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People frequently tell me, with an air of great authority, that climate scientists only believe in climate change because they gain personal benefit from it. … 616 more words

Poynter: A fact-checker predicted which hoax would resurface — and beat it by an hour. “Maarten Schenk has studied fake news and hoaxes so exactingly that he managed to predict a group of trolls’ next post. 37 more words

TechCrunch: This game uses troll tactics to teach critical thinking. “The best medicine against online disinformation is an informed society that’s thinking critically. The problem is there are no shortcuts to universal education. 71 more words

iAfrikan: Meet the ‘varakashi’ – Zimbabwe’s online army. “The avatar might be a cockerel, a razor or, most likely, a beautiful Eastern European or Latino woman. 48 more words

BBC: YouTube advertises big brands alongside fake cancer cure videos. “YouTube’s algorithm promotes fake cancer cures in a number of languages and the site runs adverts for major brands and universities next to misleading videos, a BBC investigation has found. 37 more words

Indiana University: Tracking coordinated disinformation campaigns online made easier with new BotSlayer tool. “The software, which is free and open to the public, scans social media in real time to detect evidence of automated Twitter accounts — or ‘bots’ — pushing messages in a coordinated manner, an increasingly common practice to manipulate public opinion by creating the false impression that many people are talking about a particular subject.”