Edition 11 · September 4, 2026
President Trump posted AI-generated videos on Truth Social showing Iran’s Kharg Island being “blown to smithereens.” No strike on the oil terminal has been confirmed. A US federal judge blocked one of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s health policies after finding his department cited scientific studies that do not exist. In Africa, more than 80 people have been killed in mob violence across six countries. The trigger was a social-media rumor about “genital theft.” And researchers say the shopping app Temu financed a network of fake creators on Meta to promote itself.
Synthetic Media in Politics
- Trump posted AI-generated videos claiming Iran’s Kharg Island was “being blown to smithereens,” (Moneycontrol, Aug 31) though no attack on the oil facility has been confirmed.
- A Stanford study of 4,829 Americans found AI-generated arguments were as persuasive as human-written ones (Economic Times, Aug 31), and often seen as more logical, with most readers unaware the messages were machine-made.
- Myth Detector identified 434 inauthentic accounts tied to Georgia’s government (Georgia Today, Sep 2), over 90% using AI-generated profile photos to simulate public support.
Election Integrity
- Brazil’s electoral court set new criteria for AI deepfakes in campaign ads (AP, Sep 2), ruling 4-3 that Senator Flávio Bolsonaro’s AI images of his imprisoned father endorsing him were not illegal advertising.
- Nigeria’s electoral commission warned that generative-AI disinformation threatens the 2027 vote (Legit, Sep 2), citing fake videos, voices, and images that could deceive voters.
Fabricated Evidence in Institutions
- A US judge granted an injunction against RFK Jr.’s HHS for citing nonexistent or AI-generated studies (Raw Story, Sep 1), calling the policy changes “likely arbitrary and capricious.”
- Australia’s parliament is grappling with AI-hallucinated submissions to public inquiries (The Guardian, Aug 31), where fabricated studies and false citations risk shaping policy.
- California’s SB 1159 would bar AI from posing as real people in public comment (LA Times, Aug 28), after a consultant used AI to flood a government comment system.
Deepfake Harms
- An Australian man, Antonio Rotondo, was found guilty of using deepfakes to create non-consensual intimate images (The West, Sep 2), including of a 13-year-old and Brisbane Fashion Week models.
- India’s Bombay High Court ordered X to remove deepfake content targeting minister Nitin Gadkari (Moneycontrol, Sep 2), noting other platforms had complied while X had not.
Platform Accountability
- Research claims Temu spent up to $962M on Meta ads promoting fake creators (Fortune, Aug 31), with 73 of its top 100 influencers likely fake accounts.
- Australia’s consumer watchdog is suing Meta over “celeb bait” scam ads tied to $100M in losses (The West, Aug 31), citing 245 ads using names like Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest.
- Meta agreed to remove harmful deepfakes within 24 hours in the Philippines (ABS-CBN, Aug 28), setting up protection mechanisms for deepfake targets.
Disaster Misinformation & Censorship
- Deadly floods on the Nepal-Tibet border drew fake and AI-generated images across social media (France24, Aug 31), including a video with 7M+ views filmed elsewhere.
- China punished ten people for “misinformation” and erased videos of the Tibet flooding (Breitbart, Aug 31), promoting sanitized rescue coverage instead, per rights groups (The Independent).
- The BBC reports more than 80 people killed in mob violence across six African nations (BBC, Sep 3) over a “genital theft” rumor that has spread online since 2008.
Espionage & Recruitment
- North Korean operatives are expanding fake-job schemes beyond IT into sales, marketing, and healthcare (The Hacker News, Aug 31), using stolen identities to reach Fortune 500 firms.
- Spyware targeted the phones of at least 14 Serbian protest organizers (The Star, Sep 3), the largest documented wave of such tactics in Serbia.
- Indian reporting alleges Pakistan’s ISI is shifting AI-driven “honey-trap” recruitment to smaller Indian towns (Mathrubhumi, Sep 1) — an allegation from an Indian outlet, not independently confirmed.
Fact-Check Frontlines
- France 24 traced a viral “Hezbollah cash hideout” video to an Egyptian satire site (France24, Sep 1); it was AI-generated and spread by pro-Israel accounts.
- A Facebook video of Nigerian cleric Sheikh Gumi “threatening to burn down Nigeria” was debunked as an AI voice clone, with detection tools flagging the audio at up to 97.9% likely AI-generated (Legit, Sep 2).
- A clip framed as an “Iraqi woman propositioning a US soldier” was revealed to be a repackaged adult video (Stack Umbrella, Sep 3).
Quick Hits
- The Washington Post reported the Pentagon secretly hired MAGA influencers to promote Pete Hegseth’s positions (Raw Story, Aug 31), including retired officers with large followings.
- Ten years on, a retrospective examines how Russia’s Sputnik used Scotland as a disinformation testing ground (BBC).
- Sony Music and Warner Chappell sued Anthropic for allegedly training on copyrighted songs (Business Standard, Aug 31).
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About Bad Information
A weekly read on disinformation, coordinated influence operations, and media literacy. Researched and fact-checked with Aunoo.
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AI Transparency
This newsletter is produced with AI. Aunoo uses automated systems to gather, score, and draft the content, with human review before publication. In line with the EU AI Act’s transparency obligations (Article 50), which took effect August 2, 2026, we disclose that parts of this edition were generated or assisted by artificial intelligence. Every claim links to its original source — please verify against those before reuse.
