A Sydney man received death threats after he was misidentified as the gunman responsible for the mass shooting at Bondi Beach. He told @afp.com he is "terrified" to leave his home www.france24.com/en/live-news...

🇮🇩 Gambling promoters are using deceptive marketing tactics to reach Indonesian users across Meta platforms, despite the company's policies and a government crackdown on the illegal practice. Read the full @afp.com investigation: www.rfi.fr/en/internati...

Today at 2 pm HKT! Hope to see you there 🔍

Trump's Washington takeover has drawn misleading comparisons online to former South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol's short-lived declaration of martial law in December. Our @factcheck.afp.com team in Seoul reports on why Trump's actions do not meet that bar: u.afp.com/SQnh

A Palestinian-Canadian who left Gaza last year has become the latest target of an online campaign to deny claims of starvation in the war-torn territory

THREAD: Social media is full of misrepresented visuals said to show the Texas floods. I examined two of the most viral video compilations online, and none of their 14 clips show Texas. They are all old and filmed in places like China, Mexico and Spain. factcheck.afp.com/doc.afp.com....

🇰🇷 The lead-up to today's presidential election in South Korea was awash in misinformation. Here are some of the top trends our @afpfactcheck.bsky.social team in Seoul has seen www.yahoo.com/news/south-k...

South Korean police have requested an arrest warrant for a journalist over a false report related to former president Yoon Suk Yeol's brief imposition of martial law. @afpfactcheck.bsky.social has previously debunked the report

🚨 JOB ALERT 🚨 I'm hiring a journalist based in Hong Kong to join @afpnews.bsky.social's award-winning @afpfactcheck.bsky.social team. If you're a Cantonese or Mandarin-speaking reporter who's passionate about fighting misinformation, this role is for you. Apply now 👇

Online rumours of a forthcoming earthquake in Japan have deterred Hong Kong tourists from visiting the country, according to travel firms and airlines reporting less demand @natfukue.bsky.social and @carinacheng.bsky.social report on the trend for @afpnews.bsky.social:

India and Pakistan have announced a ceasefire after coming close to all-out conflict, but citizens on both sides are still peddling disinformation. @afpfactcheck.bsky.social journalists in New Delhi and Islamabad report on some of the top trends our team has seen over the past few weeks

Who's most vulnerable to misinformation? This survey of 66,242 individuals from 24 countries points to "Generation Z, non-male, less educated, and more conservative individuals" (h/t @rachelblundy.bsky.social)

Happy International #FactCheckingDay! I’m thrilled to be in Bangkok to help CoFact and its civil society partners celebrate facts ✅

🇮🇳🇧🇩 @afpfactcheck.bsky.social journalists in New Delhi and Dhaka have fact-checked hundreds of misleading claims since Bangladesh's autocratic ruler Sheikh Hasina was ousted by student protests on August 5. Here are a few of the top narratives we've debunked.

🇹🇭🇲🇲 More than a million people have fled Myanmar's brutal civil war to seek shelter and work in neighboring Thailand. @afpfactcheck.bsky.social journalists in Bangkok report on how nationalists there are using disinformation to fuel prejudice against them

🚨 JOB ALERT 🚨 I'm hiring an editor based in Dhaka to join @afpnews.bsky.social's award-winning @afpfactcheck.bsky.social team. If you're a Bangla speaker who's passionate about public service journalism and fighting misinformation, this role is for you. Apply now 👇

A young Frenchman landed in Beijing last month with a leather briefcase that he said contained hundreds of his grandfather's pictures of the Sino-Japanese War. However, an @afpnews.bsky.social digital investigation found many of the pictures were taken by other people

"The threats facing Ellis ... highlight the real-life impact of disinformation for transgender people at a time when there has been a sharp uptick in the political rhetoric against them." Important story from @anujchopra.bsky.social 👇

New from @afpfactcheck.bsky.social: Scammers are using deepfake videos of President Prabowo Subianto and other public figures to swindle Indonesians out of thousands of dollars

New from @afpfactcheck.bsky.social: From bogus child pornography claims to fabricated support for communism, a deluge of disinformation is targeting a top judge in suspended South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment trial

My latest @afpnews.bsky.social: Federal workers are on edge after a conservative group published more than 50 of their names and photos on a “DEI watchlist” that at one point described them as "targets." The group says it is adding 40 more names tomorrow. www.yahoo.com/news/federal...

🇵🇭 The Philippines is one of just two countries -- along with Vatican City -- where divorce remains illegal. @araeugenio.bsky.social reports from Manila on how some campaigners are trying to change that

A deluge of disinformation about a flu-like virus called HMPV is stoking anti-China sentiment across Asia and spurring unfounded concerns of renewed lockdowns, @tommywang.bsky.social and @anujchopra.bsky.social report

We publish a new version (v0.84) of our verification plugin. It improves the keyframes file mode and assistant (both from @veraai_eu), archiving (from #DisinfoArchiving @factchecknet project) and includes a Japanese localization!

