Disinfo Docket 2 September

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Highlights

1. New Anti-Toxicity Features on Bluesky (Bluesky, 28 August)
2. The six online trends we’re watching ahead of Election Day (FWIW, 30 August)
3. ‘My identity is stolen’: Photos of European influencers used to push pro-Trump propaganda on fake X accounts (CNN, 28 August)
4. Trump Says He Had 'Every Right' to Interfere With Presidential Election (Newsweek, 1 September)
5. LISTEN: Attention Wars: How Lies Spread Online Have Real-World Consequences | Renée DiResta (Daily Stoic, 28 August)

1. Academia & Research

1. Early morning hour and evening usage habits increase misinformation-spread (Nature, 30 August)
2. Community Notes and Project 2025: In which multiple users attempt to spam X's Community Notes fact-checking system with duplicate notes denying a connection between Project 2025 and Donald Trump (Conspirator Norteño, 30 August)
3. The Consumer Welfare Effects of Online Ads: Evidence from a 9-Year Experiment (NBER, August)
4. China is likely to step up influence operations in Palau (ASPI, 2 September)

2. Platforms & Technology

1. The Last Social Network: Venmo has become the best way to see what the people you know are up to. (The Atlantic, 30 August)
2. Chatbots Are Primed to Warp Reality (The Atlantic, 30 August)
3. Platforms like Telegram Accused of Facilitating Child Sexual Abuse Can’t Invoke Free Speech Protections (The Unpopulist, 31 August)
4. Tech giants fight crackdown on strangers contacting children (Telegraph, 1 September)