FACT Aotearoa News Briefs 11 May 2026

Online outrage identified as core challenge for Aussies - ODT
A report warns that online outrage and disinformation threaten Australian social cohesion, recommending a national strategy to protect democratic integrity.
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/australia/online-outrage-identified-core-challenge-aussies

Scientific News Literacy: Spot fake news - Purdue University
This "how to choose your news" video describes eight steps to choose news and separate fact from opinion.
https://guides.lib.purdue.edu/c.php?g=986194&p=7132183

X Is Drowning in Disinformation Following US and Israeli Attack on Iran - Wired
WIRED has reviewed hundreds of posts on X that promote misleading claims about the locations and scale of the attack.
https://www.wired.com/story/x-is-drowning-in-disinformation-following-us-and-israels-attack-on-iran/

How AI is supercharging Russia's online disinformation campaigns - BBC
Russia is using AI-generated deepfakes to spread political disinformation, threatening Western democratic processes and necessitating urgent governance reforms.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2r7grrdwzo

New Canadian chief public health officer says her top priority is tackling misinformation and disinformation - CBC
Dr Joss Reimer says that misinformation and disinformation have contributed to the measels outbreak and other harms, and public health agencies need to rebuild trust with the public, especially online.
https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/audio/9.7100134

Social media advertising suppresses voting in targeted communities - University of Wisconsin-Madison
Messages intended to suppress votes can be precisely delivered to particularly vulnerable and consequential groups of people via social media and keep millions of them from casting ballots, according to a new study that is the first to quantify the effect of this kind of microtargeting on voter turnout.
https://phys.org/news/2026-02-social-media-advertising-suppresses-voting.html

Disinformation in the City Response Playbook - University of Melbourne
In extraordinary times of rapid information production and sharing, distrust and disruption, disinformation is having an increasing impact on cities. And cities are, therefore, on the front line of disinformation response strategies.
https://www.unimelb.edu.au/cities/research/projects/past-projects/disinformation-in-the-city/disinformation-in-the-city-response-playbook