Valerie Wirtschafter

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Articles

No Evidence Indicates Kamala Harris Has Flip-Flopped on Paper Ballots

Sep 10, 2024 | thedispatch.com | Alex Demas |Charlotte Lawson |Joseph Roche |Valerie Wirtschafter

Alex Demas is a fact checker at The Dispatch and is based in Washington, D.C. Prior to joining the company in 2023, he worked in England as a financial journalist and earned his MA in Political Economy at King's College London. When not heroically combating misinformation online, Alex can be found mixing cocktails, watching his beloved soccer team Aston Villa lose a match, or attempting to pet stray cats.
Our Best Stuff From a Week of Revisionist History and Russian Propaganda

Sep 7, 2024 | thedispatch.com | Rachael Larimore |Valerie Wirtschafter |Joseph Roche |Kevin Williamson

Hello and happy Saturday. Forgive me, as I might have been off the news the past few days: Football season kicked off (I was rooting for the Ravens and the Chiefs to lose), our kids are prepping for homecoming festivities, and I popped over to Athens (Ohio, not Greece!) for a belated birthday celebration with our oldest son. But is it me or did the news get extra weird this week?
Assessing Claims That Trump Freed the Leader of Afghanistan From Prison in 2018

Sep 5, 2024 | thedispatch.com | Peter Gattuso |Valerie Wirtschafter |Joseph Roche |Thomas Sheppard

Several social media posts are promoting the claim that the current leader of Afghanistan was released from prison in 2018 by then-President Donald Trump. “Let this sink in,” the posts state. “The new ruler of Afghanistan was in prison until Trump let him out in 2018.” The posts include photos of Trump and Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban’s political leader who also serves as deputy prime minister in Afghanistan. These claims are mostly true, but lack important context.
Misleading Post Suggests that the City of Minneapolis Broadcasts Islamic Call to Prayer

Sep 5, 2024 | thedispatch.com | Alex Demas |Valerie Wirtschafter |Thomas Sheppard |Matthew Kuchem

Published September 5, 2024 • Updated September 6, 2024 A viral post claims that Minneapolis just became the first major U.S. city to broadcast the Islamic call to prayer five times per day over loudspeakers “for the whole city to hear.”Minneapolis becomes the first major U.S. city to broadcast Islamic call to prayer 5 times per day over loud speakers for the whole city to hear. IS THIS AMERICA?
How Generative AI Content Could Influence the U.S. Election

Sep 5, 2024 | thedispatch.com | Valerie Wirtschafter |Will Rinehart |Declan Garvey |Esther Eaton

Expect efforts to intensify near Election Day and in the aftermath. Published September 5, 2024 Over the past year, a near constant drumbeat of articles has warned of the potential for generative AI content to overwhelm the information space, leading to a “tsunami” of disinformation so powerful that it could undermine democracies around the world and sway the results of elections being held in a record number of countries.
An AMA With Jonah From the Wild West

Sep 5, 2024 | thedispatch.com | Jonah Goldberg |Thomas Sheppard |Valerie Wirtschafter |Alex Demas

Bearish on grizzlies. Published September 5, 2024 You asked, Jonah has answers. In order to secure his limited edition Blu-ray disc of Aquaman and the Sea-Monkeys, David French has abandoned his post as Remnant guest host, forcing Jonah to appeal to heaven and answer some listener questions.
Free Speech vs. the Algorithm

Sep 5, 2024 | thedispatch.com | Sarah Isgur |Thomas Sheppard |Valerie Wirtschafter

Can Section 230 keep up? By and Published September 5, 2024 Sarah details life under a wicked curse and David defends his position in The Dispatch’s fantasy football league. Oh, and today’s legal theme for the podcast is the First Amendment.
Are concerns about digital disinformation and elections overblown?

Aug 7, 2024 | brookings.edu | Valerie Wirtschafter

Earlier this year, leaders from government, civil society, business, and international organizations met at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. There they revealed results from a survey of 1,400 experts, policymakers, and private sector representatives that highlighted mis- and disinformation as the greatest short-term risk facing the world.
What role is AI playing in election disinformation?

Jun 26, 2024 | brookings.edu | Valerie Wirtschafter |Adrianna Pita

Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) have the potential to amplify the spread of mis- and disinformation in elections around the world. As part of the Brookings Election ’24 initiative Valerie Wirtschafter breaks down where generative AI has already played a role in disinformation campaigns and how policymakers, tech companies, and voters can build up guardrails to protect the integrity of election information.
Tracing the rise of Russian state media on TikTok

May 2, 2024 | brookings.edu | Valerie Wirtschafter

Over the past year, TikTok has emerged as a bipartisan target in the United States, with politicians on both sides of the political spectrum raising concerns about Chinese ownership of—and potential influence over—the social media platform. Among these critiques is a worry that Chinese messaging could more readily reach young Americans, who are a majority of the platform’s user base in the United States.