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Wilmington, North Carolina once had a thriving Black middle class and an elected interracial government. In 1898 white supremacists used violence to overthrow that government, kill Black residents and drive many others from the city.
MORE →Reflects the personal views, recollections, and perspective of the author, Mike Davis.
This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985
 | This article needs to be updated. (February 2024) |
The Counter disinformation unit, now known as the National Security and Online Information Team (NSOIT), leads the UK's governments response to misinformation and disinformation. It states that it analyses public available information and does not collect non-public information.[1] The unit was established in 2019.[2] Between 2020 and 2023, the unit commissioned reports from the Artificial intelligence firm Logically.[3] The unit was run by civil servant, Sarah Connolly.[4]
The CDU states it responds to narratives by rebutting social media posts, flagging posts, or promotion of public health campaigns.[5] The response also included downranking posts.[6]
Prominent critics of the United Kingdom responses to the COVID-19 pandemic were monitored by the unit.[3] Epidemiologist Carl Heneghan and tropical disease researcher Alexandre de Figueiredo were monitored by the unit as was Molly Kingsley who ran a campaign to keep schools open during the pandemic.[3] Member of parliament, David Davis had his comments logged by the unit.[4]
In 2023, the unit was renamed the National Security and Online Information Team (NSOIT), and it operates within the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.[7][8] NSOIT has appointed Crisp Thinking to help conduct analysis of social media platforms.[9] In August 2023, the department awarded a £350,960 contract to Crisp Thinking (UK) Ltd for monitoring and analysis relating to misinformation and disinformation.[10]
In April 2024, the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, in its report Trusted voices, criticised the lack of transparency and accountability of the unit and recommended that the government commission an independent review of its activities and strategy, reporting back within 12 months.[11][12] Following the July 2024 general election, oversight of NSOIT passed to Peter Kyle, Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology.[13] During the 2024 United Kingdom riots, the unit was tasked with monitoring online activity related to the unrest.[14] Ofcom concluded in October 2024 that there had been a "clear connection" between social media posts and violence during the riots.[15][16]
In a written parliamentary answer in March 2025, Minister Feryal Clark stated that NSOIT's remit was to analyse narratives and trends in publicly available online information relating to national security and public safety where ministers considered there to be a high risk of misinformation or disinformation affecting UK audiences.[17] Ministers have stated that the team's work focuses on threats posed by foreign states, risks to elections, and risks arising from artificial intelligence and deepfakes.[14][17]
Silkie Carlo, director of Big Brother Watch, said the concept of a central authority determining incorrect information is open to abuse and should be considered carefully.[3] David Davis called for the unit to be shut down and a government investigation initiated.[4]
Ministers have been criticized and questioned over the lack of transparency, however, the information that protected as a matter of national security.[18]
Michelle Donelan reportedly made several attempts to have the unit disbanded during her tenure as Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and later at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, citing concerns about its implications for free speech.[19]
Source: Wikipedia. Article content is retrieved live through the MediaWiki API.
The Counter disinformation unit, now known as the National Security and Online Information Team (NSOIT), leads the UK's governments response to misinformation and disinformation. It states that it analyses public available information and does not collect non-public information. The unit was established in 2019. Between 2020 and 2023, the unit commissioned reports from the Artificial intelligence firm Logically. The unit was run by civil servant, Sarah Connolly. The CDU states it responds to narratives by rebutting social media posts, flagging posts, or promotion of public health campaigns. The response also included downranking posts. Prominent critics of the United Kingdom responses to the COVID-19 pandemic were monitored by the unit. Epidemiologist Carl Heneghan and tropical disease researcher Alexandre de Figueiredo were monitored by the unit as was Molly Kingsley who ran a campaign to keep schools open during the pandemic. Member of parliament, David Davis had his comments logged by the unit. In 2023, the unit was renamed the National Security and Online Information Team (NSOIT), and it operates within the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. NSOIT has appointed Crisp Thinking to help conduct analysis of social media platforms. In August 2023, the department awarded a £350,960 contract to Crisp Thinking (UK) Ltd for monitoring and analysis relating to misinformation and disinformation.
