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In today’s edition:
After a mass shooting at Florida State University, pro-MAGA accounts rushed to falsely claim the alleged shooter was an anti-Trump leftist.
Pro-Kremlin accounts are using AI to churn out fake photos of Volodymyr Zelensky “action figure” boxes in which the Ukrainian president is surrounded by cocaine, cash, and weapons. The AI-generated images smear Zelensky as a drug-addled grifter begging for aid; one even states, “Squeeze me and I’ll ask for aid.”
A viral video from a known health misinformer falsely claims that Dr. Anthony Fauci wants to “slaughter millions of cats” to stop the spread of bird flu. The supposed proof? A clip from a speech in which Fauci accurately notes that bird flu has infected mammals, including cats.
Finally, in an interview on Fox News, Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. claimed, wrongly, that studies on vaccines and autism have never compared outcomes in vaccinated versus unvaccinated children. Social media users quickly turned the conspiracy theorist/HHS secretary’s bogus claim into a viral anti-vax pitch.
Today’s newsletter was edited by Eric Effron and Sofia Rubinson.
Pro Football Hall of Famer and sports media personality Shannon Sharpe has been accused of raping a woman he had been in a consensual sexual relationship with in a lawsuit filed Sunday night in Cl...