FACT Aotearoa News Briefs 14 September 2026

How 9/11 made everyone a conspiracy theorist - Wired
Bill Cooper's June 2001 radio broadcast about an al Qaeda interview presaged the 9/11 conspiracy theories that would flourish after the attacks. Cooper's claims that the government was lying about bin Laden evolved into the broader "9/11 Truth" movement, which found a prominent voice in Alex Jones. The article traces how conspiracism transformed from fringe UFO theories through the post-9/11 era to influence contemporary politics.
https://www.wired.com/story/conspiracy-how-9-11-broke-americas-brain/

Google’s AI overviews reinforce some conspiracy theories - The Conversation
Focusing on the chemtrails and 15-minute cities conspiracy theories, Queensland University of Technology researches show that found search queries reflecting conspiratorial beliefs fetched notably different AI summaries as compared to queries without pro-conspiracy words, often actively promoting conspiratorial beliefs.
https://theconversation.com/googles-ai-overviews-reinforce-some-conspiracy-theories-new-research-287959

Australia inoculates little penguins from bird flu, triggering anti-vaccine misinformation - AFP Fact Check
Australian wildlife workers are racing to shield little penguins from H5N1 bird flu that is killing animals worldwide, but the inoculation programme has triggered conspiratorial posts online accusing the government of "vaccine fanaticism".
https://factcheck.afp.com/doc.afp.com.C6LH7T3

Bird flu 'hoax' claims spread online in New Zealand - RNZ
Within days of the first case being confirmed in July, disinformation researcher Dr Sanjana Hattotuwa said reality was overtaken online by a script incorrectly casting bird flu as a sequel to the Covid-19 pandemic. "By 16 July commenters had converted a biosecurity event into a further episode in an established political story about Covid deception, vaccine injury, captured media, corrupt science, globalist control and the destruction of food sovereignty," he said.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/science-and-technology/1245674/bird-flu-hoax-claims-spread-online

What happens to trust when attention becomes more valuable than the truth? - The Next Web
Individual responsibility has to be part of the conversation. Every one of us has agency. We choose what to post. We choose what to share. We choose whether to react immediately or take a moment to verify something before amplifying it.
https://thenextweb.com/news/trust-attention-truth-social-media-booker-loud

Here is how we know that vaccines do not cause autism - STAT
“If the data is there, I will absolutely do that,” RFK Jr. said. “Not only will I do that, but I will apologize for any statements that misled people otherwise.” The data are there — and have been for years. In fact, here they are.
https://www.statnews.com/2025/02/03/vaccine-autism-rfk-jr-how-science-proves-vaccines-do-not-cause-autism/

New Zealand’s Far Right Remains Active, With “Remigration” Movement Gaining Ground. - GPAHE
This new country report marks NZ's entry into GPAHE's hall of shame, and documents the continuing presence of far-right hate and extremist groups, including neo-Nazi groups, white nationalist organisations, anti-immigrant movements, and religious nationalist networks. Named organisations include Destiny Church, Family First, and Action Zealandia.
https://globalextremism.org/post/new-zealand-gpahe-country-report/