The Russian government conducted foreign electoral interference in the 2016 United States elections with the goals of sabotaging the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton, boosting the presidential campaign of Donald Trump, and increasing political and social discord in the United States. According to the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC), the operation—code named "Project Lakhta"—was ordered directly by Russian president Vladimir Putin. The "hacking and disinformation campaign" to damage Clinton and help Trump became the "core of the scandal known as Russiagate". The Internet Research Agency (IRA), based in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and described as a troll farm, created thousands of social media accounts that purported to be Americans supporting Trump and opposing Clinton. Fabricated articles and disinformation from Russian government-controlled media were promoted on social media, where they reached millions of users between 2013 and 2017. Hackers affiliated with the Russian military intelligence service (GRU) infiltrated information systems of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), and Clinton campaign officials, and publicly released stolen files and emails during the election campaign. Individuals connected to Russia contacted Trump campaign associates, offering business opportunities and proffering damaging information on Clinton. The Russian government has denied involvement in any of the hacks or leaks, and Donald Trump has denied any interference occurred at all. However, some prominent Russian figures, most notably the IRA founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, have admitted to their participation in the interference operation. The campaign was first disclosed publicly by members of the United States Congress in September 2016. The immediate U.S. response included strong statements from the country's intelligence agencies, a direct warning by then-U.S. president Barack Obama to Putin, renewed economic sanctions against Russia, and closures of Russian diplomatic facilities and expulsion of their staff. The first major government investigation into the campaign, Crossfire Hurricane, was launched by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in July 2016. In addition to examining the campaign itself, investigators began probling potential links and coordination between Trump associates and Russian officials. However, the investigation was brought to an abrupt halt when President Trump dismissed FBI director James Comey in May 2017. At first, Trump stated Comey's firing was motivated by his participation in the investigation. However, after the McCabe memo renewed suspicion of Russia collusion, Trump walked back his earlier comments, tweeting he "never fired James Comey because of Russia." In response to public outcry after Comey's firing, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein authorized a special counsel investigation, led by former FBI director Robert Mueller, to continue Crossfire Hurricane's work. Over the course of the investigation, twenty-six Russian citizens and three Russian organizations would be indicted by Mueller and his team. The investigation also led to indictments and convictions of Trump campaign officials and associated Americans. Their final report, released in April 2019, concluded that Russian interference was "sweeping and systematic" and "violated U.S. criminal law". It also found that, though the Trump campaign welcomed Russia's activities, there was insufficient evidence to bring criminal "conspiracy" or "coordination" charges against Trump or his associates. However, they did note that Roger Stone, a Trump associate, "appeared to know in advance" about the imminent publication of certain hacked emails, even though the investigators "'did not have sufficient evidence' to prove active participation in the hacks." Simultaneously, the Republican-led Senate and House Intelligence Committees conducted their own investigations into the Russians' activities. The Senate committee's report, released in five volumes between July 2019 and August 2020, found that the Russian government had engaged in an "extensive campaign" to sabotage the election in favor of Trump, which included assistance from some of Trump's own advisers. They also found that the IC's initial assessment was "coherent and well-constructed", and that IC analysts had experienced "no politically motivated pressure to reach specific conclusions". In response to the investigations, Trump, Republican Party leaders, and right-wing conservatives have promoted and endorsed false and debunked conspiracy theory counter-narratives in an effort to discredit the allegations and findings of the investigations, frequently referring to them as the "Russia hoax" or "Russian collusion hoax".
The firehose of falsehood, also known as firehosing, is a propaganda technique in which a large number of messages are broadcast rapidly, repetitively, and continuously over multiple channels (like news and social media) without regard for truth or consistency. The firehose of falsehood is a contemporary model for Russian propaganda under Russian President Vladimir Putin. Though similar in some ways, the American tactic of "flooding the zone" with misleading or false statements is distinct from firehosing in that flooding involves pushing out initiatives and policies at an overwhelming rate, rather than specifically falsehoods. The tactics may be combined. While difficult to counter, the German Marshall Fund, RAND, and military strategists have described techniques to respond to the firehose of falsehood, generally involving preempting it with good information, strategically reducing or removing misinformation, and teaching digital literacy.
Misinformation is incorrect or misleading information. Whereas misinformation can exist with or without specific malicious intent, disinformation is deliberately deceptive and intentionally propagated. Misinformation is typically spread unintentionally, mostly caused by a lack of knowledge, an error, or simply a misunderstanding, which contrasts with disinformation. Misinformation can include inaccurate, incomplete, misleading, or false information as well as selective or half-truths. Social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, X, etc., are designed in ways that enable information, including misinformation, to be posted and shared far more quickly than through other communication mediums. In January 2024, the World Economic Forum identified misinformation and disinformation, propagated by both internal and external interests, to "widen societal and political divides" as the most severe global risks in the short term. The reason is that misinformation can influence people's beliefs about communities, politics, medicine, and more. Research shows that several factors, including cognitive biases, emotional responses, social dynamics, and media literacy levels, can influence susceptibility to misinformation. Policies and legal measures created to address misinformation and disinformation, in some contexts, can be applied to restrict journalistic work and limit political expression, as reported by UNESCO and other monitoring organizations. In some countries, anti-misinformation laws and policies have been used to reduce media freedom, which has even resulted in the imprisonment of journalists and editors. The countries ranked the worst for media freedom in 2025 are, in this order, Eritrea, North Korea, China, Syria, Iran, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Vietnam, Nicaragua, Russia, Egypt, Myanmar, Djibouti, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Cuba, United Arab Emirates, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Cambodia, Venezuela, Turkey and Pakistan. The term came into wider recognition during the mid-1990s through the early 2020s, when its effects on public ideological influence began to be investigated. However, misinformation campaigns have existed for hundreds of years.
Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.
MORE →Joe Louis.
