A flood of misinformation, conspiracy theories and false claims about the shooting at Saturday night’s White House Correspondents' Association dinner spread online at a notable and concerningly speedy rate, mostly about the baseless theory that the incident had been staged.
NBC News
The 2026 Edelman Trust Barometer Special Report: Trust and Health, based on responses from more than 16,000 people across 16 countries, found that seven in 10 people worldwide believe at least one of six widely debunked health claims to be true.
FORTUNE
The acting head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has canceled the publication of a study that found that the Covid vaccine sharply cut the odds of hospitalizations and emergency visits last winter, a Health Department spokesman said.
The New York Times
A fabricated Reform UK poster being shared online has falsely claimed a man convicted of the murder of three women is standing for the populist party in next month’s local elections. It’s creator says it’s ‘satire,’ but others feel it’s intended to score political points for the opposition.
Reuters
Researchers in Sweden created a fake disease to test whether large language models would swallow the misinformation and then spit it out as reputable health advice. ‘I wanted to see if I can create a medical condition that did not exist in the database,’ one said. And then AI gave the answer.
NATURE
Welcome to the world of AI-driven propaganda. In March 2026, AI-generated videos depicting American President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as LEGO minifigures began flooding social media.
TIME Magazine / Renee DiResta
Former Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer and Pennsylvania Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt appeared on ABC’s “This Week” with George Stephanopoulos to discuss President Trump’s executive order tightening mail-in voting rules ahead of the 2026 midterms.
ABC News
Given the ongoing and often heated debate about banning social media for under-16s, it’s easy to assume that young people are the only group at risk of online harm. But evidence shows that older adults are just as, if not more, likely than younger generations to believe misinformation.
The Conversation
Since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28, researchers have identified an unprecedented number of false and misleading images that were generated using artificial intelligence and distributed worldwide.
The Associated Press
I asked experts if I'm real. Bad news. Even my aunt wasn't sure if I was a deepfake. AI is so convincing that a sitting prime minister struggled to prove he's alive. You might be next.
BBC
AI-generated deepfake videos are increasingly being used in U.S. political campaigns. These videos can make candidates appear to say or do things that never actually happened, and in some cases are being used in campaign ads or online content targeting opponents.
Reuters
Inaccurate social media posts about attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism are linked to a rise in young people believing they have neurodevelopmental conditions, researchers have said.
British Broadcasting Corporation
Some journalists at Voice of America charged in a lawsuit Monday that the Trump administration — while largely shutting down the government-run outlet that provides news around the world — has turned what remains into a voice for propaganda.
The Associated Press
YouTube is adding a detection tool for government officials, political candidates and journalists to catch and report videos that use artificial intelligence to display their likeness without permission.
The New York Times and AXIOS
Deception, disinformation, and fakery are nothing new in the world. Long before the current era (BCE), the ancient Greeks used deceptive tactics against their enemies during the Trojan War, when they constructed a gigantic, hollow wooden statue of a horse with a small, select team of soldiers hidden inside.
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
President Donald Trump on Sunday endorsed Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr’s threat to revoke broadcast licenses over news coverage of the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran, calling media organizations “Corrupt and Highly Unpatriotic” in a Truth Social post.
The Washington Post
During times of war, Americans instinctively look for two things: protection and truth. That is why it is so troubling when senior government officials stand at a podium, especially during wartime, and point at reporters and dismiss them as ‘fake news’ — especially when their statements could be taken as equating the American media with foreign enemies.
The Bulwark
A grainy video appears to show a line of blindfolded young girls parading past an underwear-clad Donald Trump. A girl’s anguished voice cries out in German. The video cuts to scenes of Trump and other famous figures talking with the late child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The Washington Post
A federal judge ruled Saturday that Kari Lake, President Donald Trump’s choice to lead the U.S. Agency for Global Media, did not have legal authority to take the actions she’s done to largely dismantle the Voice of America.
The Associated Press
Spanish-language radio has long been accused of being a conduit for conspiracies and falsehoods. In the past month alone, there have been outlandish claims ranging from Charlie Kirk’s assassination being linked to a $1.3 billion J.P. Morgan scandal to the baseless allegation that 300,000 children “disappeared” under the Biden administration.
WLRN Public Radio
