Previous Troubling Reports

Reuters found that a viral video claiming ballots would be improperly used to cast duplicate votes in the Los Angeles mayoral election was misleading. The ballots shown were actually issued for voters in West Hollywood, a separate city, and could not be used in the Los Angeles mayoral race.

The headline of a recent New York Post interview with President Trump labels Motjaba Khamenei as "probably gay" as if it's an established fact. In reality, it's an unverified intelligence claim with no physical evidence, no photos, no video, nothing that suggests this is concrete. The New York Post's own reporting acknowledges sources "diverge" on key details and that agencies don't actually have proof. The issue here is that embedding an unverified allegation directly into a headline treats speculation as fact, which is highly misleading. Beyond the factual problem, framing someone's sexuality as a scandalous detail is worth foregrounding in a headline about international diplomacy is a form of sensationalism that has nothing to do with the actual news story. The actual news story is Trump's prediction that he'll meet with Khamenei. The article buries the actual diplomatic development under what amounts to unverified gossip about someone's personal life. The New York Post, in this instance, clearly prioritizes a sexual orientation allegation from President Trump over actual news about his diplomatic efforts with Iran.

The "Democrats say you must vote for him" quote is quite obviously misinformation, as millions of Democrats don't have a single view. While a good amount of Democrats support Platner despite the controversies, they are not claiming you "must" vote for him. Claiming that Susan Collins is the most moderate GOP member of the Senate is debatable and subjective. While regarded as fairly moderate to some, this is not an objective fact. In conclusion, calling Platner a national socialist or even a nazi is an opinion and accusation, not a proven fact.

A map circulating on X and TikTok was shared widely with the false claim that the Andes strain of hantavirus was rapidly spreading across Europe and North America. In reality, the map was only tracking news coverage of the virus, not confirmed cases. What makes this troubling is how straightforward the misrepresentation is, and how easily it could have been avoided with even a basic check of what the map actually represented. In a media environment where fear spreads faster than facts, something as simple as a misread data visualization becomes a catalyst for public panic. It's a good reminder that misinformation doesn't always come from bad actors with an agenda; sometimes it's just people sharing something alarming without taking thirty seconds to verify the course, which is kind of the whole problem.

Fox News and several other news outlets incorrectly reported that Somaliland's government had called for the extradition of Rep. Ilhan Omar. The reports relied on a social media account that was not actually affiliated with Somaliland's government. After officials clarified that the account was unofficial, Fox News corrected its story.

Concision and Coverage bias are very evident in this article, as it selectively focuses on outbound migration from blue states. While it shows that California and New York are losing residents as well as taxable income, it leaves out the many blue states including New York and California are steady in terms of GDP and federal tax revenue. It also implies that taxes are the complete cause of migration, when in reality that isn't necessarily true. While I'm sure taxes are a factor for migration among states, high taxes alone don't explain all migration trends.

This misinformation comes from the claim that Maryland was sending out "illegal mail-in ballots" or that widespread voter fraud was occurring. In reality, Maryland election officials explained that some ballots were reissued because of a printing vendor error, meaning that voters received corrected ballots.

An Editor’s Note on the NYT on an AI-generated quote summary attributed to a Canadian politician. The NYT update it with the real speech, the fact this even happened at all with a reputable source like the NYT is deeply concerning and shows a lack of proepr research and factchecking being done at all stages.

This article is built on a bunch of half truths. First, the article claims Governor Hochul broke her promise to not raise taxes. She has supported tax increases on the wealthy her entire career, which are the only new taxes in New York. There's no evidence to suggest she increased taxes on people making under 500,000, which is the group she promised not to raise taxes for. Also, the article mentions how Mamdani "barely" broke 50 percent, and how that doesn't give him a mandate to lead. First, over 50 percent quite literally is a majority, no matter how close. second, he was in a unique race where there were three legitimate candidates instead of two and third, he won by a higher percentage than President Trump did, who won 49.8 percent of the vote, but you don't see NewsMax say that Trump doesn't have a mandate. Lastly, although this is just about labels, Governor Hochul has never identified as a socialist, and doesn't support many Democratic Socialist policies that Mamdani does. They're likely callinger her socialist as a form of criticism, but it's still wrong.

This article really misrepresents what Mayor Mamdani said. He said that he holds the final decision in all matters, not just the police department. He is actively working WITH the police department on finding ways to make reforms while keeping everyone safe. Mamdani will only override the police department if there's a deadline, citing his "responsibility" to keep the city running. The article title makes him sound like he wants to be a dictator, but in reality he just wants to avoid deadlocks.

Trump wasn't slurring his speech. Slurring is speaking words indistinctly so that sounds run into one another. Trump misspoke some words, but he wasn't slurring at all in the clip by definition, so this is misinformation through misrepresentation.

This article provides a fundamentally flawed view of the Supreme Court's decision. They act as if every justice is just ok with conversion therapy. The decision doesn't even "end" bans on conversion therapy. The decision sends the case back down to the lower courts. The Supreme Court determined that the wrong level of scrutiny was used by lower courts, making it effectively impossible to rule on the case. The article pressed the panic button without actually considering what the decision means.