest and most decisive action that could be taken.” He added: “They see that the science done for the last 20 or 30 years has been fake corporate science, and so we are getting gold standard science, total transparency, and we’re going to make progress. And there are dozens of possibilities for all of the different chronic diseases, and they’re going to do research into every last one of them.” In July, The Hill reported that Lyons’ group “has launched a six-figure ad campaign backing President Trump” and Kennedy’s MAHA agenda. Twitter/X, [9/22/25; The Hill, 7/22/25]
- Podcaster and Kennedy 2024 running mate Nicole Shanahan: “Today was incredibly bold. @POTUS you have exceeded my expectations in truth telling.”She added, “Keep it up, team! This is only the beginning.” Twitter/X, [9/22/25; Politico, 5/11/24; BlazeTV, accessed 9/24/25]
- Actor Rob Schneider said, “This incredible and courageous and important news conference would have NEVER happened if President Trump was not elected.” Twitter/X, [9/22/25; Entertainment Weekly, 10/1/24]
- Infowars host Alex Jones shared footage of Trump’s press conference and wrote: “Tylenol and so-called ‘vaccines’ eat your brain and liver.” Twitter/X, [9/23/25]
- Podcaster Sherri Tenpenny, an ally of Kennedy who has pushed false claims about vaccines, praised the announcement: “What was once dismissed as ‘conspiracy’ is now official policy discussion. The truth always surfaces.” Tenpenny became well-known after she falsely claimed during a 2021 hearing in Ohio that the COVID-19 vaccine makes people “magnetized.” Twitter/X, [9/22/25; DrTenpenny.com, accessed 9/24/25; Media Matters, 7/19/23; PolitiFact, accessed 9/24/25; Agence France-Presse, 3/3/25]
- Turning Point USA’s Alex Clark praised Trump for tying Tylenol to autism, writing “We finally have a president that says: ‘I BELIEVE MOTHERS.’” Clark continued, “The most recent studies link Tylenol to autism, and we know that the current vaccine schedule is not helping. President Trump LOVES AND SUPPORTS WOMEN enough to not gaslight them—something the medical establishment REFUSES to do.” Twitter/X, [9/22/25]
- On Newsmax, host Chris Plante said that “since the Democrats are so angrily denouncing it and they're wrong about everything, it's probably more likely to be true.” Newsmax, *Chris Plante: Right Squad*, [9/22/25]
- After the announcement, Newsmax host Carl Higbie claimed that “Libs are now pro-autism.” Higbie also stated, “It just seems to me like people who don't like Trump will just do anything to oppose him,” claiming that “pregnant women are posting taking acetaminophen products while pregnant.” During the segment, an on-air graphic read “Libs claim autism ‘doesn’t need to be cured.’” Newsmax, *Carl Higbie Frontline*, [9/23/25]
- ## Others highlighted Trump’s comments about vaccines, suggesting they are "the primary driver”
- Alex Jones: “They're going to say it's Tylenol and pesticides but not be specific. … But the main thing is the so-called vaccines.” Jones also said that “on the off chance that they cover it up, I will go to complete war with the administration.” Infowars, *The Alex Jones Show*, [9/22/25]
- During an interview onWar Room, Mary Holland, CEO of Kennedy-founded Children’s Health Defense, said: “We know Tylenol is not what’s driving this epidemic. … Vaccines are driving this epidemic.” Host Steve Bannon added: “This Tylenol thing stinks to high heaven. Not the fact that Tylenol causes it, but to do it today and then you’re never going to see a report, it’s just going to kind of fade into memory.” Holland noted that she’s worked with Kennedy for “many years” and repeated that “vaccines are the primary cause.” Real America’s Voice, *War Room*, [9/22/25; Politico, 1/29/25]
- MAHA Action Editor-in-Chief Tracy “Beanz” Diaz, whom NOTUS also described as “a podcaster, YouTuber and writer” and “one of the earliest promoters of the QAnon movement,” said: “It’s the vaccines. There’s my opinion. It isn’t Tylenol.” Diaz, who was hired by MAHA Action in March, reportedly “pushed vaccine skepticism and advocated for the use of ivermectin to treat COVID-19” during the pandemic. Twitter/X, [9/22/25; NOTUS, 3/11/25]
- Podcaster Thomas Renz, who reportedly “boosted his profile with lawsuits challenging coronavirus vaccines,” said that “Tylenol was made over the counter in 1959. Autism exploded as the childhood vaccine schedule grew. Tylenol isn’t good but vaccines are the root problem.” Twitter/X, [9/23/25; The Washington Post, 9/20/21, Substack, accessed 9/24/25]
- Podcaster Peter McCullough, who pushed false claims about vaccines and promoted debunked treatments for COVID-19 during appearances on Fox in 2021, complained, “The pathway to developmental regression begins with vaccines, not acetaminophen.” He added: “A leading cause of Tylenol use during pregnancy is maternal vaccination that started about 25 years ago. Systemic inflammation and the reason why Tylenol is indicated (eg post combination vaccination) is the real driver of encephalitis, and the post-encephalitic state of autism.” Twitter/X, [9/22/25; America Out Loud Network, 9/24/25; Media Matters, 12/30/21; MSNBC, 6/8/25]
