Birth control misinfo | ‘Fake News Cleaner’

Efforts are underway to help counter Spanish misinformation amid the expected onslaught of AI-generated misinformation ahead of this year’s presidential election, with Spanish-language fact-checking organizations partnering with news outlets.

Latinos are a key voting group in several battleground states, but they are, of course, not a monolith. Disinformation is sometimes microtargeted to specific populations. For example, a political ad in 2020 included disinformation about the Venezuelan government endorsing Joe Biden for president — a false narrative that preyed on Venezuelans fearful of socialism and dictatorships. Researchers say Spanish misinformation is less likely to be moderated on social media platforms than misinformation in English, and that YouTube and WhatsApp are the most-used platforms for Spanish speakers.

• Discuss: How are Latinos being targeted with misinformation? How is misinformation generated by AI different from other forms of misinformation? Should social media platforms moderate content in multiple languages? Do you think Spanish-language fact-checking efforts underway are helpful in combating misinformation? Why or why not?
• Resources:
  • Infographics: “In brief: Misinformation” / “En Breve: Información Falsa” (NLP’s Resource Library).
  • Infographic: “How to teach news literacy in polarizing times” (NLP’s Resource Library).
  • “Election 2024: Be informed, not misled” (NLP’s election page).
• Related: 
  • “Election misinformation is a problem in any language. But some gets more attention than others” (David Klepper, The Associated Press).
  • “How Hispanic Americans Get Their News” (Sarah Naseer, Christopher St. Aubin and Michael Lipka, Pew Research Center).
  • “Americans’ use of ChatGPT is ticking up, but few trust its election information” (Colleen McClain, Pew Research Center).

Dig Deeper: Use this think sheet for students to take notes and create a visual that illustrates how false narratives are created and spread to Spanish-speaking audiences. (meets NLP Standard 4).

Birth control misinformation is trending on social media as the U.S. Supreme Court weighs access to the abortion pill. Anecdotally, physicians say the number of patients citing birth control misinformation from TikTok and other online sources has accelerated in the last few years, Washington Post reporter Lauren Weber told CBS News. One false narrative that’s common to hear is that birth control affects long-term fertility. Falsehoods are sometimes spread by influencers peddling supplements or hormonal treatments or conservative commentators who link birth control with abortion, Weber said. When people engage with content on a particular topic, algorithms serve up similar videos, which can send social media users down a rabbit hole.

• Discuss: How can you determine credible sources of health information? How does health misinformation spread on social media? Should tech companies moderate birth control misinformation? How can we counter health misinformation?
• Resources:
  • “Be Health Informed,” “InfoZones” and “Branded Content” (NLP’s Checkology virtual classroom).
• Related:
  • “Women are getting off birth control amid misinformation explosion” (Lauren Weber and Sabrina Malhi, The Washington Post).
  • “Misinformation Is on the Rise. Here’s What You Need to Know About Birth Control.” (Margo Snipe, Capital B).