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July 02, 2026
 

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MISINFORMATION

Pete Hegseth calls on a reporter while answering questions during a news briefing at the Pentagon on March 19. A former Fox News host, he has limited access to his briefings on the Iran war.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Mar 24, 2026
Iran is America’s first war of the social media age. It’s a black box.
Though the hostilities are occurring in an era of information overload, blanket reporting bans make it difficult to ascertain what is going on while AI further muddies reality.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One on a flight to Washington on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 16, 2026
Trump accuses Iran of using AI to spread disinformation
“AI can be very dangerous, we have to be very careful with it,” Trump said to reporters.
An Iranian ma looks at his smartphone after his house was damaged by a strike in Tehran on Saturday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 15, 2026
AI fakes about Iran-U.S. war swirl on X despite policy crackdown
The Middle East war has unleashed an avalanche of AI-generated visuals, leaving many social media users unable to distinguish fabrication from reality.
Around 44.0% of survey respondents said they used newspapers and magazines as well as television and radio programs to confirm the authenticity of information.
JAPAN
Mar 7, 2026
Nearly 70% of Japanese suspect disinformation is spreading online
The result suggests that concern about the manipulation of information by foreign countries is growing in the country.
A graffiti-covered wall on the facade of the torched Parliament building in Kathmandu in September 2025. Slick AI-generated disinformation has flooded election campaigns in Nepal, which votes on March 5 in the first polls since deadly protests triggered by a brief ban on social media overthrew the government.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 4, 2026
AI disinformation turns Nepal polls into ‘digital battleground’
Parties across the political divide are tapping social media to push their agendas and woo voters.
A tech-averse care worker (Ryo Narita, left, with Erika Sawajiri) turns anti-vax influencer after his wife dies following a routine COVID-19 jab in King Bai’s “#Viral.”
CULTURE / Film
Feb 27, 2026
‘#Viral’: A Faustian tale about internet fame and anti-vax anxiety
King Bai’s bold but muddled post-pandemic drama skewers how bad actors manipulate online discourse.
A spokesperson for Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said her office is aware of suspicious foreign social media accounts that have posted content related to Japan's elections.
WORLD
Feb 26, 2026
Chinese influence operations target Japan poll and Trump: U.S. foundation
The 35 accounts pushed corruption allegations and portrayed Takaichi as illegitimate and militaristic.
A university survey has found that about 80% of voters who encountered false information spread during the campaign for the Feb. 8 general election perceived it as true.
JAPAN
Feb 18, 2026
Survey finds false info perceived as true by many voters in Feb. 8 election
The online survey was conducted by Toyo University professor Morihiro Ogasawara from the night of Feb. 8 to Feb. 10.
A recent fast-moving measles outbreak in South Carolina highlights how declining vaccination rates, permissive state laws and weakened federal vaccine oversight under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are creating larger, harder-to-control outbreaks across the U.S.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 9, 2026
South Carolina’s measles milestone is everyone’s problem
It’s the latest public health record to be broken as vaccine hesitancy and increasingly permissive state laws create more and larger pockets of disease vulnerability in the U.S.
Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Chairman Tarique Rahman addresses an election rally ahead of the country's general election in Dhaka on Sunday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 9, 2026
‘Flood’ of disinformation ahead of Bangladesh election
Analysts warn voters’ choices are threatened by a coordinated surge of online manipulation, much of which originates from neighboring India.
Some AI-generated content is easy to spot as fake and is marked as such, but others are convincing enough that anyone scrolling through social media could easily be misled.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Feb 7, 2026
In Japan, generative AI takes fake election news to new levels
Leaders of a new Japanese political party unveil a logo that features China, a candidate campaigns in freezing weather wearing tank tops and grannies vent in public — or do they?
Backdropped by posters with images of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, the two U.S. citizens recently shot and killed by federal immigration officers, a resident of Minneapolis mans a corner to keep an eye out for ICE agents near a school where some students were recently arrested in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 1, 2026
‘Misrepresent reality’: AI-altered shooting image surfaces in U.S. Senate
The gaffe underscores how AI visuals are seeping into everyday discourse, sowing confusion and influencing political debate at the highest levels.