- On Instagram, Moms Across America, which CNN described as a “grassroots network” founded by a North Carolina mom “cheering for RFK Jr. to ‘Make America Healthy Again,’” posted a graphic that read, “Tylenol adds the fuel, but vaccines strike the match.” Instagram, [9/23/25; CNN, 12/12/24]
- Sherri Tenpenny stated that “vaccines are — and always have been — the primary driver of autism.”She added, “Tylenol doesn’t replace that reality, it compounds it. … This is not about either/or. It’s about exposing the entire toxic system that has harmed our children for decades.” Twitter/X, [9/22/25]
- OnWar Room, Toby Rogers, whom Politico has described as “a prominent anti-vaccine activist,” celebrated that Trump went after vaccines, calling his comments the “best case scenario.” Rogers said: “Yesterday was historic. We thought it was just going to be about Tylenol and instead, President Trump went all-in, and he made it very clear that he wants to make major changes to the childhood vaccine schedule to stop the autism epidemic.” These comments follow Rogers' testimony before the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations for the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, claiming that “after conducting my systematic review of 1,000 studies my belief is that the autism and chronic disease epidemics are primarily caused by toxicants — mostly from vaccines and about a dozen additional toxicants.” Real America’s Voice, *War Room*, [9/23/25; Politico, 9/23/25; Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, 9/9/25]
MMA //
09/18/25 3:52 PM EDT
07/09/25 12:07 PM EDT
09/17/25
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mma
TikTok Shop is selling supplements made by Plandemic filmmaker
For $29 on TikTok, you can buy a supplement to “bulletproof your immune system” and “surround it with piranhas” from a company that pushes medical misinformation
Written by Abbie Richards
Research contributions from Alex Kaplan
:{:{Published 09/25/25}:
On TikTok Shop, users can now purchase a supplement that will purportedly “bulletproof your immune system.” The product was “founded” by a group that includes Mikki Willis, who has falsely claimed that measles is a “bioweapon” and said he has been “working with” Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Willis is also known for creating the viral film Plandemic, which pushed conspiracy theories about COVID-19.
TikTok Shop’s policies prohibit the sale of “medicinal supplements,” including “unlicensed medicines, herbal or homeopathic products, and those making health claims.” But that isn’t stopping the creators of Fierce Immunity from selling their supplement on the platform and suggesting that people who take it “don’t get sick.”
Fierce Immunity is a supplement claiming to “supercharge your immune system”
Fierce Immunity is billed as “a synergistic blend of bioactive compounds, precision-engineered to supercharge your immune system” and “a powerful blend of Vitamin D, Zinc Ascorbate, Quercetin, Hesperidin, and L-Arginine designed to fortify your immune system, reduce inflammation, and support rapid recovery.”
The supplement was created by a group that includes medical misinformers, and it was reportedly formulated with an “AI technology,” known as Swarm Intelligence. Fierce Immunity is also the first item listed in parent company Rebel Lion’s “Measles Protocol.” As part of the protocol, Rebel Lion claims Fierce Immunity works as “both prevention and response in times of viral threat.”
Health care experts have said that while some people can benefit from a vitamin D supplement, most people do not need vitamin D supplements because they get sufficient vitamin D from their diet and lifestyle. And while zinc plays a role in immune health, supplements are usually necessary only for people with zinc deficiency. In fact, some experts say excessive zinc levels can actually be “dangerous to your health.”
In small print, Fierce Immunity's website admits, “Fierce Immunity is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. … You should not use the information contained herein for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease, or prescribing any medication.”
Rebel Lion is selling and promoting Fierce Immunity on TikTok
Rebel Lion is selling Fierce Immunity on TikTok Shop, even though the platform prohibits the sale of “unlicensed medicines, herbal or homeopathic products, and those making health claims.” In fact, the company is selling the product on the platform at half of its usual price of $58 a bottle.
On its TikTok account, Rebel Lion has posted videos of people making some bold claims about Fierce Immunity, such as saying it will “bulletproof your immune system” and “lock it down, supercharge it, and surround it with piranhas,” “It shields my immunity. I don’t get sick,” and “Two years ago I began taking Fierce Immunity … and in that two years, I haven’t been sick, not even a sniffle.” In another video, a man is repeatedly hitting a tire in a gym with a voiceover saying, “After six weeks of constant gut issues, I tried Fierce Immunity and in just two days, my discomfort vanished.”
