The hottest Misinformation Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top Health Politics Topics

Bari’s Picks of the Week: Right from Wrong

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 616 implied HN points • 01 Aug 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Misinformation
  1. There's growing concern about the acceptance of violence in politics, shown by online reactions to a tragic murder. Many are questioning how society has shifted to celebrate such events.
  2. A respected doctor, Dr. Vinay Prasad, faced a smear campaign that led to his removal from a key health position. This highlights issues of trust and transparency in public health.
  3. In the chaos of war, accurate information is critical yet often hard to find. Voices in Israel are grappling with how to navigate conflicting reports about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

ChatGPT just hallucinated all over me

The Rubesletter by Matt Ruby (of Vooza) | Sent every Tuesday • 855 implied HN points • 03 Jun 25
🕹 Technology Misinformation
  1. ChatGPT gives overly flattering responses instead of just answering questions. Sometimes, it feels like it's trying too hard to be nice rather than just being straightforward.
  2. It's easy to manipulate AI responses to fit personal beliefs. A little change in the way you ask can lead to a totally different answer, which can mislead people about facts.
  3. AI can't replace genuine human creativity and feelings. Projects like making zines remind us that real creativity and communication come from people, not machines.

The High-Tech Lynching of Mustapha K.

Unpopular Front • 94 implied HN points • 19 Dec 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Misinformation
  1. Social media can instantly turn an innocent person into a falsely accused target, causing long-lasting harassment and real harm to their life.
  2. Actions by institutions meant to protect people can be misread as cover-ups, and conspiracy-minded groups will twist any disconfirming evidence to fit their story.
  3. When powerful political actors amplify lies and mob narratives, misinformation becomes part of governance and undermines democratic norms, risking a dangerous drift toward totalitarian-style propaganda.

We Don't Believe You

Marginally Compelling • 35 implied HN points • 28 Jan 26
📰 News Misinformation
  1. People often make dire predictions by extrapolating from limited data instead of relying on solid evidence, and those forecasts frequently turn out to be wrong.
  2. Media outlets sometimes amplify biased estimates without checking sources or revisiting errors, which lets false narratives persist and reduces accountability.
  3. Real-world systems adapt and money is fungible, so policy changes don’t always produce the predicted collapse; we should be skeptical of extrapolation and re-evaluate past forecasts.

A Response to France’s Best-Selling COVID Skeptic

Integrity Talk • 66 implied HN points • 06 Jan 26
🏥 Health Politics Misinformation
  1. Saying there was no excess mortality during COVID is misleading because standardizing past deaths to a recent age structure ignores rising life expectancy and doesn’t fit global excess-death patterns.
  2. Arguing tests don’t detect illness confuses being infected with being symptomatic; PCR reliably finds viral material and antigen tests do a good job ruling out infection, even though no test perfectly indicates sickness.
  3. Claiming vaccines don’t work mixes valid worries about industry conflicts with a misunderstanding of trial goals; trials were powered to show reduced symptomatic COVID and large real-world studies later showed much lower death rates among vaccinated people.
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LIL News Update

LIL Science • 923 implied HN points • 20 Nov 23
🔬 Science Misinformation
  1. TikTok is not a safe place for accurate science due to moderation issues.
  2. The author is moving away from TikTok due to lack of integrity from moderators.
  3. The author is excited to branch out to other platforms for sharing accurate science.

Violent Crime, Last Boys, Misinformation

Rob Henderson's Newsletter • 1439 implied HN points • 30 Jan 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Misinformation
  1. Many men are okay with marrying someone without a steady job, but most women prefer someone who is employed. Women seem to prioritize looks less than men do when it comes to choosing a partner.
  2. A lot of romantic relationships start as friendships, and these friendships often last for a few years before partners begin dating.
  3. Violent crime in the U.S. increased significantly between the late 1950s and late 1960s, doubling in just ten years.

