New legislation would ban officials from using insider knowledge to bet on political outcomes in online prediction markets seekingalpha.com/news/4536825...

New study finds that people underestimate misinformation's effects on themselves while overestimating its impact on others, and it's this belief that others are vulnerable that motivates them to correct it. www.emerald.com/oir/article-...

Elon Musk shared a fake AI-generated video showing Venezuelans celebrating Donald Trump. The post eventually received a Community Note flagging it as false, but millions had already viewed it.

This week I'm starting my Substack course on boosting media literacy, and today I'm teaching a master's seminar on the psychology of cults! I was disappointed not to land a tenure-track job since I love teaching, but I've found other fulfilling ways to do it.

📢 Class 1 of my "Three Pillars of Literacy" online course is LIVE! 🎓 This week: How to Recognize Our Biases Before We Begin Fact-Checking. We're starting with psychological literacy: understanding how your own identities and networks make you vulnerable to misinformation.

Worth the money. Info is the commodity frontier untamed in the social media age.

📢 Class 1 of my "Three Pillars of Literacy" online course is LIVE! 🎓 This week: How to Recognize Our Biases Before We Begin Fact-Checking. We're starting with psychological literacy: understanding how your own identities and networks make you vulnerable to misinformation.

Sometimes I'll see people misread a post, get outraged, and then argue against a point they actually agree with. It's a reminder that many use social media to mindlessly vent their feelings instead of trying to understand others, so it's not always worth engaging.

My #1 resolution for 2026 is to practice what I preach: CRITICAL IGNORING is in my opinion *the* phrase to know, understand and internalize going forward. The more I practice it, the more ways I find to apply it. It's low-key life-changing when adopted whole-heartedly.

One “debate” that I’d like to see stay in 2025 is whether audiobooks count as reading. Reading is already on the decline and we should encourage any form of it instead of gatekeeping or judging how people read.

Happy New Year!!

Encouraging results from a 15-minute online activity that helped teens get better at spotting fake news, but the benefits only lasted long-term for those who fully engaged and enjoyed thinking deeply. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Study finds that messages that justify COVID-19 vaccination (like protecting others or reducing deaths) can increase people’s willingness to comply, but they can also intensify negative attitudes toward those who disagree. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

“By talking to the public about our work, we can help rebuild a society that acknowledges the significance of science in everyday life and ensures that everyone has access to the information we need for informed decision-making.” www.asbmb.org/asbmb-today/...

Meta-analysis finds that social norms messaging (telling people what others do or think they should do) has no effect on improving health behaviors once publication bias is accounted for. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

This is an inspiring article by @sciencewhizliz.bsky.social about people finding hope in 2025. Here's my contribution: fromthescienceclass.substack.com/p/a-scientis...

“This was a case of an AI knowing the correct general rule and tragically misapplying it to the one drug that serves as the exception…accessibility without accuracy is just a faster way to make mistakes” nodesian.medium.com/technically-...

Science is widely trusted in general, but people can use their 'pro-science' identity as a shield. By claiming that science they disagree with isn't 'real' science, they can ignore the facts without feeling like they've abandoned their principles. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

I wish everyone who shared the result of some supposed study on social media also shared a link to their source.

“Marina Vance had an E.P.A. grant to help homeowners counter the impact of wildfire smoke, until the agency deemed the research “no longer consistent” with its priorities.” www.nytimes.com/2025/12/27/s...

@matthewfacciani.bsky.social in my house everyone gets a book for Xmas. This was mine this year. #booksky

Universities that restrict academic freedom are going to continue to lose the best and brightest professors.

A new 20-year analysis of news coverage reveals a clear link between negativity and misinformation. As the authors conclude: "as the negativity bias increases, accuracy decreases." www.researchgate.net/publication/... #MisinfoResearch

New Harvard/MIT study tested whether AI chatbots can actually do science (form hypotheses, run experiments, revise theories, etc.)...and found they can't. While AI can talk like scientists, they struggle with the thinking real discovery requires and often fail at key parts of the research process.

Over the past year, I've been writing about misinformation and media literacy on Substack, trying to translate research without the hype, clickbait, or false certainty. I wrote a reflection on what that year taught me about sharing science, building an audience, and navigating life beyond academia.

Even with an available fact-check, Twitter/X failed to display it on 80% of the posts misidentifying the Bondi Beach hero. indicator.media/p/how-the-cr...

What a wild ending in the Steelers/Lions game! Critical for both team’s playoffs hopes. So many unbelievable endings this season.