In Rebel Lion webinars on YouTube, the commentary about Fierce Immunity gets even wilder. In a webinar dedicated to the “Real Story Behind the Measles Outbreak,” Rebel Lion co-founder Chris Roy said that “nobody that I know that’s taking Fierce Immunity is getting sick.” Roy also claimed that his friend’s sister “had breast cancer — stage four — and started taking Fierce Immunity and within about a month they said her tumors are shrinking.”
Fierce Immunity is being sold by a company led by medical misinformers
According to Rebel Lion's website, Fierce Immunity was “founded by Mikki Willis, Chris Roy, and JP Sears.” Willis and Sears both have histories of spreading medical misinformation.
Willis is the creator of the viral film Plandemic, which Wired reported was a “widely debunked pseudo-documentary” that “suggested Covid-19 was released to profit those in positions of authority and that vaccines were ineffectual.” During Rebel Lion's “The Real Story Behind the Measles Outbreak” webinar, he falsely claimed that measles is a “bioweapon” that has “been manipulated and targeted towards a community that is a threat because of their natural way of living.” In February, Willis also claimed that he had “been working with RFK Jr.” and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard “for over a decade.”
Willis is still sowing doubt and mistrust around the safety of COVID-19 vaccines. During the Rebel Lion webinar, Willis encouraged viewers to share an upcoming video with their friends and family who still trust vaccines and linked his father’s heart issues to vaccines:
MIKKI WILLIS: I was getting calls from these people that were severely injured. They were the first ones to line up for the COVID-19 vaccines. And they were manipulated and coerced into doing that for whatever reason. We’ve been following them on their journey of healing for the past four years. They went from perfectly healthy to confined to a wheelchair, having to have breathing apparatuses just so they can breathe, to having seizures every 30 minutes, some of them severely injured from being perfectly healthy.
And so we’ve witnessed that firsthand. And that movie, when it comes out, share it like crazy because I have been saying, that’s the movie that ends the debate. If you have family members, friends, whoever it is that are still in denial just because maybe they got vaccinated and they’re OK, which, thank God, so many people are. My father and mother-in-law both, I don’t know, two or three vaccines — they’re fine. My father, three vaccines, three heart attacks — I just put him in hospice care.
In the description of the “ Real Story Behind the Measles Outbreak” webinar, Rebel Lion describes the video as an “urgent discussion … unpacking the latest measles outbreak in Texas and exposing what mainstream media refuses to report,” including questions like “Is this a mutated bioweapon?” and “Are vaccinated individuals more vulnerable?”
Journalists have described Sears as a “conservative, anti-vaccine comic” and “the clown prince of wellness.” In his comedy sketches, Sears has implied that vaccines cause autism, that COVID-19 boosters are intended to depopulate the world, and that mRNA vaccines are ineffective.
Roy, who owns the “Rebel Lion” trademark, doesn’t seem to have a significant history as a public persona online. Instead, he seems to bring the marketing expertise to the Rebel Lion project.
In May, Rebel Lion released a film that featured Dr. Ben Edwards and Dr. Richard Bartlett, who have downplayed the threat of measles, and Pierre Kory, whose certification was revoked by the American Board of Internal Medicine for his promotion of ivermectin as a treatment for COVID-19.
Edwards reportedly treated measles patients in Texas, including children, with cod liver oil while reportedly having an active measles infection himself.
Bartlett has suggested that the measles vaccine could cause measles and that reporting on the rise in measles is a “misinformation, disinformation campaign to character-assassinate RFK and the Make America Healthy Again movement.” During the “Real Story Behind the Measles Outbreak” webinar, Willis asked Bartlett: “Should we stop all measles vaccines and let children get natural immunity?” Bartlett didn’t seem to answer the answer directly, but he said: “Parents deserve to know all the information. … We’re supposed to as doctors give informed consent. As far as vaccines, it’s again an individual decision. Traditional vaccines made with a live virus or a live weakened virus make sense to me. But there’s a risk. They’re live measles viruses. Live measles viruses cause measles.” He added that “every risk of measles can happen with the MR vaccine. And you’re not gonna hear that on CNN.”
During the May film, Kory argued that “measles is essentially just a rash. It was one of the most common childhood illnesses. It’s not lethal by any stretch of the imagination. Over 90% of kids with measles will suffer no complications. And the few that do, those complications are easily treatable.”
