Sen. Mitch McConnell’s office released a photo earlier this month in an effort to answer weeks of questions about his health. In it, the 84-year-old Kentucky Republican smiles beside his wife, Elaine Chao, while holding what appears to be that day’s Washington Post Sports section.
The Washington Post
A few weeks ago, when a team of four Ebola response volunteers arrived at a roadside market with disinfectant spray, an untrusting admin for a local WhatsApp group immediately began sharing a voice note to his community.
The Wall Street Journal
A federal judge on Tuesday blocked President Donald Trump's administration from enforcing a policy that targets foreign nationals who study disinformation and hate speech on social media for visa denials and deportation.
Reuters
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fatally shot a motorist in Maine on Monday, the second time in a week that ICE has used deadly force and at least the ninth death since President Donald Trump began his immigration crackdown.
The Associated Press
AI-generated fake videos, viral hoaxes and real racism are colliding at the FIFA World Cup. From a fabricated Ronald Koeman rant and false claims targeting Algerian fans to the racist abuse of Kylian Mbappé and FIFA investigations, misinformation is spreading alongside genuine discrimination.
France 24 / Euro News
At Cannes Lions last month, Conscious Advertising Network brought one of the industry’s most urgent conversations to the stage: whether advertising is funding an online ecosystem that captures attention, amplifies harm and risks repeating the same mistakes with artificial intelligence that it made with social media.
Roast Brief
The Nolan Wells case has drawn widespread public attention, but the rapid spread of misinformation online has made it more difficult to separate verified facts from speculation. Following Wells’ death, social media platforms became filled with theories, accusations, and claims about the circumstances surrounding the case, many of which lacked confirmation from authorities.
(Biloxi, Miss.) Sun Herald
Australia in December became the world's first country to ban social media for children under 16, blocking them from platforms including TikTok, Alphabet's YouTube and Meta's Instagram and Facebook. We offer a summary of what countries and companies are doing to regulate access to social media amid mounting concerns over the impact of social media on children's health and safety.
REUTERS
Vaccine myths are not new. They have circulated for decades, surviving retracted studies and countless public health campaigns. Now, a new poll suggests that, while relatively few Americans fully believe those falsehoods.
CIDRAP / University of Minnesota
The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has become the center of online speculation as the Trump administration responds to recent damage and ongoing repairs at the historic landmark. While viral social media posts have claimed the pool was intentionally neglected or secretly drained, the National Park Service says the site has been undergoing planned maintenance and additional repairs following reports of damage to its liner.
The Associated Press
The Supreme Court of the United States released several significant decisions last week, including rulings including decisions on birthright citizenship, campaign finance, and transgender athletes, prompting widespread discussion across social media.
The Integrity Project
Social media users are sharing many videos of buildings collapsing and people trapped under rubble, saying it shows the destruction of two massive earthquakes in Venezuela. Although many videos are authentic, some are not of the June 24 destruction.
Poynter Institute
As America approaches its 250th birthday, AI-driven deepfakes and misinformation erode the 'shared reality' that democracy and markets depend on, former NYSE spokesperson Richard Torrenzano writes in Fortune. The real risk is not just false content, but the collapse of public trust in what is real.
FORTUNE
The World Cup kicked off the second week of June with a wave of AI-generated misinformation — ranging from fake fans in the stands, fabricated political appearances and false quotes attributed to players.
EURONEWS
Top Lithuanian military and diplomatic officials touted their nation’s ‘whole-of-society’ approach to fighting a torrent of misinformation and disinformation attacks. Lithuanian leaders explained the approach at GlobalFact, saying resilience against misinformation is now a core part of national defense.
Poynter Institute
Sunscreen videos are all over TikTok — but the ones that go the most viral are the ones that are packed with misinformation, a study published last week in the journal PLOS Digital Health found. The bogus videos received more engagement, despite making up a fraction of the most popular posts on the topic.
NBC News
Lara Trump has come under fire after claiming the recently opened Obama Presidential Center was funded by taxpayer dollars. However, per the Chicago Sun-Times, the center was funded entirely through private donations, including $125 million from AirBnB co-founder Brian Chesky and $100 million from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
The Wrap / USA Today
Towson University in Maryland recently welcomed leading voices in journalism, media and public policy to StarTUp at the Armory yesterday for Defending Truth in an Age of Misinformation, a timely and wide-ranging discussion on the role of information in a healthy democracy.
Cardin Center for Civic Engagement & Civil Discourse at Towson University
The use of AI-fueled misinformation to tug at our emotions and manipulate public opinion has already had an impact as the 2026 Midterms approach. Political campaigns and outside groups are experimenting with AI-generated content, including realistic videos and audio that can make candidates appear to say things they never actually said.
Wall Street Journal / Reuters
When U.S. President Donald Trump and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. promoted unsupported warnings last fall about acetaminophen use in pregnancy, Canadian doctors began fielding worried questions from patients and colleagues about whether the common pain and fever medication was safe.
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
