🔎 Beware of election misinformation from all directions

Also: Exploding pagers, supermarket dating and green bubbles get an upgrade 🟢

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Get your lie detectors out: Misinformation is running wild this election season

False and misleading information about the upcoming presidential election is rampant—so much so that it feels like we need a national lie detector test. While Donald Trump is a notorious source of mistruths, the Harris campaign isn’t innocent either, and now Russia is back in the mix, ramping up its disinformation tactics.

Trump’s lies continue to flow

Trump’s fabrications are practically a feature of his campaign. CNN has documented over a dozen instances in just the last month, including his bizarre claim about immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, eating dogs and cats—perfect fodder for meme-makers.

Harris campaign’s social media can be misleading

Let’s not overlook the Harris campaign, especially their @KamalaHQ account on X. According to CNN, this account, with over 1.3 million followers, has been relentless in its efforts to mislead. Recently, they shared a clip suggesting Trump was confused about his location, implying he thought he was in North Carolina while he was actually in Pennsylvania. The full video revealed he was engaging with North Carolina supporters—context missing!

Another instance saw @KamalaHQ claiming Trump forgot where he was during a speech in Arizona. They clipped the footage to create a skewed narrative, while in reality, he was addressing immigration and specifically targeting Pennsylvanians—key voters for his campaign.

Disinformation campaigns from Russia are back

Now, a Microsoft report reveals that Russia is mobilizing its disinformation resources to undermine the Harris-Walz campaign. Since late August, a Russian influence group called Storm-1516 has created and spread two fake videos aimed at discrediting the campaign. One claimed to show alleged Harris supporters attacking a Trump rally attendee, while the other featured an actor falsely claiming Vice President Harris paralyzed a girl in a 2011 hit-and-run. Both videos were disseminated through a site posing as a local San Francisco news outlet.

The report also highlights that another group, Storm-1679, has shifted its focus to Harris after the 2024 Paris Olympics. Disinformation and cyberattacks have become key components of the 2024 presidential race. Just last month, a spear-phishing attack targeting the Trump campaign was linked to the Iranian government, while a $10 million scheme involving Russian state media infiltrating a U.S. company was exposed.

Here’s how to tell if something is fake or misleading

As we head into this election, it is important to be vigilant. With misinformation spreading like wildfire—especially with the rise of AI—we need to question everything. 

How can you detect misinformation? The Anti-Defamation League published a helpful guide with a number of strategies including considering the source, and checking facts, details of images and even your own biases. Fact check sites like FactCheck.org, Washington Post Factchecker, PolitiFact or Snopes can be helpful resources in determining truth from lies.

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🗳️ 2024 Elections

➤ Teamsters skip presidential endorsement amid apparently strong member support for Trump

The powerful labor union is deeply connected to working class voters in the Midwest and other battleground states that could be crucial to the outcome of November’s election. (Politico) 

➤ Trump says that if he loses, ‘the Jewish people would have a lot to do’ with it

Speaking at a campaign event denouncing antisemitism in America, Donald Trump again attacked Jews who vote for Democrats, saying that the party had a “hold, or curse, on you.” (NYTimes) 

➤ Gun-owner Kamala Harris says 'they're getting shot' if intruder breaks into her house (USA Today)  

 Vice President Kamala Harris said Thursday that any intruder who breaks into her home is "getting shot," a comment that seemed to be made in jest during an interview with Oprah Winfrey. (USA Today)

🗳️ More Politics

➤ Access to guns worsens the US political violence crisis, experts say

Data shows more Americans supporting political violence in a nation where firearms outnumber people (Guardian)  

➤ North Carolina Governor race jolted by report That GOP nominee called himself a ‘Black Nazi’

Mr. Robinson, the Republican nominee for governor of North Carolina, vowed to stay in the race and sought to deny the report, which also said he had defended slavery in online posts years ago. (NYTimes)  

📸: Mark Robinson/Facebook

➤ New York magazine writer Olivia Nuzzi placed on leave after disclosing RFK relationship

