On Wednesday evening, as the first news was emerging of the mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine, University of Pennsylvania professor Sarah Jackson went to Twitter. It was a natural reaction. For years, despite all its problems, Twitter was the place where breaking news spread most quickly. Both journalists and officials found it useful as a means to get the word out well in advance of articles or press conferences.
But what Johnson found was not what she expected.
Rather than accredited journalists or local officials, Johnson’s search results were overrun with “blue check” accounts spreading conspiracy theories about the shooter being Muslim. Results also included at least five reported “suspects,” identified by name and sometimes with images, none of whom were connected to the shooting or being sought by the police. She concluded that the site now known as X no longer has any value for following news in real time.
In a year of ownership, Elon Musk has turned a vital, growing site that had an important role in both spreading news and encouraging democracy into a racist right-wing cesspit of disinformation and state-sponsored propaganda. And it’s sinking.
As The Washington Post reports, Musk put up $44 billion to purchase Twitter, promising to rid the site of the “woke mind virus.” A year later, he has shed the site’s name, much of its functionality, advertisers, revenue, and millions of users.
Traffic to the site is down nearly 15% in a year. Marketing firm Ebiquity reports...
Leading AI chatbots are now twice as likely to spread false information as they were a year ago. According to a Newsguard study, the ten largest generative AI tools now repeat misinformation abou...