Accurate information is the foundation of a functioning democracy
A worldwide network of scientists sorting fact from fiction. Our goal is to empowering readers to discern trustworthy news.
Insights
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Climate change and its impacts on the water cycle; how can it increase both droughts and heavy downpours?
If your tap ran dry and stores closed down, where would you get your freshwater? Water is essential to human…
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From vibrant corals to white skeletons: climate change and looming existential threats to coral reefs
Coral reefs and their ecosystems serve important roles on Earth – they flourish with biodiversity, providing habitat to 25% of…
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Sea-level rise: to mitigate or adapt? Experts say we need to do both.
Roughly 900 million people lived in low-lying coastal cities and settlements in 2020; a figure that is projected to reach 1 billion by 2050. Is there anything we can do now to reduce sea-level rise and its impacts? Our past actions will already impact sea-levels for thousands of years. But not everything is set in stone. We possess the power to reduce sea-level rise and its impacts over the next century and beyond with our current actions. Some advocate to mitigate the causes, and others to adapt to the consequences. But what do experts say?
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Recent Reviews
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Mostly accuratePrioritizing plant-based foods in our diet can benefit climate and health, but Forbes article missed some key details
Claim:
Prioritizing plant-based foods and reducing overconsumption of animal-based protein is healthier and reduces greenhouse gas emissions
Source: Forbes, Simi Thambi, 2024-08-28 -
IncorrectGout is an inflammatory disease caused by uric acid crystals, not liver dysfunction
Claim:
Gout is “a liver condition”; uric acid crystals “aren’t the cause of gout or the cause of gout’s pain”
Source: Instagram, Anthony William, 2024-09-04 -
UnsupportedLack of reliable evidence supporting the claim that sauna bathing is an effective way to “detox” the body
Claim:
Sauna bathing effectively detoxes the body by inducing sweating
Source: Instagram, Facebook, Raymond Francis, Social media users, 2024-08-31 -
UnsupportedNo evidence for sudden bird deaths from lithium evaporation ponds, contrary to claims in viral meme
Claim:
Lithium leach fields are neurotoxic and kill birds within minutes of landing in them; leach ponds contents are what go into electric car batteries.
Source: Facebook, Facebook users, 2024-08-14 -
MisleadingBjorn Lomborg’s claims about polar bears, coral, and cold deaths ignore scientists’ predictions of climate-change-affected futures
Claim:
Despite climate change, the global polar-bear population has increased substantially, the Great Barrier Reef has more coral cover than at any point since 1986, and extreme-heat deaths have declined.
Source: The Wall Street Journal, Bjorn Lomborg, 2024-08-01 -
MisleadingWhat’s worse: lithium mining or oil extraction? Viral social media posts suggest misleading answers to complex question.
Claim:
Lithium mining for electric cars has a greater environmental impact than oil extraction for gas cars.
Source: Facebook, Social media users, 2024-08-16
Analyses & Investigations
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Fool me once: Russian Influence Operation Doppelganger continues on X and Facebook – French chapter
Fool me once: Russian Influence Operation Doppelganger continues on X and Facebook
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European Union: Sanctioned Russian media entities and individuals’ content accessible on Facebook and other Meta services
Report co-author: Saman Nazari, Alliance4Europe This report is the fourth in a series looking at major online platforms’ enforcement of…
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European Union: Sanctioned Russian media entities and individuals’ content accessible on YouTube and Google products
Despite EU sanctions, some Russian state-controlled media remains accessible to EU audiences on Google services.
News & events
press
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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.
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DPA (German Press Agency)
La banquise arctique en déclin depuis les années 80
« Il est important de comprendre que la glace de mer, en tant qu’indicateur du changement climatique, fluctue d’une année à l’autre », explique Stephen Bell, rédacteur scientifique pour le réseau international Climate Feedback, créé pour lutter contre la désinformation climatique.