The Centers for Disease Control has been clear: Measles “isn't just a little rash.” In fact, the CDC says that 1 in 5 people who get measles will be hospitalized, and 1 in 20 children with measles will get pneumonia, which is “the most common cause of death from measles in young children.” A 2024 study also estimated that measles vaccines averted over 60 million deaths between 2000 and 2023.
Medical misinformers often sow doubt around vaccines and then profit from anxious consumers
Fierce Immunity offers something of a window into a larger industry in which grifters profit off fear and medical misinformation, seeding distrust in lifesaving vaccines while simultaneously selling bogus solutions.
Immediately after stoking fear about COVID-19 vaccines in the Rebel Lion webinar, Willis said, “This is why we created Fierce Immunity.” Roy added that when measles started breaking out, “that was the beginning of the conversation — was we were getting so many people asking us what they should do, what they should take, how should they build their immune system. Because we know … it all starts with the immune system.”
This sort of approach is also seen elsewhere in the medical misinformation space. For instance, a 2024 study from the University of Washington documented how wellness influencers leveraged anti-vaccine messaging for profit, using it to sell products including heavy metal detox sprays and supplements, homeschooling resources, and “off-grid” supplies. And during the pandemic, right-wing media figures and anti-vaccine activists peddled ivermectin as a miracle drug, even though it is ineffective at treating COVID-19.
Rebel Lion’s “Measles Protocol” also includes Budesonide, which the American Academy of Pediatrics has said is “not a recommended nor effective treatment for measles,” and an “antimicrobial oral rinse that reduces viral and bacterial load in the mouth.”
//
TikTok Shop is selling black market Ozempic, performance enhancement drugs, and cosmetic filler
10/22/24 2:04 PM EDT
06/27/25 10:02 AM EDT
09/09/25
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an 7 25
the normalization of political violence is taking root in public life in the United States. Once shocking near-assassinations are now becoming grimly accepted chapters in political campaigns. Experts warn this signals a dangerous shift in societal norms — and the consequences are already unfolding, The Hill reported Sunday.
The report notes that in the year following the first assassination attempt on President Donald Trump, public threats toward officials have not only persisted — they have escalated.
From the tragic killing of a Minnesota state legislator to last week’s firefight at a U.S. Border Patrol station in Texas, high-profile incidents are mounting.
READ MORE:There's far more to Trump and Epstein's relationship: Trump biographer
Jon Lewis, a research fellow at George Washington University’s Program on Extremism, told The Hill: “We continue to see a normalizing of political violence, a very casual acceptance that some elected officials may be legitimate targets for violence—based on conspiracies, based on disinformation—and unfortunately and tragically, we’ve seen that that has real-world consequences."
He added: “When there is so much rhetoric…it’s only a matter of time before someone with a grievance and a gun finds that justification.”
This reflects a broader trend — federal arrests for threats against officials hit a 12-year high in 2024, according to Seamus Hughes of the University of Nebraska Omaha’s NCITE program, whose comments were also highlighted in the report.
Hughes pointed out that many cases now invigilated at the federal level would previously have been dropped or handled locally. “It’s clear law enforcement and prosecutors want to put their finger on the scale on such threats,” he said.
READ MORE:'A scandal that's being covered up': Trump ripped after claiming Dems 'created' Epstein files
Last month, Robert Pape, a political scientist at the University of Chicago, told the Guardian: “We are in a historically high period of American political violence."
He added: “I call it our ‘era of violent populism’. It’s been about 50 years since we’ve seen something like this. And the situation is getting worse.”
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Ahead of US Election, TikTok and Facebook fail to block ...}:
Global Witness
https://globalwitness.org › campaigns › digital-threats](https://globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/digital-threats/before-us-election-tiktok-and-facebook-fail-to-block-harmful-disinformation-youtube-succeeds/)
Oct 17, 2024 — Just weeks before the US presidential election, Facebook and TikTok approved ads containing harmful election disinformation.
Ahead of US Election, TikTok and Facebook fail to block disinformation | Global Witness
Just weeks before the US presidential election, Facebook and TikTok approved ads containing harmful election disinformation. This is despite a similar Global Witness investigation published two years earlier that found failures in their moderation systems.
A new Global Witness investigation examined if YouTube, Facebook, and TikTok can detect and remove harmful election disinformation.
Our new investigation found that Facebook and TikTok had improved their moderation systems. But, major issues remain.
- TikTok did the worst. It approved 50% of ads containing false information about the election. This despite its policy explicitly _banning all political ads_.
- Facebook did much better. It approved just one of the eight ads submitted, in an improvement on its previous performance.
- YouTube did the best. Although it approved 50% of the ads submitted, it told Global Witness that it wouldn’t publish any of the ads without more identification (like a passport or driver’s license). However, there may still be room for improvement: YouTube rejected all but one of the ads because they referenced the election, rather than because they referenced the election and contained disinformation.