“women who had an abortion, and those who did not become pregnant, earned significantly more over a 30-year period than those who became mothers by an estimated $398,000 ($495,000 in 2025 dollars) and $448,000 ($556,000 in 2025 dollars), respectively” psycnet.apa.org/record/2027-...

“At least 16 files disappeared from the Justice Department’s public webpage for documents related to Jeffrey Epstein — including a photograph showing President Donald Trump — less than a day after they were posted, with no explanation” apnews.com/article/rele...

Joe Rogan recently said that almost everyone he knows has told him they know someone who was harmed by the COVID-19 vaccine. When we surround ourselves with people who constantly reinforce a particular worldview, it can genuinely feel true, regardless of whether it actually is.

@profsanderlinden.bsky.social describes the importance of having a multi-layered defense against misinformation, and why such education should be found in all schools.

The trap Trump now faces - the Epstein redactions will only fuel conspiracy theories even when they are innocuous. Our 2016 JEPS article: "Classified or Coverup? The Effect of Redactions on Conspiracy Theory Beliefs" www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

It’s so troubling to see political influencers wildly speculate about a mass shooter’s identity in front of huge audiences. In the rush for engagement, they seem indifferent to the real harm this kind of recklessness can cause. I worry that litigation may be the only thing that curbs this behavior.

Excited to teach a new online course this January on how to spot bias, verify information, and read science without getting misled! Weekly video lessons, live Q&As, and hands-on exercises — all included with a paid Substack subscription ($50/year). substack.com/home/post/p-...

🎙️ New episode of Misguided: The Podcast🎙️ I’m joined by psychologist @profsanderlinden.bsky.social to discuss how people can build resistance to manipulation, the economics of fake social media accounts, and the future of combating disinformation. matthewfacciani.substack.com/p/foolproof-...

I rarely see engagement bait or rage bait on my social media feed because I quickly unfollow, mute, or block anyone who posts or engages with it. It’s nothing personal, I just like keeping my feed focused on content I actually enjoy.

Very cool to see my writing about critical ignoring being covered in this Spanish newspaper! www.lavanguardia.com/magazine/bie...

“This vital work spanned multiple child health priorities, including reducing sudden infant death, rural access to health care, mental health, adolescent health, supporting children with birth defects, early identification of autism, and prevention of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders"

I wish large social media accounts would just ignore rage bait from tiny, anonymous accounts instead of replying to them and giving them a huge boost in the algorithm!

Poll finds that 94% adults in the UK reported seeing misinformation on social media, but just 3% have ever taken any media literacy course! www.turing.ac.uk/news/more-90...

“I am genuinely concerned that we are going to see ivermectin for cancer promoted at the federal level” www.wired.com/story/risch-...

Very cool to see more states step up and create public health & science communication infrastructure in a time when people are looking for reliable health information! www.gov.ca.gov/2025/12/15/g...

Ahmed al Ahmed is the man who heroically stopped the Bondi Beach shooter. Shortly after the news broke, fake AI-generated articles and images falsely claimed the hero was someone named Edward Crabtree, and these posts went viral on Twitter/X.

It’s reasonable to critique public health communication, but improving it also means acknowledging that vaccine policy is increasingly shaped by a loud, organized minority, while the structural forces that produced their distrust are largely ignored.

Still searching for a holiday gift for someone? Are they curious about why people believe false information, and what we can actually do about it? Then I will shamelessly suggest that my book Misguided might be a pretty good idea.

The internet is full of fake and coordinated activity, and platforms often rely on SMS verification to prevent it. A hidden market selling SMS verifications lets bad actors bypass these protections, and a new website was created to track and study this problem for the first time.

Rebuilding trust in science requires people to see themselves in science: expanding representation and social connection across race, gender, class, religion, and rural identity, not just sharing more information.

"less than 48 hours since the product was released, people within the Post have flagged what four sources described as multiple mistakes in personalized podcasts. The errors have ranged from relatively minor pronunciation gaffes to significant changes to story content"

I’m working with a team of science and health communicators to combat misinformation and we are desperately trying to find *any* funding. It would be amazing to pay experts so they can regularly share their knowledge instead of hoping they can volunteer some free time!

In this Off the Page episode, host Stephen Pimpare and author Matthew Facciani discuss MISGUIDED. This book shines a light on how false beliefs take root and spread. things that are not true. buff.ly/OnbG3bx #ListenUP @matthewfacciani.bsky.social @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social