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VOICE ARCHIVE

Stuart A. Thompson

@stuartathompson
26 posts
2025-09-02
My colleagues and I tested different versions of Grok released since May to pinpoint how Musk has pushed the chatbot to the right www.nytimes.com/2025/09/02/t...
2025-09-02 View on X
New York Times

An analysis of Grok's responses to 41 political questions in May and July shows it shifted to the right on 50%+ of them, often reflecting Elon Musk's priorities

Mr. Musk said he wanted xAI's chatbot to be “politically neutral.”  His actions say otherwise.

2023-10-02
fact-checkers are battered, beaten down and beginning to see that things aren't getting better. but they're not giving up. new with @tiffkhsu https://www.nytimes.com/...
2023-10-02 View on X
New York Times

The number of fact-checking sites has declined worldwide, as social media platforms reduce disinformation efforts and false AI content keeps fact-checkers busy

The momentum behind organizations that aim to combat online falsehoods has started to taper off.

2023-10-01
fact-checkers are battered, beaten down and beginning to see that things aren't getting better. but they're not giving up. new with @tiffkhsu https://www.nytimes.com/...
2023-10-01 View on X
New York Times

The number of fact-checking sites has declined worldwide, as social media platforms reduce disinformation efforts and false AI content keeps fact-checkers busy

The momentum behind organizations that aim to combat online falsehoods has started to taper off. X: @brookingsfp , @nytimesbusiness , @stuartathompson , @mausellmoli , @nytimesbusi...

2022-02-23
i reported on privacy before coming to disinfo, so that meant using DuckDuckGo, a privacy-focused search engine loved by privacy activists. so it was odd when I entered disinfo spaces and found that they, too, seemed to use DuckDuckGo. here's what's up: https://www.nytimes.com/...
2022-02-23 View on X
New York Times

As Joe Rogan, Ben Shapiro, and other right-wing commentators sour on Google, some push DuckDuckGo as an alternative, arguing Google suppresses COVID-19 results

The embrace by some conservative influencers and conspiracy theorists is part of a broader effort to shift people away from Big Tech. Tweets: @stuartathompson , @dancow , @jessepes...

first I heard DuckDuckGo getting recommended by the most popular conservative podcasters in the world, like Joe Rogan, Ben Shapiro and Dan Bongino. then I'd see it pop up in social media, where people would say “duckduckgo this thing, don't use Google”
2022-02-23 View on X
New York Times

As Joe Rogan, Ben Shapiro, and other right-wing commentators sour on Google, some push DuckDuckGo as an alternative, arguing Google suppresses COVID-19 results

The embrace by some conservative influencers and conspiracy theorists is part of a broader effort to shift people away from Big Tech. Tweets: @stuartathompson , @dancow , @jessepes...

their theory is that Google “suppresses” search results that are favorable to their views. Google doesn't do this, but they do rank reliability higher these days, along with relevance, so if you search for conspiracies, those sites might be favored less than trustworthy sources
2022-02-23 View on X
New York Times

As Joe Rogan, Ben Shapiro, and other right-wing commentators sour on Google, some push DuckDuckGo as an alternative, arguing Google suppresses COVID-19 results

The embrace by some conservative influencers and conspiracy theorists is part of a broader effort to shift people away from Big Tech. Tweets: @stuartathompson , @dancow , @jessepes...

i also noticed this myself. when searching for background information on emerging conspiracies, I've struggled at times to find first-hand conspiracy content on Google. I've shifted to other search engines to see what conspiracists are writing.
2022-02-23 View on X
New York Times

As Joe Rogan, Ben Shapiro, and other right-wing commentators sour on Google, some push DuckDuckGo as an alternative, arguing Google suppresses COVID-19 results

The embrace by some conservative influencers and conspiracy theorists is part of a broader effort to shift people away from Big Tech. Tweets: @stuartathompson , @dancow , @jessepes...

DuckDuckGo said some of the terms we searched got little or no traffic. so why test those esoteric terms at all? one researcher told me “you don't test a fire alarm in a field.” conspiracists by definition work on the margins, and sometimes their esoteric theories take off
2022-02-23 View on X
New York Times

As Joe Rogan, Ben Shapiro, and other right-wing commentators sour on Google, some push DuckDuckGo as an alternative, arguing Google suppresses COVID-19 results

The embrace by some conservative influencers and conspiracy theorists is part of a broader effort to shift people away from Big Tech. Tweets: @stuartathompson , @dancow , @jessepes...

DuckDuckGo uses the search engine algorithm from Bing, which is owned by Microsoft. they have little direct control over the list of links they display. so what's up with Bing's algo? it also weighs reliability and relevance, but it's apparently less ruthless about it.
2022-02-23 View on X
New York Times

As Joe Rogan, Ben Shapiro, and other right-wing commentators sour on Google, some push DuckDuckGo as an alternative, arguing Google suppresses COVID-19 results

The embrace by some conservative influencers and conspiracy theorists is part of a broader effort to shift people away from Big Tech. Tweets: @stuartathompson , @dancow , @jessepes...

in tests, we found that searches for conspiracies on Bing and DuckDuckGo surfaced more untrustworthy sources. we used website ratings from three sources to judge about 30 terms, then hand-checked a selection to see if they advanced the conspiracy.
2022-02-23 View on X
New York Times

As Joe Rogan, Ben Shapiro, and other right-wing commentators sour on Google, some push DuckDuckGo as an alternative, arguing Google suppresses COVID-19 results

The embrace by some conservative influencers and conspiracy theorists is part of a broader effort to shift people away from Big Tech. Tweets: @stuartathompson , @dancow , @jessepes...