Ads Testing Scorecard US election 2024
Social media has become the public sphere through which voters gather information, discuss politics and follow election campaigns. It is also the primary means for political campaigns to access new audiences and ‘get out the vote’. Disinformation spreading through social media platforms has been a serious issue in _previous US elections_, and the same is true for this year. As one of the most influential nations in the world, as well as one of the greatest emitters of greenhouse gas, the outcome of the US election will have a major impact in the global fight against climate breakdown.
YouTube and Facebook are by far the most popular social media platforms among US adults – with 83% and 68% of adults reporting use of them, respectively. TikTok’s user base is smaller (only 33% of US adults), but it is the key platform through which to mobilise the youth vote. Both the Harris and Trump campaigns have invested in ads on online platforms.
With election day in the US just three weeks away, all three platforms must ensure their political ad policy enforcement is watertight.
*How did we test if we could get election disinformation onto social media platforms?...
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6 25 nhk japan
no lnx pix grf
Fighting falsehoods: the online battle over climate truth
Friday June 20, 2025
Global temperatures keep breaking records, and sea levels are rising. Reports from a United Nations climate panel say the science is settled, but it doesn't always seem that way online, where climate denial is thriving. Japan's Environment Ministry says that's undermining efforts to act, so it's fighting back with a new website that tackles myths and misinformation with cold, hard facts.
The global average temperature in 2024 was the warmest on record.
Climate change skepticism spreads
British news website Tortoise analyzed social media content from climate-related influencers. It says there was an 82 percent jump in the number of climate skeptic posts on the X platform from 2021 to 2024. It also says there was a 43 percent jump in the number of YouTube videos with that stance.
The United Nations Development Programme, which is working on measures to mitigate climate change, says there are two main motives behind the spread of disinformation on the topic.
One is to attract attention for profit. The UNDP says controversial views create followings that bring advertising revenue and political support.
The other reason, it says, is to protect vested interests. Delaying measures against climate change can protect the vested interests of the fossil fuel industry.
NHK spoke with Marc Morano, a former political aide and now an influential climate skeptic who disputes the link between global warming and human activity.
Marc Morano is a prominent climate skeptic.
Morano claims that the United Nations, governments and private companies stand to benefit from measures to limit carbon dioxide. He calls the issue of climate change "a clear fraud campaign" that has nothing to do with science.
The United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change disagrees. It says there is no doubt human activity has caused global warming, and says global temperatures have risen faster in the past 50 years than at any other point in at least 2,000 years. The panel also says climate change can be contained if we act in time.
Disinformation disruption in the real world
Climate disinformation isn't just a theoretical danger. It turned a civil debate into chaos in one Australian city. The council of Onkaparinga was planning to declare a climate emergency in 2023, but the meeting was swarmed by protestors fueled by false ideas.
Residents of Onkaparinga flocked to the city council to protest a climate declaration.
Opponents of the declaration had whipped up alarm with false statements on social media, including a claim that only electric vehicles would be permitted after the declaration was issued.
The meeting had to be suspended, with the mayor and assembly members forced to evacuate.
Ika Trijsburg, a disinformation expert at the Australian National University, says climate change issues are ideal fodder for those who disseminate falsehoods, especially in a divided society.
Ika Trijsburg
Climate myths surging on social media
Claims without scientific evidence are gaining traction in Japan, too. Environment ministry officials say they've seen a surge in misleading online posts since late last year, including claims that global warming is not happening, or that human activity plays no role in greenhouse gas emissions.
An analysis by NHK found a sharp rise in Japanese-language posts on the social media platform X that question the reality of climate change or criticize decarbonization efforts.
In 2020, around 60,000 such posts were recorded. That number grew steadily year after year, reaching 220,000 in 2024. The increase was particularly pronounced after November when Donald Trump, a vocal critic of the Paris Agreement on climate change, won the US presidential election.
Japan government tackles misinformation
Japan's Environment Ministry has launched a new web page aimed at tackling climate change misinformation by presenting clear scientific information about global warming.
The site, which went live Friday, compiles information from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, drawing on the latest scientific research to explain the causes and impact of global climate change. UN reports attribute it mainly to greenhouse emissions caused by human activity.
The page also offers domestic data that show a rise in the frequency of extreme weather such as heatwaves and torrential rain — events that scientists attribute to climate change.
Speaking to reporters after a Cabinet meeting on Friday, Environment Minister Asao Keiichiro voiced concern over the rise of baseless claims online. He warned that such misinformation could undermine efforts by the government, businesses and the public to combat climate change. He said the ministry will continue efforts to ensure people are well-informed about the issue.