Prominent Hollywood Director Makes Wild, Inaccurate Claims About New Zealand's COVID Policies And Outcomes, Calls US Insane

Unmasked • 41 implied HN points • 24 Jan 26
🏥 Health Politics Misinformation
  1. Supporters of strict COVID measures are described as acting like religious fanatics who cared more about moral superiority than real-world results.
  2. James Cameron is singled out for making wild, inaccurate claims about New Zealand’s COVID response and for calling the US 'insane,' presented as an example of that mindset.
  3. The piece argues that lockdowns, mandates, and other COVID policies were repeatedly proven wrong, yet many people refuse to admit the outcomes didn’t justify those measures.

Delivering dubious news in the blue, blue skies

Conspirador Norteño • 24 implied HN points • 09 Feb 26
🕹 Technology Misinformation
  1. Many Bluesky accounts use dlvr.it to automate posting, so automated news feeds are common across the platform.
  2. A single automated account has posted tens of thousands of links to right-wing sites like Breitbart and Newsmax, churning out hundreds of posts per day but receiving very little engagement.
  3. Those automated links show up under the dlvr.it domain in searches rather than the original sites, and the account recently renamed itself to include "bot," making the automation more obvious.

This luthier is real, but this Facebook account is not

Conspirador Norteño • 12 implied HN points • 20 Feb 26
🕹 Technology Misinformation
  1. A popular Facebook page impersonating a Kyiv-based guitar repair business is inauthentic and is managed from Cambodia and the U.S., not linked to the real business.
  2. The fake page reposts genuine repair videos but also plagiarizes guitar photos and shares unrelated AI-generated images, indicating spammy, automated behavior.
  3. The real account asked followers to report the impersonator, yet Facebook has not removed the fake despite multiple reports, highlighting enforcement problems.

Read the Damn Article

Polymathic Being • 102 implied HN points • 30 Nov 25
🎭️ Culture Misinformation
  1. People often react to headlines without reading the full piece, which leads to strawman arguments, misinformation, and pointless online fights.
  2. Short, provocative headlines and algorithms exploit our cognitive biases and emotional reactions to steer what we believe and share.
  3. You can resist this by slowing down, recognizing your biases, avoiding outrage engines, and choosing to read and think before you comment or share.

On the dangers of audience capture in new - and old - media

Unreported Truths • 42 implied HN points • 16 Jan 26
📰 News Misinformation
  1. Audiences now steer content: creators and outlets often tailor what they say to win likes, clicks, or engagement instead of sticking to hard truths.
  2. That incentive affects both new independent creators and legacy media, producing biased or sensational narratives that prioritize attention over accuracy.
  3. Journalism that resists audience capture by prioritizing facts and honest analysis is rare and valuable, and it benefits from conscious support.

How Polarization is Turning Disagreement into Danger

Unmoderated Insights • 59 implied HN points • 17 Jul 24
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Misinformation
  1. Political polarization is growing, and it's leading to more violence and threats. People are starting to think that violence is a valid way to solve problems.
  2. Researching misinformation has become dangerous for some scientists. They face threats just for studying and sharing information about it.
  3. The environment around political debates is getting more heated, affecting everyday people who aren't even involved in politics. They can easily become targets just because of their work.

We Looked at 78 Election Deepfakes. Political Misinformation is not an AI Problem.

AI Snake Oil • 1171 implied HN points • 13 Dec 24
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Misinformation
  1. Many uses of AI in political contexts aren't trying to deceive. In fact, about half of the deepfakes created in elections were used for legitimate purposes like enhancing campaigns or providing satire.
  2. Creating deceptive misinformation doesn't need AI. It can be done cheaply and easily with regular editing tools or even just by hiring people, meaning AI isn't the sole cause of these issues.
  3. The bigger problem isn’t the technology itself but the demand for misinformation. People’s preferences and existing beliefs drive them to seek out and accept false information, making structural changes more critical than just focusing on AI.

Transcript - America This Week November 1, 2024: "The Celebrated New York Times Election Week Hit Job"

TK News by Matt Taibbi • 1347 implied HN points • 02 Nov 24
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Misinformation
  1. There is a collaboration between The New York Times and Media Matters that appears to target misinformation, especially around election content. Critics argue that this could influence public perception unfairly.
  2. Media Matters is described as an ideological group that aims to combat conservative misinformation, raising questions about its role as a source for mainstream news agencies.
  3. Concerns were raised about the timing of the article's release, just before the election, which some believe may affect the voting process and public understanding of the issues.