🧵 As anti-migrant sentiment simmers in Thailand, @afpfactcheck.bsky.social journalists in Bangkok have debunked multiple social media posts misrepresenting visuals to falsely claim Burmese workers are demanding they be paid double the kingdom's minimum wage

AFP asked DeepSeek what happened on June 4, 1989, the day of the bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in and around Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The app said it "cannot answer that question" www.barrons.com/news/breakou...

First day at AFP APAC ✅ Thrilled to join this talented team of journalists in Hong Kong!

NEW: Meta has quietly dismantled the system that prevented misinformation from spreading in the United States. Machine-learning classifiers that once identified viral hoaxes and limited their reach have now been switched off, Platformer has learned www.platformer.news/meta-ends-mi...

New year, new me: Very excited to (belatedly) announce that I have taken a new post as @afpnews.bsky.social’s head of digital investigation for Asia-Pacific based in Hong Kong! 🇭🇰

OPEN LETTER: As Meta announces an end to U.S. fact-checking, program partners warn of a setback for accuracy online and potential global consequences: www.poynter.org/ifcn/2025/an...

“Facts are not censorship. Fact-checkers never censored anything," said Poynter president Neil Brown. "It’s time to quit invoking inflammatory and false language in describing the role of journalists and fact-checking.” www.poynter.org/fact-checkin...

A growing tide of government-friendly and politically influenced fact-checking projects in Europe is making it harder for citizens to tell truth from propaganda www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2024/12...

Kash Patel, Donald Trump's pick for FBI director, once said QAnon has "a lot of good to a lot of it." From @billmccarthy.bsky.social: www.yahoo.com/news/kash-pa...

With a manhunt still underway after UnitedHealthcare's CEO was shot down yesterday, some of the most viral posts on X are baselessly suggesting Democrats such as Nancy Pelosi or Tim Walz were behind it. A reminder to beware conspiracy theories that thrive in information vacuums after crisis events.

The goal of fact-checking and media literacy is being misrepresented by those who spread false information. In this piece, @guyberger.bsky.social & I argue we need a new framing showing not just what we are *against* - but what we are *for*: "information integrity". www.poynter.org/commentary/2...

I feel this in my bones

The UK parliament is to summon Elon Musk to testify about X’s role in spreading disinformation in an inquiry into the UK summer riots, the Guardian reports. Senior executives from Meta and TikTok are also expected to be called for questioning. www.theguardian.com/media/2024/n...

Great rundown of how @bsky.app is contending with misinformation as its user base explodes

The headmaster of the private school in Pennsylvania where a student targeted 50 of his schoolmates with deepfake nudes has resigned. This follows a threatened lawsuit by parents who allege the headmaster was informed of the incident and did nothing for months. arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...

Correct link: www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

New Pew study finds that around one-in-five Americans said they regularly get news from influencers on social media, rising to 37% for adults under the age of 30. Close to 80% of news influencers have "no affiliation or background" with a news organization. www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2...

News: The Associated Press is cutting staff through buyouts. Per a note from the AP News Guild, the AP is approaching 121 eligible employees with this offer

I've added more names to the AFP reporters starter pack. Send more. Or tell Paris HQ to make an official one go.bsky.app/SGVRex4

New from me: As Alex Jones continues trying to halt the sale of Infowars to The Onion, lawyers for X have made an appearance in the case, appearing at an emergency hearing and asking to be included on future communications. The company hasn't explained why. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

"The left-wing warping of reality underscores how disinformation is peddled across both sides of the political aisle, feeding information chaos on increasingly unmoderated social media platforms." From @anujchopra.bsky.social: www.ndtv.com/world-news/u...

In light of today’s news that RFK Jr. is Trump’s pick to lead HHS, might be a good time to familiarize yourself with all 90 — yes, ninety — of the provably false health claims pushed by him and his anti-vaccine nonprofit, as documented by NewsGuard. www.newsguardrealitycheck.com/p/provably-f...

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump's pick for secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, and his nonprofit have for years raised big money by spreading vaccine misinformation www.barrons.com/news/big-mon...

Whoa! BlueSky is on pace to add 1 million users in ~24 hours. If it can maintain this pace (big if!) this may be tipping point time for this place bsky.jazco.dev/stats

✨ Want to keep up with fact-checking, coverage of misinformation and media literacy? ✨ Check out this starter pack. Feel free to suggest anyone who I should add! bsky.app/starter-pack...

Hi everyone. The Onion, with the help of the Sandy Hook families, has purchased InfoWars. We are planning on making it a very funny, very stupid website. We have retained the services of some Onion and Clickhole Hall of Famers to pull this off. I can't wait to show you what we have cooked up.