2022-01-27
Bongino's in a better position than most after this YouTube ban. he said last week that his Rumble following had 2 million subscribers vs just 800,000 on YouTube. https://thehill.com/...
2022-01-27 View on X
The Hill

YouTube permanently bans Fox News' Dan Bongino for trying to evade a previous suspension; the pro-Trump pundit previously said he planned to leave the platform

YouTube on Wednesday permanently banned conservative commentator Dan Bongino from the platform, saying he attempted to evade a previous suspension.

2021-09-10
I really find it one of the creepier tracking efforts because it's built directly into the thing you buy. You pay to install an ad machine and data collector in your own house. It's wild.
2021-09-10 View on X
Variety

Amazon launches the Fire TV Omni Series, its first smart TVs, starting at $410 and shipping in October

Including the First Ever Amazon-Built TVs Tweets: Chris Welch / @chriswelch : Amazon is definitely including some of its own tech. But behind the scenes, I'm fairly sure TCL is sup...

2021-01-17
I've heard from a few ppl inside right wing disinfo land that it's “harder to find good information right now” (meaning it's hard to find disinfo that adds to their false beliefs). not just Trump, but fb group shutdowns and parler going offline cuts off major sources https://twitter.com/...
2021-01-17 View on X
Washington Post

Analytics firm Zignal Labs: online misinformation about election fraud dropped 73% in the week after several social media sites suspended Trump and key allies

Zignal Labs charts 73 percent decline on Twitter and beyond following historic action against the president

2021-01-15
months ago I decided to follow dozens of right wing groups and influencers. that effort (mostly doomscrolling tbh) proved incredibly prescient after last week's insurrection new from me and @cwarzel https://www.nytimes.com/...
2021-01-15 View on X
New York Times

Review of public posts of dozens of Facebook users sharing extreme right-wing views shows how Facebook rewards their lies and helped incubate the insurrection

I saw this play out in the Philippines too when I was reporting my story about President Duterte “influencers” on Facebook. https://www.nytimes.com/... https://twitter.com/... Stua...

2020-11-26
so @cwarzel asked some boomers for their facebook logins. then tracked what was shared around the election. it's a scary look at the “information hellscape” and was far worse than i imagined... https://www.nytimes.com/...
2020-11-26 View on X
New York Times

An inside look at Facebook News Feeds of two baby boomers for three weeks around Election Day showed that comments were a primary source of debunked claims

2020-03-25
We can actually see how social distancing is spreading across the US. Here it is in 2,700+ counties. It's happening everywhere, but some areas are lagging behind. https://www.nytimes.com/... https://twitter.com/...
2020-03-25 View on X
Washington Post

Unacast, an analytics company using location data from a variety of apps, debuts a Social Distancing Scoreboard to grade how US citizens are adapting by region

or not. Data from tens of millions of smartphones grades counties & states by how much people are staying put. Washington, DC gets an A Wyoming gets an F See your county https://ww...

2020-02-22
Google is adding new restrictions for location tracking in apps! Android is one leaky sieve for location data. Some marketers told me they'd never use an Android bc they were so paranoid about its built-in tracking. https://www.theverge.com/...
2020-02-22 View on X
The Verge

Google says that from August 3 all new Google Play apps that access background location will need to pass review, expanding to all existing apps on November 3

Jon Porter / The Verge :

2019-12-21
Here is the phone we believe belongs to a Secret Service agent assigned to @realDonaldTrump's detail. The person moved from Mar-a-Lago to other Trump properties exactly when president met with Prime Minister @AbeShinzo of Japan. Full story: https://www.nytimes.com/... https://twitter.com/...
2019-12-21 View on X
New York Times

Reporters identified a Secret Service agent, his home address, family details, and tracked Trump's movements using the leaked dataset obtained by the NYT

IF YOU OWN A MOBILE PHONE, its every move is logged and tracked by dozens of companies.  No one is beyond the reach of this constant digital surveillance.

We examined @realDonaldTrump's private club, Mar-a-Lago. Does the data put him and his entourage at risk too? Yes. It took minutes to find an apparent Secret Service agent detailed to Trump. Me and @cwarzel on the national security risks in phone tracking https://www.nytimes.com/... https://twitter.com/...
2019-12-21 View on X
New York Times

Reporters identified a Secret Service agent, his home address, family details, and tracked Trump's movements using the leaked dataset obtained by the NYT

IF YOU OWN A MOBILE PHONE, its every move is logged and tracked by dozens of companies.  No one is beyond the reach of this constant digital surveillance.

When we first started working with the data, we wanted to see if any sensitive sites were included. I zoomed into the Pentagon and saw this. Our jaws hit the floor. Full piece: http://nytimes.com/tracked pic.twitter.com/0GB3KnhQcR
2019-12-21 View on X
New York Times

Reporters identified a Secret Service agent, his home address, family details, and tracked Trump's movements using the leaked dataset obtained by the NYT

IF YOU OWN A MOBILE PHONE, its every move is logged and tracked by dozens of companies.  No one is beyond the reach of this constant digital surveillance.