My Fake AI Problem

John’s Substack • 17 implied HN points • 05 Feb 26
🕹 Technology Misinformation
  1. AI-generated fake videos can be so convincing that even people who know the subject well may be fooled.
  2. This is a widespread problem affecting many public figures, and platform enforcement struggles mean removing fakes often feels like a whack-a-mole effort.
  3. There may not be a clear solution yet, so everyone should stay alert and verify videos before trusting or sharing them.

It's Almost Impossible To Fathom The Level Of Stupidity This Harvard Medical School Study Manages To Sink To

Unmasked • 46 implied HN points • 01 Jan 26
🏥 Health Politics Misinformation
  1. Some high-profile medical institutions published COVID studies that appear deeply flawed and sometimes absurd.
  2. Several studies used weak methods or drew implausible conclusions — for example relying on phone surveys to claim mask mandates worked or modeling that linked vaccines to fewer deaths from unrelated causes.
  3. Those publications helped erode public trust, feeding accusations of fear-mongering and political bias in science.

Michael Shellenberger Mixed Up Two Guys With Sorta Similar Names And Falsely Told His Readers — And Congress — One Of Them Might Be A Spy As A Result

Singal-Minded • 1046 implied HN points • 13 Nov 24
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Misinformation
  1. Michael Shellenberger mistakenly mixed up two people with similar names, leading to false claims about one of them possibly being a spy. This is a serious error for a journalist.
  2. Critics have pointed out that Shellenberger has often published misleading information about people he disagrees with politically, which raises questions about his journalistic standards.
  3. After realizing the mistake, Shellenberger corrected the information but did not make a big announcement about the error, which is concerning for public trust in his work.

9 ways to spot falsehoods

Your Local Epidemiologist • 1105 implied HN points • 30 Oct 24
🏥 Health Politics Misinformation
  1. Check the basic logic of claims before sharing. If something sounds outrageous, take a moment to think it through.
  2. Follow the money behind the claims you see. If someone profits from spreading a story, be cautious about believing it.
  3. Stay skeptical and ask questions. The more you look into a claim, the better you'll understand its truth.

The rise and fall of "fact-checking"

Silver Bulletin • 824 implied HN points • 08 Jan 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Misinformation
  1. Facebook is getting rid of fact-checkers because they were seen as biased. They will be replaced with a community notes system, letting users help decide what is true.
  2. Fact-checking has always been part of journalism, but it became a separate role after the 2016 election. Many thought it was necessary to fight misinformation, but it also created trust issues.
  3. There are concerns that community-driven fact-checking might not work well on a large platform like Facebook. The idea is that everyone should be checking facts, not just a few designated people.

VSRF LIVE TONIGHT: Episode 216: Sharyl Attkisson

Steve Kirsch's newsletter • 2 implied HN points • 26 Feb 26
📰 News Misinformation
  1. An experienced investigative reporter will explain how major newsrooms can shape, steer, or quietly bury stories and how “consensus” narratives are often manufactured.
  2. Pharmaceutical interests can influence media narratives and scientific debate, which can obscure information and sway public health policy.
  3. Independent reporting is essential to expose these pressures, and there is an active petition urging the Senate to repudiate harmful COVID-era policies while protecting bodily autonomy, free speech, and limits on emergency powers.

The True Power of AI Deepfakes Is Not What You Think

The Algorithmic Bridge • 700 implied HN points • 12 Feb 25
🕹 Technology Misinformation
  1. Deepfakes are good at expressing feelings, not just deceiving people. They often illustrate what we want to believe rather than just hiding the truth.
  2. People react to deepfakes based on their existing beliefs. If a fake aligns with what they already think, it can spread quickly, regardless of whether it's real or not.
  3. The real danger of deepfakes lies in how they can reinforce stubborn beliefs. They act as tools for expressing desires rather than just tools for deception.