One of America’s most acclaimed magazine writers, Olivia Nuzzi of New York magazine, has been placed on leave while a “third-party review” is conducted after the publication said Nuzzi disclosed that she “had engaged in a personal relationship with a former subject relevant to the 2024 campaign while she was reporting on the campaign.” (CNN)  

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🌎 Around the world

➤ How Israel built a modern-day Trojan horse: Exploding pagers

The Israeli government did not tamper with the Hezbollah devices that exploded, defense and intelligence officials say. It manufactured them as part of an elaborate ruse. (NYTimes) 

➤ Portugal declares a state of calamity as wildfires rage out of control

More than 100 wildfires stretched thousands of firefighters to the limit in northern Portugal on Wednesday, with seven deaths since the worst spate of fires in recent years spread out of control over the weekend. (NPR) 

➤ How hungry young Spaniards are finding love

“There’s a trend in Spain right now where people go to a local supermarket called Mercadona between 7 and 8 pm, get a cart, put an upside down pineapple in it, and then go to the wine section,” user Jeronimo Noriega says in a viral TikTok. “If you like someone, you hit them with your cart, and you start talking.” (Thrillist)

📸: TikTok/@marinabarrial

➤ Georgian trans model murdered after parliament passes ‘anti-LGBTQ+’ law

A well-known Georgian transgender model has been murdered, local officials said, a day after the government passed legislation that will impose sweeping curbs on LGBTQ+ rights in the country. (Guardian) 

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⚕️Health and wellness

➤ The hottest (and sweatiest) place to find a date: Run club

Fed up with ‘endless swiping’ on dating apps, single people are lacing up their sneakers to find romance (WSJ) 

➤ U.S. ranks last in health care compared with nine other high-income countries, report finds

People in the U.S. die the youngest and experience the most avoidable deaths, despite spending much more on health care. (NBC News) 

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👩‍💻 Technology

➤ Instagram to automatically put teens into private accounts with increased restrictions and parental controls

Meta says it’s testing new ways to corral all teens into the accounts, even if they lie about their ages. (NBC News)  

➤ Here’s how green bubbles are getting upgraded in iOS

Green bubbles, rejoice: your iPhone-using friends are finally going to have a much better time texting you. As part of iOS 18, which was released for everyone on Monday, Apple added support for RCS, the Rich Communication Services protocol for messaging. This means that chats between iPhone and Android users will finally have a bunch of sorely needed features that should have been in place a long time ago. (The Verge)  

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🍿Pop Culture

➤ The pop star endorsement that could really swing the election? Bad Bunny.

The Puerto Rican superstar has a huge voice and a ton of influence — especially among Latinos and young voters. (Washington Post)  

📸: Instagram/badbunnypr

➤ Billie Eilish and Finneas endorse Kamala Harris for president because ‘we can’t let extremists control our lives, our freedoms and our future’

“We are voting for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz because they are fighting to protect our reproductive freedom, our planet and our democracy,” Eilish said. (Variety)  

billieeilish

A post shared by @billieeilish

➤ Pixar wanted Riley’s character in ‘Inside Out 2’ to appear ‘less gay’ — Report

A source told IGN that executives were "uncomfortable" with queer themes in the blockbuster sequel film. (Indie Wire)  

📸: Pixar

📡 On the radar

➤ New audio disputes ruling that stripped Jordan Chiles of Olympic medal

A Post analysis of audio and visual evidence shows the U.S. gymnast’s coach initiated the inquiry into her score within the required one-minute timeframe. (Washington Post)  

➤ Scientists looked deep beneath the Doomsday Glacier. What they found spells potential disaster for the planet

Scientists using ice-breaking ships and underwater robots have found the Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica is melting at an accelerating rate and could be on an irreversible path to collapse, spelling catastrophe for global sea level rise. (CNN)  

The Thwaites Glacier. 📸: Rob Larter (via CNN)

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