In June last year, U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. cut $300 million in annual funding for Gavi, which helps the world's poorest and lower-income countries buy vaccines to prevent diseases such as measles and diphtheria.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jan 29, 2026
U.S. to fund vaccine group if they drop mercury-based preservative from shots
The request is the latest effort by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump to influence health policy globally.
A person reacts at a makeshift memorial at the site where a man identified as Alex Pretti was fatally shot by federal immigration agents trying to detain him, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 26, 2026
U.S. officials dig in on Minneapolis shooting narrative, contradicting video evidence
That official line ​triggered outrage among local law enforcement and many Minneapolis residents who pointed to bystander videos that ⁠appear to show a different version of events.
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (center) attends the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jan 25, 2026
WHO chief says reasons U.S. gave for withdrawing ‘untrue’
U.S. officials said the WHO had ‘trashed and tarnished’ the United States, and had compromised its independence.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara speaks during a news conference on Wednesday at the Prime Minister’s Office.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 7, 2026
Government spokesperson warns of fake video misusing his image
The fake video of Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara had solicited investments for a fictitious project.
French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte Macron, at the Elysee Palace in Paris on Dec. 8
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jan 5, 2026
French court to deliver verdict over cyber harassment of Brigitte Macron
The accusations involve spreading false information about the first lady’s gender.
Upheaval under U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is weakening the nation's public health by fueling disease outbreaks, undermining vaccinations and threatening insurance coverage and drug approvals.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 5, 2026
America’s year of health care chaos will have consequences
The consequences of Kennedy’s first year in office will unfold over years or even decades.
New research shows AI chatbots are becoming more persuasive by overwhelming users with information, regardless of the accuracy, increasing the risk of political misinformation.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 2, 2026
AI Is getting dangerously good at political persuasion
The trick is using a debating tactic known as Gish galloping, a rapid-style speech tactic in which one interlocutor bombards the other with a stream of facts and stats.
A damaged concrete pillar supporting the Hachinohe Line in the city of Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture, on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 10, 2025
Like in past disasters, misinformation spreads online in Aomori quake aftermath
The spread of false information online during disasters has repeatedly emerged as a social issue in Japan.
More facilities in Japan placing sanitary bins in men’s restrooms
A sanitary bin with an awareness sticker placed in a men's restroom in the Nagasaki Municipal Government building
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.
Life inside Japan’s largest prison for women
Western-style rooms spanning the size of four tatami mats with hardwood floors, a toilet and soft mattresses on bed frames are designated for foreign nationals and those with health conditions at Tochigi Prison.
India’s gig workers pay the price for exposure to New Delhi’s hazardous air
Rohit Kushwaha waits for a customer as he delivers his last parcel of the day, in New Delhi in January. His work as a delivery driver has helped pay the family’s bills, but has had a significant impact on his health.
Reform panel calls for easing data center building standards
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi emphasized that the government will promote reforms of regulations and systems that fit the artificial intelligence era.
Japan’s fertility system offers few safe paths for same-sex couples
A Tokyo Pride parade participant holds a sign that says "we want to be a married couple, not a couple."
Life inside Japan’s largest prison for women
Western-style rooms spanning the size of four tatami mats with hardwood floors, a toilet and soft mattresses on bed frames are designated for foreign nationals and those with health conditions at Tochigi Prison.
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.
A French ship with close ties to Japan combines arts and sciences on the high seas
Romain Troublé, the executive director of Tara Ocean Foundation, speaks to visitors aboard the Tara during a rare port call in Tokyo in April.
In Kyushu’s far south, Senti.U sparks a culinary destination
Chef Yasuhiko Uchida was born in Saga Prefecture but has made his home in Kanoya, Kagoshima Prefecture, since 2012.

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One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
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