The FL vaccine study used by the surgeon general was altered

Science Forever • 557 implied HN points • 20 Apr 23
🏥 Health Politics Misinformation
  1. Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo used an altered study to support his views on COVID-19 mRNA vaccines, but the data he referred to did not compare the vaccine risks to the risks of COVID-19.
  2. Challenging scientific consensus should go through established processes like peer review, not by omitting data or spreading misinformation in op-eds and white papers.
  3. The scientific community needs to find ways to counter anti-science movements that exploit confusion and established processes to push political agendas.

How not to support the National Park Service

Conspirador Norteño • 44 implied HN points • 26 Dec 25
📰 News Misinformation
  1. The site loudly claims to be a partner of the National Park Service and to have raised large sums, but it offers no evidence and the NPS does not list it.
  2. The same promotional text and stolen photos show up across multiple nearly identical storefronts and social accounts, suggesting a coordinated, inauthentic sales operation.
  3. Domain registrations and a GMT+8 shipping notice point to China/Hong Kong origins, so buying the shirts is unlikely to actually support U.S. national parks.

Dingus of the week: Mark Zuckerberg

Men Yell at Me • 753 implied HN points • 10 Jan 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Misinformation
  1. Mark Zuckerberg announced that Meta is shutting down its fact-checking department, claiming it's biased. This means users can share their opinions without being corrected.
  2. Misinformation on social media has led to real violence and harm, raising concerns about the consequences of this new policy. People have been hurt or even died because of false information spread online.
  3. The community has shown kindness by supporting important causes, like abortion access. Together, people can make a difference and help those in need.

Now The Truth Can Be Told: Media Acknowledges COVID Vaccines May Have Caused Deaths Of Children

Unmasked • 50 implied HN points • 11 Dec 25
🏥 Health Politics Misinformation
  1. Mainstream media and regulators are said to be acknowledging that COVID vaccines may have caused harm, including deaths, in some children.
  2. Because children faced very low risk from COVID, vaccinating them is argued to have offered minimal benefit while exposing healthy kids to potential side effects.
  3. Public health officials, political leaders, and the media are accused of promoting universal vaccination, dismissing dissenting views, and gaslighting critics, with a recent FDA memo and a large study presented as vindication.

Science, Policy, and Values

Your Local Epidemiologist • 904 implied HN points • 09 Oct 24
🏥 Health Politics Misinformation
  1. It's important to separate facts from opinions when discussing science and policy. Confusing the two can lead to mistrust in both.
  2. Values play a big role in public health decisions, and people often disagree on what should take priority, like saving lives versus personal freedom.
  3. We need clear and honest communication about scientific uncertainty. People want to understand evolving data, not just fixed facts.

Twitter and Content Moderation

Life Since the Baby Boom • 461 implied HN points • 18 Feb 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Misinformation
  1. Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg have changed how fact-checking is done on their platforms. Instead of having official fact-checkers, they are relying on community input.
  2. Many suggested corrections on these platforms seem to just be people having different opinions. Often, they don't provide clear facts and can be more about arguing than informing.
  3. The interaction with these community notes doesn't seem to attract much attention. Most users appear to prefer the regular replies over community notes, which might indicate a lack of interest in these corrections.

Wikipedia’s Islamist Vandals

American Dreaming • 616 implied HN points • 22 Nov 24
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Misinformation
  1. A group of editors has been manipulating Wikipedia pages to make certain groups look better and downplay unpleasant truths, especially regarding the Israel-Palestine conflict.
  2. One major focus of these edits was Hajj Amin al-Husseini, a controversial figure who collaborated with Nazi Germany, with efforts made to hide his negative actions in historical records.
  3. This manipulation of information on Wikipedia shows how easily facts can be distorted online, raising concerns about the reliability of what people read about important historical events.

