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Friday, May 15, 2026

U.S. Plan to Track Misinformation Sparks Its Own Misinformation - Bloomberg

A U.S. plan to combat disinformation landed with a bit of a thud. But first...

Today’s must-reads:

  • Elon Musk said he would reverse the permanent Twitter ban on Donald Trump if the deal closes
  • Peloton plunged to record lows as hopes for a comeback dim
  • FIFA, the popular video game franchise, will be renamed

    Not quite Orwellian

    It took mere minutes for a new White House plan to track disinformation to itself become the subject of misinformation, with social media users seizing on the idea to compare members of the Biden administration to storybook villains.

    The Department of Homeland Security’s “Disinformation Governance Board,” the existence of which Politico first reported on April 27, is part of a government effort to refute fabricated narratives about election security and internet conspiracies, according to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

    For a nation scarred by QAnon, false claims about electoral fraud and lingering mistrust in coronavirus vaccines, a government outfit focused on stopping fake news and foreign conspiracies might have seemed like a logical step. So far, it’s turned out to be an own-goal.

    As word of the DGB’s existence went viral, verified Twitter personalities drew comparisons to the Ministry of Truth, the fictional propaganda agency popularized in the George Orwell novel “1984." Others, perhaps misunderstanding the reference, joked that it sounded like something out of the Harry Potter series.

    Social media users from the right and left largely...



Read Full Story: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2022-05-11/u-s-plan-to-track-misin...