Matthew Facciani

Trump says Kristi Noem is stepping down as homeland security secretary The president said he would nominate Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin to replace her.

Kristi Noem is no longer Homeland Security Secretary. www.nbcnews.com/politics/tru...

Towards the study of world misinformation | HKS Misinformation Review What if nearly everything we think we know about misinformation came from just a sliver of the world? When research leans heavily on online studies from a few wealthy nations, we risk drawing global c...

This paper argues that misinformation research needs to move beyond studies of a few wealthy countries and online samples to include diverse, real-world information environments worldwide in order to produce more accurate and effective insights. I agree!
misinforeview.hks.harvard.edu/article/towa...

New study finds that a Latin America–adapted version of the prebunking game Bad News significantly reduced the perceived reliability of social media misinformation.
ijoc.org/index.php/ij...

Anthropic cofounder says studying the humanities will be 'more important than ever' and reveals what the AI company looks for when hiring | Fortune "The things that make us human will become much more important instead of much less important."

Anthropic co-founder Daniela Amodei argues that as AI takes over more technical tasks, uniquely human qualities (communication, empathy, critical thinking, and a humanities-based understanding of people) will become more important than ever in the workplace.
fortune.com/2026/02/07/a...

Extended follow-up of invasive cervical cancer risk after quadrivalent HPV vaccination: nationwide, register based study Objectives To evaluate the long term risk of invasive cervical cancer after receiving the quadrivalent human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, how risk varies by time since vaccination, and to assess the ...

A new large-scale study provides strong long-term evidence that HPV vaccination effectively prevents invasive cervical cancer, particularly when administered at younger ages.
www.bmj.com/content/392/...

I’ve been thinking about writing a related post connecting this to research on critical ignoring, as well as the broader structural challenges we’re facing such as education systems and the erosion of third spaces in particular.

I especially appreciate her practical recommendations: adding “good friction” to our lives, engaging in AI governance, and intentionally using AI as a tool to strengthen rather than replace human reasoning.

Something Bigger Than AI is Happening Pay attention and read every single word please.

This is an excellent essay by Shae Omonijo describing how the decline in critical thinking began long before the recent rise of AI, and that AI is accelerating existing trends.
shaeomonijo.substack.com/p/something-...

Health Affairs Journal

“Interruption of scientific research on vaccine hesitancy and promotion is unprecedented and dangerous, but government officials, universities, and private funders can step up to protect it.”
www.healthaffairs.org/content/fore...

Claude is now the top app in the iPhone store.

Just one in four Americans supports US strikes on Iran, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds One in four Republicans say Trump is too willing to use military force.

Source:
www.reuters.com/world/us/jus...

Just 27% of Americans approve of Trump's attack on Iran.

People rely on their existing political beliefs to identify election misinformation | HKS Misinformation Review Rather than assuming that people are motivated to fact-check, we investigated the process that people go through when and if they encounter political misinformation. Using a digital diary method, we a...

Another study finds that people judge political misinformation based on their own political beliefs. Since very few people actually fact-check, politicians can make unverified claims because most voters won’t check them or hold them accountable.
misinforeview.hks.harvard.edu/article/peop...

Exploration of the Effectiveness of Logic-Focused Strategies that Debunk Correlation-Causation Fallacy in Combating COVID-19 Vaccine-Cancer Misinformation This study examines the effectiveness of logic-focused messages that debunk correlation-causation fallacies in COVID-19 vaccine misinformation, testing two conditions-one with and one without a mod...

New study finds that logic-based messages that point out faulty reasoning are more effective than fact-based corrections at reducing COVID-19 vaccine misinformation, especially among people who distrust the CDC.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1...

Claude was already gaining ground due to its performance, but Anthropic standing up to protect their safeguards has clearly resonated with a wide audience.

Claude is now the top productivity app, taking over ChatGPT.

Robert F Kennedy Jr: 1 year of failure In his first speech as Secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Robert F Kennedy Jr laid out a plan to restore trust. The COVID-19 pandemic saw public faith in Federal health...

“Kennedy’s record, 1 year in, has been a failure by most measures, especially his own”
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

Today I’ll be speaking at #SPSP2026! I’ll be on the panel covering misinformation and discussing my research on cross cultural media literacy tools.

The Hidden Social Forces Behind Misinformation

It was such a pleasure to be on the Misguided podcast talking about the hidden social forces of misinformation with @matthewfacciani.bsky.social !

open.spotify.com/episode/42rz...

Opinion | I Grew Up Unvaccinated. Now I’m an Immunologist.

This is such a powerful and important piece by @sciencewhizliz.bsky.social about growing up unvaccinated, becoming an immunologist, and deeply understanding how to talk to people about vaccines.
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/27/o...

Anthropic says Pentagon's "final offer" is unacceptable The company is facing a Friday night deadline to comply or face potentially huge consequences.

“The contract language we received overnight from the Department of War made virtually no progress on preventing Claude's use for mass surveillance of Americans or in fully autonomous weapons”
www.axios.com/2026/02/26/a...

The Hidden Social Forces Behind Misinformation Cecilie Steenbuch-Traberg joins me to discuss how social context shapes misinformation susceptibility, how to make media literacy games for today's digital age, and the impact of AI on information.

Most misinformation games reach people who already care. What about everyone else? Great conversation with Cecilie Steenbuch Traberg about reaching new audiences, the social forces that make us vulnerable, and why a murder mystery might be the future of media literacy. 🎙️

The Next Era of Vaccine Governance The way things were isn’t the way things can be anymore

"We need people who can hold two truths at once:

The systems we had were imperfect.
Abandoning them entirely is dangerous.
Between those two truths is where building must take place."
communityimmunity.substack.com/p/the-next-e...

haha that's great! I'm glad it's useful. And please suggest my book to be added in your library! I would love to see it in more libraries.

That’s why I share summaries on articles on my social media! They are typically written for niche audiences

KFF Tracking Poll on Health Information and Trust: The Public’s Views on Measles Outbreaks and Misinformation | KFF This poll looks at awareness and concern over the outbreak of measles in the U.S. and finds that a growing share of adults is encountering false claims about the measles vaccines, but many are uncerta...

Meanwhile:
"confidence in the safety of MMR vaccines is lower among Republican and Republican-leaning parents, with about three in ten (31%) expressing a lack of confidence in the safety of MMR vaccines"
www.kff.org/health-infor...

Online prediction markets are already worth billions, and continue to grow rapidly with full support of the current administration. You can bet on all kinds of things, including how many measles cases there will be in the US this year.

A White House Staffer Appears to Run Massive Pro-Trump X Account A popular right-wing account that called a video depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as apes "a masterpiece" appears to be run by a White House staffer, according to records reviewed by WIRED.

"Johnny MAGA appears to actually be a White House staffer named Garrett Wade who works for the Trump administration as a rapid response manager, helping to run the very same White House account his anonymous MAGA account amplifies."
www.wired.com/story/a-whit...

A similar dynamic affects science communicators and public health advocates who share their expertise online. Because they are visible and accessible, they can become convenient avatars for broader frustrations with policies and institutions they did not design or control.

It’s not your doctor’s fault that healthcare is so expensive, but they may be your most visible (and sometimes only) point of contact with the broader healthcare system.