Fighting misinformation and disinformation
The spread of climate misinformation and disinformation has become a global concern, prompting the United Nations to act.
The UNDP in Asia and the Pacific has announced the launch of Una, an AI-powered chatbot designed to talk about climate initiatives.
AI character Una can answer questions regarding climate change in multiple languages including Japanese, English and Chinese.
Melissa Fleming, UN Undersecretary for Global Communications, says the planet faces an existential crisis with climate change, and the UN is "in an information battlefield" trying to convince people of the facts.
Fleming says the fight is against special interests who want to convince people that climate change is a hoax or that renewable energy is unreliable or too expensive, so they would have to give up their lifestyle. She says none of this is true.
Melissa Fleming
Fleming says the UN sees this as "one of the biggest risks of our time." She says every player needs to play its role: digital platforms can reduce the flow of falsehoods; advertisers and PR companies can stop funding disinformation; and media-literate people and governments can play a constructive role in the information environment.
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In today’s fractured online landscape, it is harder than ever to identify harmful actors such as trolls and misinformation spreaders.
Often, efforts to spot malicious accounts focus on analysing what they say. However, our latest research suggests we should be paying more attention to what they do – and how they do it.
We have developed a way to identify potentially harmful online actors based solely on their behavioural patterns – the way they interact with others – rather than the content they share. We presented our results at the recent ACM Web Conference, and were awarded Best Paper.
Beyond looking at what people say
Traditional approaches to spotting problematic online behaviour typically rely on two methods. One is to examine content (what people are saying). The other is to analyse network connections (who follows whom).
These methods have limitations.
Users can circumvent content analysis. They may code their language carefully, or share misleading information without using obvious trigger words.
Network analysis falls short on platforms such as Reddit. Here, connections between users aren’t explicit. Communities are organised around topics rather than social relationships.
We wanted to find a way to identify harmful actors that couldn’t be easily gamed. We realised we could, focusing on behaviour – how people interact, rather than what they say.
Teaching AI to understand human behaviour online
Our approach uses a technique called inverse reinforcement learning. This is a method typically used to understand human decision-making in fields such as autonomous driving or game theory.
We adapted this technology to analyse how users behave on social media platforms
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The system works by observing a user’s actions, such as creating new threads, posting comments and replying to others. From those actions it infers the underlying strategy or “policy” that drives their behaviour.
In our Reddit case study, we analysed 5.9 million interactions over six years. We identified five distinct behavioural personas, including one particularly notable group – “disagreers”.
Meet the ‘disagreers’...
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Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers hit back Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump's border czar suggested the Democratic leader could be arrested for distributing guidance to state employees on what to do if confronted by federal immigration agents.
The guidance is straightforward and unremarkable, instructing state employees to "stay calm," ask federal agents for their name and badge, contact an attorney, and decline to answer questions or provide agents access to any documents without a lawyer present.
"State employees may not grant [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] or another agent access to any such data or information absent authorization from their legal counsel pursuant to a valid judicial warrant," the guidance reads.
In a speech addressed to Wisconsinites and the nation, Evers said that the "goal of this guidance was simple—to provide clear, consistent instructions to state employees and ensure they have a lawyer to help them comply with all federal and state laws."
"But Republicans and their right-wing allies, including Elon Musk, lied about this guidance, spread misinformation, accused me of doing things I didn't do or say, and fueled a fake controversy of their own creation," Evers said.
One Republican member of the Wisconsin State Assembly on Friday morning posted an AI-generated image of Evers in handcuffs at the state capitol, with Trump standing behind him in police uniform.
"I'm used to Republicans and the right wing lying about me. It comes with the job," Evers said Friday. "But, this time, these lies came at a cost. I haven't broken the law. I haven't committed a crime. And I've never encouraged or directed anyone to break any laws or commit any crimes."
"But when President Trump's hand-picked appointee, Tom Homan, was asked about me and this guidance after he apparently threatened to arrest elected officials across the country, he said, 'Wait 'til you see what's coming,'" the governor continued.
"Overnight, Republican lawmakers piled on, encouraging the Trump administration to arrest me."
Watch Homan's comments to reporters:
Homan's thinly veiled threat against Evers and other officials came days after FBI agents arrested Wisconsin Judge Hannah Dugan on obstruction charges alleging that she helped an undocumented immigrant evade arrest by misdirecting federal authorities. Dugan's legal team says she is innocent and will be vindicated in court.
Evers said Friday that Homan's threats are "chilling" and "should be of concern to every Wisconsinite and every American who cares about this country and the values we hold dear."
"These threats represent a concerning trajectory in this country," said Evers. "We now have a federal government that will threaten or arrest an elected official—or even everyday American citizens—who have broken no laws, committed no crimes, and done nothing wrong."
