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Press Briefs reported that Paul Amar stated on CNews that businesses owned by Jews had all been set on fire in a street in Marseille, unlike those run by Muslims. The media indicated that Bruno Benjamin, president of CRIF Marseille-Provence, denied this claim, clarifying that no targeting of Jewish businesses was established. Press Briefs described the intervention as a new piece of false information circulated on CNews. https://t.co/f3y4g5svQ2 #Marseille #CNews #FAKENEWS (translated)

POPTime stated that Flávio Bolsonaro made at least 8 false statements during the debate, while Lula made only 1. According to the publication, Lula had 8 statements considered true, 1 false, and 1 out of context. Flávio had 0 considered true, 8 false, and 2 out of context. https://t.co/GGfM6T4Qzf #debate #fakeNews #política (translated)

Torsten Heinrich wrote that the image of two undressed seniors was obviously created with artificial intelligence. However, this did not change his assessment that looting and arson justified a consistent intervention by the state – even if no 80-year-olds had been undressed. He questioned why someone had created such an image with ChatGPT, as the actual actions were already bad enough, and thus no more serious crimes had been alleged. His disappointment with the passivity of the French state towards criminals was independent of that. Regarding comments, Heinrich wrote that some took the fake image as an excuse to dismiss the outrage over the riots altogether, as if the destructions could be undone by it. This gave the image an unexpected political significance. #KünstlicheIntelligenz #Politik #Gesellschaft (translated)

𝗨𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 — 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗹𝘂𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗔𝗜, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘃𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 A newly exposed US political influence network appears to have been designed around a different target from most election propaganda. Its primary audience was not necessarily the voter reading a website, but the automated systems that search the web on behalf of AI chatbots. Threat-intelligence company VisionHeight initially identified 37 anonymous websites presenting themselves as state or local news organisations, opinion publications and national issue sites. By 15 October, the company's co-founder and chief technology officer, Nitsan Daniel, told CyberScoop that the investigation had expanded the observed footprint to 𝗮𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝟭𝟰 𝗨𝗦 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝟰𝟲𝟬 𝗽𝗮𝗴𝗲𝘀. The states identified were Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Mississippi, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin. The infrastructure shows unusually strong signs of coordination. All 37 domains in the original dataset were registered during a single evening; 36 were registered within approximately eight minutes. On 30 September alone, the network published roughly 𝟭𝟬𝟬,𝟬𝟬𝟬 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲-𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗹 using common templates and four recurring layouts. VisionHeight assesses that the scale and production pattern strongly suggest extensive automation, although that does not by itself prove which generative-AI system, if any, produced the text. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗺𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘃𝗮𝗹. Candidate profiles can run to about 5,000 words, accompanied by similarly long voter guides containing 50 to 63 questions phrased in the style of queries someone might put to an AI assistant. Across the network, formulations such as a candidate being “the stronger choice” were repeated hundreds of times. One profile contained the phrase 34 times. In several voter guides examined by VisionHeight, the favoured candidate was named more than 110 times while an opponent appeared only six or seven times. The websites were also configured to make themselves unusually accessible to AI. Their crawler instructions explicitly welcomed 17 automated systems associated with companies including OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Perplexity, Meta, Amazon and Apple. Some pages were marked in machine-readable metadata as news articles, while apparently separate publications cited one another. The result is a manufactured ecosystem in which several apparently independent local sources can reinforce the same conclusion. That is the central technique. 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗰𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗰 𝗔𝗜 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴-𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗽𝗼𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴. The more immediate objective appears to be manipulation of the retrieval and search layer: place highly optimised material online, make it easy for automated crawlers to index, create the appearance of corroboration, and increase the chance that an AI assistant retrieves those pages when answering a political question. There is evidence that the network crossed that boundary. VisionHeight says it confirmed that 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘅𝗶𝘁𝘆 cited Tar Heel State Report as the first source in at least one response. Separately, one of the network's candidate pages reached third place in a Google search six days after publication, above Ballotpedia for the tested query. These findings demonstrate that the material can enter AI-relevant search and retrieval pipelines. They do 𝗻𝗼𝘁 demonstrate that the operation changed anyone's vote, nor establish how frequently major chatbots have used the network. The timing matters because AI has become part of the election-information environment. An AAPC Foundation survey of 1,568 likely US voters found that about one in five planned to use AI to investigate a race on their ballot, while 38 per cent reported having received election information through an AI-generated search summary. A separate NewsGuard audit found that leading chatbots frequently cited partisan websites disguised as local journalism without clearly identifying their political affiliations. The newly identified network appears to take that existing vulnerability one step further by constructing content specifically around the way machines search and summarise information. 𝗪𝗵𝗼 𝗶𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝘁? 𝗔𝘁 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁, 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼 𝗱𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝘀𝘄𝗲𝗿. VisionHeight has not attributed the operation to any individual, campaign, company, political party or foreign government. No confirmed name of an operator has been publicly established. Nitsan Daniel is the researcher who helped expose the network, not a person connected to its operation. Some components have explicitly partisan branding. VisionHeight's indicators include domains such as Affordability Democrats, Democratic Women House, Public Safety Democrats and Republican Incumbent Watch, while the live Affordability Democrats site promotes Democratic candidates across 11 competitive House races. That provides evidence about the political direction of some of the published material, but it does 𝗻𝗼𝘁 establish who commissioned, financed or operated the infrastructure, and it would be unjustified to attribute it to the Democratic Party or any particular campaign. The network also appears broader than congressional politics. The live Tar Heel State Report has carried material on county commission and judicial contests, illustrating why the method may be particularly effective in down-ballot races where established local reporting is thin. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗳𝗮𝗰𝗲. Propaganda no longer has to persuade a human being directly. It can instead attempt to shape the information environment from which an apparently neutral machine constructs its answer. 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗧𝗨𝗦: Active / newly exposed and expanding as of 15–16 October 2026. 𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗙𝗜𝗗𝗘𝗡𝗖𝗘: High regarding coordinated infrastructure and AI-oriented design; moderate regarding the full current scale; attribution unknown. 𝗦𝗢𝗨𝗥𝗖𝗘𝗦 VisionHeight — primary investigation, “Someone Is Manipulating Your AI to Swing Your Vote” https://www.visionheight.com/resources/someone-is-manipulating-your-ai-to-swing-your-vote CyberScoop — Derek B. Johnson, 15 October 2026 https://cyberscoop.com/ai-chatbots-election-influence-hyperlocal-networks/ Tar Heel State Report — live network site used for OSINT verification https://tarheelstatereport.com/ Affordability Democrats — live network site https://affordabilitydemocrats.com/ AAPC Foundation — 2026 AI Voter Study https://theaapc.org/release-foundation-research/ NPR — reporting on voters using AI chatbots for the 2026 midterms https://www.wusf.org/2026-10-05/people-are-asking-chatgpt-to-help-them-decide-how-to-vote-in-the-midterms NewsGuard — “Pink Slime Is Infecting AI Chatbots Ahead of the Midterms” https://www.newsguardtech.com/press/pink-slime-is-infecting-ai-chatbots-ahead-of-the-midterms/ 𝗞𝗘𝗬𝗪𝗢𝗥𝗗𝗦 #Disinformed #Disinformation #Propaganda #InfluenceOperations #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #AIChatbots #ElectionSecurity #USMidterms #USElections #InformationWarfare #CognitiveWarfare #OSINT #ThreatIntelligence #CyberSecurity #DataPoisoning #RetrievalManipulation #SearchManipulation #GenerativeAI #LLM #AIManipulation #PoliticalInfluence #FakeNews #LocalNews #PinkSlime #Perplexity #ElectionIntegrity #InformationIntegrity #DigitalPropaganda #AIsecurity

