Nedzad Avdic stood on a gravel plateau with four men and boys with their hands tied behind their backs, preparing for death. Just 17, Avdic had been captured by Bosnian Serb forces days earlier. Now, he stood yards from an execution squad.
NBC News
In 2021, future vice president JD Vance delivered a speech titled “The Universities Are the Enemy.” A few years later, during his campaign, Donald Trump called college leaders ‘Marxist maniacs.’ Now their administration is using the full force of the federal government to investigate long-standing conservative complaints about universities, making sweeping demands and cutting billions of dollars in funding.
The Washington Post
Psychological warfare has no known origin story. By the time the Chinese classic The Art of War was written, likely 2,500 years ago, the practice was already widely used. In the 19th century, militaries realized that uncertainty and chaos could be weaponized: When an enemy is confused by multiple conflicting accounts of what’s happening, they are vulnerable and easily manipulated.
Greater Good Magazine
Manipulating public perception for financial gain is nothing new. A striking example is the 1835 “Great Moon Hoax,” when The Sun, a New York newspaper, falsely claimed the discovery of lunar civilizations – boosting its sales and reputation before later admitting to the deception.
World Economic Forum
Days before Oklahoma Democrats were planning to elect a party leader, phones started buzzing. A recording began circulating of a voice, claiming to be state Rep. John Waldron, making inflammatory racial remarks about his opponent for party chair. A local news publication jumped on the story. Except Waldron, who eventually won the election, said it wasn’t him.
The Oklahoman
The Environmental Protection Agency last week said it has placed 139 employees on leave after they signed a ‘declaration of dissent’ accusing the agency of "unraveling" health and environmental protections for political reasons. The letter and EPA pushback escalates internal and public disputes over the agency's deregulatory moves under President Trump.
AXIOS
As reports of last week’s fire on Canfield Mountain and the subsequent ambush of firefighters began to flow, misinformation began spreading almost faster than the flames themselves. North Idaho residents reported reading inaccurate updates on critical details of the shooting, including the number of victims, the number of perpetrators and the identities of those involved.
Spokane (Wash.) Spokesman-Review
Misinformation spreads through society much like a contagious disease, rapidly moving through social networks and influencing beliefs, behaviors and confirming biases, a College of Charleston study shows. This process, known as social contagion, is especially potent online, where repeated exposure to false information shapes what people see as normal or widely accepted.
The Conversation
From medically unqualified influencers pushing expensive supplements online, to nurses peddling myths about pregnancy, the author had to find out all she could about PCOS on her own.
The Guardian
Well-known AI chatbots can be configured to routinely answer health queries with false information that appears authoritative, complete with fake citations from real medical journals, Australian researchers have found.
Reuters
Denmark is taking steps toward enacting a ban on the use of “deepfake” imagery online, saying such digital manipulations can stir doubts about reality and foster misinformation.
The Associated Press
Federal agencies are rehiring and ordering back from leave some of the employees who were laid off in the weeks after President Donald Trump took office as they scramble to fill critical gaps in services left by the Department of Government Efficiency-led effort to shrink the federal workforce.
CNN
The media agency overseen by Kari Lake plans to lay off more than 600 more journalists in a move that reporters for Voice of America said “spells the death” of the organization that began operations during World War II.
Arizona Republic / USA Today
Israel versus Palestine. Liberals versus conservatives. The Mets versus the Yankees. Whichever we favor, we’ve come to believe that our unwavering, religious-like allegiance is not only normal and unavoidable, but advantageous: stemming from an evolutionary adaptation that allowed our species to survive over time.
TIME Magazine
More than half of all the top trending videos offering mental health advice on TikTok contain misinformation, a Guardian investigation has found. People are increasingly turning to social media for mental health support, yet research has revealed that many influencers are peddling misinformation.
The Guardian
What is going on in Los Angeles? Depends on whom you ask. Word to the wise: Don’t ask Fox News. The outlet would have you believe that the entire city of Los Angeles is in flames, that immigrants have taken over everything, that mass chaos reigns.
The Arizona Republic / USA Today Network
The American health system is bleeding out, and it desperately needs a real doctor. Leading Health and Human Services (HHS) today is like navigating a chaotic hospital — patients in every hallway, monitors screaming, seconds ticking away. Yet, instead of a seasoned physician who triages and trusts proven protocols, that hospital is overseen by an activist named Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Fox News
Farmers in states like Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota have culled millions of fowl to prevent the avian flu outbreak from spreading. Conspiracy theorists online have made life for farmers even more difficult as they deal with the problem.
The Associated Press
The Trump administration knew that the vast majority of the 238 Venezuelan immigrants it sent to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador in mid-March had not been convicted of crimes in the United States before it labeled them as terrorists and deported them, according to U.S. Department of Homeland Security data that has not been previously reported.
ProPublica
It is not often that cold, hard facts determine what people care most about and what they believe. Instead, it is the power and familiarity of a well-told story that reigns supreme. Whether it’s a heartfelt anecdote, a personal testimony or a meme echoing familiar cultural narratives, stories tend to stick with us, move us and shape our beliefs.
The Conversation