Conspiracy theories are nothing new, but digital platforms have transformed their scale, speed and influence. They are now a major part of the disinformation ecosystem, shaping public debate and eroding trust.

This latest paper explores what drives conspiracy theories, how they spread online and the real impact they have on societies, institutions and democratic resilience.

https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/documents-publications/council-research-papers/#latest

#BigTech #SocialMedia #Conspiracy #Disinformation #FarRight #EU

Instagram drops end-to-end encrypted chats: What it means
https://proton.me/blog/instagram-end-to-end-encryption

What does that mean? It means that millions of people are unaware of this danger and will passively accept the loss of their privacy.

#Instagram #Meta #DigitalPrivacy #LeaveInstagram

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20260218-i-hacked-chatgpt-and-googles-ai-and-it-only-took-20-minutes

#AI #Disinformation #War #BigTech #FarRight #OpenAI #Google

The Billionaires’ War - Paul Krugman
https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/the-billionaires-war

#USPol #IranWar #TechBillionaires #BigTech #SocialMedia #LeaveX #Fascism #FarRight

War Is Peace. Freedom Is Slavery. Ignorance Is Strength.

#IranWar #USPol #Disinformation #GeorgeOrwell #Orwell

“The Girl in the Garden”, by Mary Cassatt, adapted to modern times.

She scrolls through X, a feed full of child abuse and hate speech, while the bourgeoisie politely looks away.

#Impressionism #MaryCassatt #MuseedOrsay #Paris #LeaveX #ChildAbuse #HateSpeech

Excerpt from How Democracies Die, by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt.

#BigTech #SocialMedia #USPol #Trump #Journalism #LeaveX #HateSpeech

The more active users are on social media, the more polarized they are.

Political attitudes differ but share a common low-dimensional structure
across social media and survey data: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2603.02102

Inside the funhouse mirror factory: How social media distorts perceptions of norms: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2352250X24001313

#BigTech #SocialMedia #HateSpeech #Polarization #Politics

https://intelligence.weforum.org/topics/a1G680000008j2FEAQ/key-issues/a1G680000008j6SEAQ

#Disinformation #AI #SexualAbuse #Democracy #Fraud