As we march through the pivotal election year of 2024, a formidable shadow looms over the democratic process. This shadow is not cast by a person or an institution, but by a technology: Artificial Intelligence (AI). Once celebrated as a beacon of innovation, AI now stands accused of distorting the very fabric of truth, particularly in the political arena.

Generally, our thoughts, feelings, and actions are influenced heavily by the information we consume. This information can be discovered by us, it can be presented to us, or we can consume it passively. When was the last time that you didn’t weigh the pros and cons of a major decision?

Yesterday an article stating that “DHS is standing up a new Disinformation Governance Board to coordinate countering misinformation” became the “scooplet” heard around the country. In fact, despite hundreds of news article stating that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had issued a statement yesterday stating that “The spread of disinformation can affect border security, Americans’ safety during disasters, and public trust in our democratic institutions,” was the reason for creating such a “Disinformation Governance Board”, no such sentiment uttered by DHS itself could be found. Anywhere. Unless you were watching C-SPAN.

A new web-based service allows you to track the spread of specific misinformation (i.e. false news) on Twitter and Facebook, as well as checking how many times it was actually fact-checked by people to see if it was..you know… true.. before passing it along. The service, called Hoaxy, is the brainchild of a team out of Indiana University’s Network Science Institute (IUNI), in conjunction with Indiana U’s Center for Complex Networks and Systems Research (CNetS).