Imagine opening up the Twitter app on your phone and scrolling through your feed. Suddenly, you come across a hyper-partisan tweet calling Hillary Clinton the “godmother of ISIS.” It’s from a user you do not follow, and it’s not in your feed by virtue of a retweet from a user […] Read more »
Real Solutions for Fake News? Reducing Belief in False Stories on Social Media
Social media has increasingly enabled “fake news” to circulate widely, most notably during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign. Although it likely did not change the outcome of the election, false news threatens the democratic goal of a well-informed electorate. To combat the harmful effects of this misinformation, Facebook began adding […] Read more »
Turns Out Liberals and Conservatives Mainly Follow the Same News Sources
There is a justifiable fear that the splintering of news sources, first by cable television networks and then by the Internet, is leading many people to live in ideological bubbles, with little access to arguments from opposing political ideologies. While such self-siloing is clearly a problem, a new study suggests […] Read more »
Extreme Weather Can Feel ‘Normal’ After Just a Few Years, Study Finds
While unusual weather patterns have always come and gone, in a changing climate extreme weather events will become more frequent. And this year has already had its fair share of extremes. But if extreme temperatures arrived in your area, would you even notice? Often, the answer is no, according to […] Read more »
Poll Hub: Defining a National Emergency
In this week’s episode of Poll Hub, what constitutes a national emergency? According to Elaine Kamarck, Founding Director of the Center for Effective Public Management & Senior Fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution, it is all in the perception of the president. How does this national emergency differ […] Read more »
Private Mossad for Hire: Inside a plot to influence American elections, starting with one small-town race
… Psy-Group was part of a new wave of private intelligence firms that recruited from the ranks of Israel’s secret services—self-described “private Mossads.” The most aggressive of these firms seemed willing to do just about anything for their clients. Psy-Group stood out from many of its rivals because it didn’t […] Read more »