"And as disgusted as I am about the continued actions of the Trump administration, I am not afraid," he added. "I have never once been discouraged from doing the right thing, and I will not start today."
Watch Evers' remarks in full:
The Wisconsin governor's full address is transcribed below:
Good morning, Wisconsin. Governor Tony Evers here.*
I’m speaking to you today as your governor but also as a concerned American.
Yesterday, a Trump administration official, in not so many words, apparently threatened to arrest me for distributing guidance that asked state agency employees to consult with an attorney if federal agents show up at state buildings with legal documents.
The goal of this guidance was simple—to provide clear, consistent instructions to state employees and ensure they have a lawyer to help them comply with all federal and state laws. Nothing more, nothing less.
But Republicans and their right-wing allies, including Elon Musk, lied about this guidance, spread misinformation, accused me of doing things I didn’t do or say, and fueled a fake controversy of their own creation.
Now, I’m used to Republicans and the right wing lying about me. It comes with the job. But, this time, these lies came at a cost. I haven't broken the law. I haven't committed a crime. And I’ve never encouraged or directed anyone to break any laws or commit any crimes.
But when President Trump's hand-picked appointee, Tom Homan, was asked about me and this guidance after he apparently threatened to arrest elected officials across the country, he said, "Wait 'til you see what's coming." Overnight, Republican lawmakers piled on, encouraging the Trump administration to arrest me.
Chilling threats like this should be of concern to every Wisconsinite and every American who cares about this country and the values we hold dear.
We live in the United States of America, folks. We are a country of laws. The rule of law matters. Following the law matters.
In this country, the federal government doesn't get to abuse its power to threaten everyday Americans. In this country, the federal government doesn’t get to arrest American citizens who have not committed a crime. In this country, we don't threaten to persecute people just because they belong to a different political party.
These threats represent a concerning trajectory in this country. We now have a federal government that will threaten or arrest an elected official—or even everyday American citizens—who have broken no laws, committed no crimes, and done nothing wrong.
And as disgusted as I am about the continued actions of the Trump administration, I am not afraid. I have never once been discouraged from doing the right thing, and I will not start today.
I swore an oath when I took this office to support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the state of Wisconsin and to faithfully discharge the duties of this office to the best of my ability. I will never waver from that promise.
I hope and pray every elected and appointed official in this country, including the president of the United States of America, will do the same.
Forward, and for Wisconsin, always.
Thank you.
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4 25 abrego garcia bondi rubio miller etc just lying eg hu trafficker
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A video of a by anti-Elon Musk protesters was posted on March 18, 2025, by an account on X called EndWokeness.
The next day Musk replied to the post, “Some people just want to watch the world burn,” an iconic line from the 2008 Batman film “The Dark Knight.” Alfred, the Wayne family’s faithful butler, says the line to Bruce Wayne – Batman – to describe the motivations behind the Joker’s chaotic acts of violence.
Musk – and Alfred – was right. Some people do, in fact, say they think that society should be burned to the ground. It’s part of a psychological measure political psychologists created called “need for chaos.”
New data from the Center for Political Communication at the University of Delaware suggests that those people – the ones who want society to burn – are the ones with more, not less, trust in Musk. They also report more trust in the Department of Government Efficiency, the government entity Musk advises, which the Trump administration claims it created to cut government waste and fraud.
Yet, critics point out that Musk and DOGE’s seemingly indiscriminate approach to spending cuts risks damaging the infrastructure necessary for American innovation.
This desire to watch the world burn doesn’t come out of nowhere.
Fear of losing status
Somewhat like the Joker, whose perpetual sense of victimhood – “You wanna know how I got these scars?” – drove his need for chaos and destruction, people can develop a need for chaos in response to a sense that they are losing.
When political psychologists introduced this concept of “need for chaos” in 2021, they described it not as a psychological trait, but as a character adaptation that occurs when some people experience a cultural and political situation that makes them feel like they are losing status and power. For some people, this feeling triggers a desire to “burn it all down” – “it” being society, institutions, the world – maybe to rebuild it all anew, or maybe just to see it all destroyed.
Only a small percentage of the U.S. population – less than 15% – tends to score high in need for chaos. But even so, understanding this minority is important to gaining insight into this political moment.
For example, people who score high in need for chaos exhibit greater support for political violence and a willingness to knowingly share hostile and false information online. And in our data, those higher in need for chaos report holding more trust in Musk, DOGE and Trump than people who score lower in the need for chaos measure.
Who wants to burn it down
We are political psychologists who study the link between psychological traits and political beliefs. Last month, the University of Delaware’s Center for Political Communication ran a national survey that we designed to understand where the public stands on various political issues and how those beliefs relate to psychological traits, including need for chaos.
