Accurate information is the foundation of a functioning democracy
A worldwide network of scientists sorting fact from fiction.
Our goal is to empower readers to discern trustworthy news.
Insights
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Climate vs. weather: a deep dive on the key differences
A key difference is their timescales by which they’re defined: weather is monitored over days to weeks, and climate typically over decades or more. Online claims that use anecdotal evidence to claim that these climate changes are ‘normal’ either in the context of ‘when they grew up’ or as part of the ‘natural cycle’ are inaccurate.
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Environmental impacts of the fossil fuel industry outweigh those of EV metal mining, experts say
Nearly one in five new vehicles sold around the world in 2023 was an electric vehicle (EV), up from around…
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Humans do not have the technology to manipulate hurricanes
Hurricanes are extraordinarily powerful storms. Our current weather modification methods, which usually involve cloud seeding, cannot create or redirect hurricanes.
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Recent Reviews
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InaccurateInfectious diseases like chickenpox and measles are much more likely to cause serious health problems than vaccination
Claim:
Chickenpox and measles aren’t diseases but infections; unlike diseases, infections go away, leaving behind “a lifetime of immunity”; when you vaccinate, you are potentially “causing a disease”
Source: Facebook, Social media users, 2024-10-25 -
InaccurateSunscreen doesn’t cause melanoma; most melanoma cases are due to excess UV radiation from the sun
Claim:
Melanoma wasn’t a problem until after sunscreen was invented; low vitamin D is associated with melanoma
Source: Facebook, Instagram, Social media users, 2024-08-12 -
IncorrectNo, HAARP can’t create floods, climate change can make heavy rainfall more extreme
Claim:
HAARP is responsible for recent floods in Spain, New Mexico, and elsewhere.
Source: X/Twitter, Social media users, 2024-10-30 -
InaccurateNicotine is addictive, drives tobacco dependence; nicotine patches cannot be replaced by eggplants
Claim:
“nicotine is not addictive”; consuming eggplants could replace nicotine patches
Source: Facebook, Instagram, Bryan Ardis, 2024-10-27 -
Lacks contextSolar panels produce a small amount of waste compared to other sources
Claim:
Renewable energy isn’t green; by 2050, 78 million metric tonnes of solar panels will reach the end of their lives and can't be recycled.
Source: Ben Fordham Live, Ben Fordham, 2024-09-29 -
MisleadingLow amounts of fluoride added to community water not associated with neurotoxicity, contrary to online claims
Claim:
Fluoride is a neurotoxin; community water fluoridation is associated with lower IQ in children
Source: Facebook, Social media users, 2024-10-19
Analyses & Investigations
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Despite Community Notes, most content reviewed by fact-checkers in Europe goes unaddressed on X/Twitter
While X is presenting the crowd-sourced Community Notes system as a substitute for professional fact-checking, our results show that in a European context, Community Notes (and more broadly, X’s content moderation systems) fail to identify the posts flagged by professional fact-checkers, leaving misleading and oftentimes highly-viral content unaddressed.
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Twitter/X fails to act on Doppelganger-related notices
it appears that X has left the network almost completely untouched: of the 663 tweets that were online as of the report’s publication on 4 September, 656 were still accessible as of 25 September.
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European Union: Sanctioned Russian media entities and individuals’ content accessible on Telegram
Report co-author: Saman Nazari, Alliance4EuropeThis report is the fifth in a series looking at major online platforms’ enforcement of EU…
News & events
press
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TV5 Monde
Climate: denial, fake news? climate disinformation is gaining ground
(translated from French) Climate denying influencers and certain political leaders are spreading false information. How can we combat this type of misinformation? We discussed with Marie-Eve Carignan, professor at the University of Sherbrook and Emmanuel Vincent, founder and executive director of Science Feedback.
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Wired Italia
On Facebook, Russian media don’t care about European sanctions
(translated from Italian) There are 52 pages and accounts of Russian media and individuals on Facebook, with a total of more than 3.9 million followers, which, despite having been sanctioned by the European Union after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, are still currently accessible to European citizens. This is according to a report published on July 31 by the Alliance for Europe and Science Feedback, two organizations that are part of the Counter Disinformation Network and specialize in analyzing online disinformation campaigns.
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Rolling Stone
How Elon Musk and X Became the Biggest Purveyors of Online Misinformation
Science Feedback released a study in March 2023 which found that 490 misinformation “superspreader” accounts posting viral false claims had enjoyed a 44 percent increase in engagement under the Musk regime.
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The New York Times
‘Convergence of Anger’ Drives Disinformation Around E.U. Elections
A report this week from two fact-checking groups, Newtral in Spain and Science Feedback in France, tracked false narratives in six languages that were linked to the farmer protests. There were unfounded claims that the European Union was deliberately destroying crop fields, forcing reductions in agricultural production and trying to replace farmers with A.I. robots. The claims appeared to resonate with audiences far more than general climate criticism did, researchers said.