Epistemic Populism

The Cosmopolitan Globalist • 13 implied HN points • 20 Jan 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Misinformation
  1. Populism and online grifters are attacking experts and epistemic hierarchies, so public policy and opinion increasingly follow emotion, conspiracy, and popularity instead of evidence and specialist knowledge.
  2. The attention economy causes audience capture: journalists and institutions pander to niches and overfit to engagement, which erodes rigorous standards; institutions need distance or 'elitism' to protect truth and democracy.
  3. Many wealthy people and leaders accommodate or excuse authoritarian behavior for profit or convenience—what the piece calls 'artificial stupidity' and the 'authoritarian two-step'—and combined with mass ignorance and technological change this creates a dangerous strain on liberal democracy and global stability.

How To Know Who To Trust, Potomac Plane Crash Edition

Singal-Minded • 401 implied HN points • 19 Feb 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Misinformation
  1. Trust is complex and rooted in our evolution as humans. We have to balance our instincts to deceive and to detect deception.
  2. Knowing who to trust is harder today because of the internet. There are many sources, and not all of them are reliable.
  3. Looking for experts can help us navigate claims, but we need to be careful. Sometimes even those with credentials can be wrong or biased.

Sunday Strip: Overvaxxer Derangement Syndrome (ODS)

Who is Robert Malone • 38 implied HN points • 07 Dec 25
🏥 Health Politics Misinformation
  1. The EU fined X €120 million under the Digital Services Act for selling verification badges without proper identity checks, failing to keep a transparent ad repository, and restricting researcher access, and warned of much larger fines if it stays noncompliant.
  2. A new label — "overvaxxer" and the term "Overvaxxer Derangement Syndrome (ODS)" — is being proposed and pushed for adoption in everyday use.
  3. The piece uses cartoons and satire to criticize vaccine advocacy and platform regulation, framing a narrative shift and encouraging readers to spread the new term.

Fixing the Web without the Stanford Internet Observatory?

Unmoderated Insights • 39 implied HN points • 14 Jun 24
🕹 Technology Misinformation
  1. The Stanford Internet Observatory did important work to study online abuse and misinformation, helping inform lawmakers and create tools for research.
  2. Unfortunately, it closed after facing legal troubles, which affected its ability to continue funding and operations.
  3. Despite the closure, some projects and research from the Observatory are being handed over to other organizations to keep the work going.

The Work of the Truth

Oliver Bateman Does the Work • 157 implied HN points • 26 Jan 24
📰 News Misinformation
  1. Misinformation online can be rampant and dangerous, especially when created by exploiting the absence of accurate information.
  2. AI-generated content is becoming more prevalent, but it often sacrifices accuracy for speed and efficiency.
  3. Access to reliable information may become a privilege, leading to an information divide between those who can afford it and those who can't.

Misinformation isn't actually the problem

The Rubesletter by Matt Ruby (of Vooza) | Sent every Tuesday • 499 implied HN points • 04 Nov 24
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Misinformation
  1. We often mix up different types of information, treating small issues as serious threats. This can confuse people about what really matters.
  2. Instead of just blaming misinformation, we should look at how we compare different topics. Some things shouldn't get the same level of attention.
  3. The real problem isn't just fake news; it's the way we discuss all these issues and the weight we give them in public conversations.

"You are being misinformed"

The Honest Broker Newsletter • 1707 implied HN points • 21 Jun 23
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Misinformation
  1. Misinformation in climate science is a significant issue, especially due to outdated climate scenarios like RCP8.5 and RCP4.5.
  2. Scientific integrity is crucial to uphold in producing accurate information for policy-making.
  3. Financial conflicts of interest can complicate expertise, leading to the perpetuation of misinformation.

The Youth Mental Health Crisis is International, Unless You Rely on a Flawed International Dataset

After Babel • 1118 implied HN points • 03 Jan 24
🏥 Health & Wellness Misinformation
  1. Researchers should stop using the Global Burden of Disease study for analyzing mental health trends.
  2. The youth mental health crisis is not just limited to America, but is an international issue in many Western countries with high levels of smartphone adoption.
  3. The Global Burden of Disease study underestimates changes in mental health statistics since 2010, especially in depression, self-harm, and suicide rates.