In our national study of 1,600 Americans conducted between Feb. 27-March 5, 2025, by YouGov, we asked respondents how much they agreed or disagreed with the following statements:
• “I fantasize about a natural disaster wiping out most of humanity such that a small group of people can start all over”
• “I think society should be burned to the ground”
• “We cannot fix the problems in our social institutions; we need to tear them down and start over”
• “I need chaos around me – it is too boring if nothing is going on”
Similar to prior work by author Kevin Arceneaux and his colleagues, our data shows that a very small number – fewer than 20% of the sample – agrees strongly or agrees somewhat with each item.
However, looking at need for chaos among groups of varying ages, education levels and media habits, we find the highest need for chaos scores among people under age 40, those with less education, and those who pay the least attention to politics.
Burning it down through government policy
Our new data also shows that while people highest in need for chaos report having more trust in Musk, DOGE, and President Trump, these chaos-seeking folks report having less trust in “people in general,” journalists or the federal government. These findings hold even when statistically accounting for other factors, among them party, race, gender, education and ideology.
Musk’s penchant for wielding chainsaws as a symbol of DOGE’s work provides some insight into why chaos seekers may like what they see in Musk.
It’s not clear exactly what Musk’s aim is with his work at DOGE, as he eliminates the jobs of hundreds of thousands of government workers.
What is clear, however, is that by many accounts, the mass firings and the gutting of agencies, like the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Institute for Peace, are sowing chaos. And a significant portion of Americans want just that.
Dannagal G. Young, Professor of Communication and Political Science, University of Delaware and Kevin Arceneaux, Director of the Center for Political Research and Professor of Political Science, Sciences Po
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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doge fail fired nuke security, does not have info to recall
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Trump’s Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, pushed a claim Monday on Fox News that there may be many dead people receiving Social Security payments. Experts have pushed back against that idea, which has come from Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency, indicating that the numbers are off or misinterpreted.
“President Trump has directed Elon Musk and the DOGE team to identify fraud at the Social Security Administration. They haven’t dug into the books yet, but they suspect that there are tens of millions of deceased people who are receiving fraudulent Social Security payments,” she said.
“And so their goal in going into the Social Security Administration is to identify three things. Number one, to identify duplicate payments and to end them. Number two, to identify payments that are going to deceased people who are no longer living and should no longer be receiving that money, and number three, to protect the integrity of this system for hard working Americans who have been paying into it their entire lives.
“There are maybe hundreds of deceased people receiving fraudulent benefits, not tens of millions. There are about 70 million people TOTAL receiving Social Security — does anyone really think one third+ of them are dead???” Marc Goldwein, senior vice president and senior policy director for the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, posted on X.
Over the weekend, Musk posted a table supposedly showing that the Social Security database has millions of people in it over the age of 140.
“What's especially frustrating about Musk making it seem as if millions of Social Security checks might be going out to people aged 100+ is that we know how many Social Security checks went out in December to people aged 99+: 89,106,” journalist James Surowiecki posted on X. He added: “89,106 is, as it happens, fewer than the number of centenarians in the U.S., as estimated by the Census. So we are, again, not sending out billions in SS checks to people aged 130.”
Ninety-eight percent of social security number holders who are age 100 or older do not receive benefits, Justin Wolfers, professor of public policy and economics at the University of Michigan, explained on X. “Why are there dead people on (this one table of) the social security database? They died before the use of electronic death records,” he added.
READ MORE:'Time to think of Plan B': Musk ripped after forcing out Social Security chief
“Should government databases be cleaner? It's a cost-benefit question. Cost: $5-10m to clean out the old records Benefit: Only "limited benefit" because "almost none" of these records are receiving payments. This hardly feels like big potatoes, either way,” he explained.
At Wired, David Gilbert wrote: “Computer programmers quickly claimed that the 150 figure,” or the idea that 150-year-olds were collecting Social Security, “was not evidence of fraud, but rather the result of a weird quirk of the Social Security Administration’s benefits system, which was largely written inCOBOL, a 60-year-old programming language that undergirds SSA’s databases as well as systems from many other US government agencies.” He added: “COBOL is rarely used today, and as such, Musk’s cadre of young engineers may well be unfamiliar with it.”
“Musk could also have simply looked up the SSA’s own website, which explains that since September 2015 the agency has automatically stopped benefit paymentswhen anyone reaches the age of 115,” Gilbert wrote.
“When everything they say is designed to mislead, you're left to wonder why,” Wolfers wrote.READ MORE:Lawmaker vows 'strong resistance' if Musk agency recommends Social Security or Medicare cuts
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