GSAN: Social media laws | AI Olympic recaps

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Get Smart About News is taking a break next week following the July Fourth holiday. We’ll return to your inbox on Tuesday, July 16.

Sincerely,
The Get Smart About News team

Top reads

A roundup of the latest topics in news literacy.

Misinformation

• “As the 2024 election nears, misinformation targeting Latinos gains attention” (Jude Joffe-Block, NPR).
• “Influencers and popular podcasts fuel election disinformation among Black voters, report shows” (Marquise Francis, NBC News).
• “‘You are the target’: What it’s like to fact-check a war” (Angela Fu, Poynter).
• Podcast: “The fall of Alex Jones and his conspiracy empire” (Elahe Izadi, The Washington Post).
  • Related: “Infowars to be shut down, trustee in Alex Jones bankruptcy case says” (Ines Chomnalez, Austin American-Statesman).
• “78% of school systems have dealt with false information this year” (Anna Merod, K-12 Dive).

Artificial intelligence

• “A.I. ‘Friend’ for Public School Students Falls Flat” (Dana Goldstein, The New York Times).
• “‘It Was Astonishing’: How NBC Convinced Al Michaels to Embrace His AI Voice for Olympics Coverage” (Tom Kludt, Vanity Fair).
• “Generative AI Can’t Cite Its Sources” (Matteo Wong, The Atlantic).
• “Why Toys ‘R’ Us used OpenAI’s Sora to create an AI-generated video” (Marty Swant, Digiday).

Social media

• “The Supreme Court keeps on hold efforts in Texas and Florida to regulate social media platforms” (Mark Sherman, The Associated Press).
• “Supreme Court Rejects Challenge to Biden Administration’s Contacts With Social Media Companies” (Adam Liptak, The New York Times).
  • Related: “What the Supreme Court ruling on social media means” (Brian Fung, CNN).
• “New Hampshire sues TikTok, saying platform hurts kids’ mental health” (WBZ-News Staff, CBS Boston).

Don’t take the First Amendment for granted.

The five rights and freedoms protected by the First Amendment are vital to American democracy, but can you name them all? Take this quiz to test your knowledge of First Amendment rights.

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No, a viral video spreading online does not show a recent security fence around the U.S. Supreme Court building — it’s an out-of-context video that’s actually from two years ago. Check out more of the latest debunked rumors on NLP’s RumorGuard®!

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Your weekly issue of Get Smart About News is created by Susan Minichiello (@susanmini), Dan Evon (@danieljevon), Peter Adams (@PeterD_Adams), Hannah Covington (@HannahCov) and Pamela Brunskill (@PamelaBrunskill). It is edited by Mary Kane (@marykkane) and Lourdes Venard (@lourdesvenard).

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