Biazita Gomes stated that a PoderData survey circulating that indicated a drop for Lula did not exist. According to her, the next collection by the institute would take place from the 19th to the 21st, with a release scheduled for the 22nd, and the survey in circulation was false. #PoderData #FakeNews #Lula (translated)

The national police denied that officers looted a store in Limoges, following the dissemination of a video showing motorcyclists retrieving items from a shop. They stated that the police intervened on the instructions of a judicial police officer to secure the items as part of an ongoing investigation, and that these items were subsequently returned to the store. The national police urged vigilance regarding videos circulated on social media, some of which, they claim, carry false information. #FakeNews #Sécurité #Limoges (translated)

Paul Tenorio wrote that Sevilla had been docile with Barcelona, which he called a "fake club" and described as the main beneficiary of the system during and after Negreira. In contrast, he argued that the club had been hostile towards Real Madrid, which he considered the main victim and still harassed by LaLiga and the CTA, beyond isolated decisions. Tenorio deemed the comparison embarrassing. https://t.co/ld7yJbTLAE #SevillaFC #LaLiga #Fútbol (translated)

Aldo Moro asked Giampieffe upon his return why, according to him, he was fueling hatred with false information, claiming that there were no shops in the city center, nor messages or salaries. He also invited the interlocutor to actually go to work. #FakeNews #Lavoro #Odio (translated)

The author claimed that Gian wanted to leave her, but she opposed it, and he added that she allegedly said she wanted to marry him. He described the alleged affair with Roncazzo as false and stated that she would have left Gian without actually ending the relationship. According to the post, she told him to trust her and that she was not comparable to another person. On 19/10, the author accompanied a reference to a broom with the claim that Pietra's story was false, using the hashtag #gfvip. #gfvip #gfVIP #reality #amore (translated)

Marek accused TVP Info of disseminating false information. He wrote that Joanna Mąkosa reported on the confrontation with an attacker armed with a knife and the injury of a policewoman, but — according to him — the recordings from the police and witnesses did not confirm the attack, and the knife was found only after the arrest. https://t.co/se501h4eAO #FakeNews #Media #Prawda (translated)

The article by Jesús Morales reflects on the polarization in the electoral campaign, where many vote not to support a candidate, but out of a desire for another to lose, which creates an atmosphere of negativity and the need to be alert to the spread of fake news. #CampañaElectoral #FakeNews #VotoStrategico (translated)

The far-right Santiago Abascal has spread a fake generated or modified by AI from an account based in Israel, according to a report by Libération. Antonio Machado used to say that "the most destructive weapon used by fascism is the lie". The extreme right of VOX is scum. (translated)

The author stated that Santiago Abascal had spread false content generated or modified with artificial intelligence by an account based in Israel, according to Libération. He also recalled a phrase by Machado about lies as a weapon of fascism and insulted the far-right of VOX. https://t.co/035tcAQOIH #Desinformación #ExtremaDerecha #Fascismo #IL (translated)

The author claimed that Santiago Abascal, whom he described as far-right, had disseminated false content generated or modified with artificial intelligence by an account based in Israel, as reported by Libération. He also recalled a quote from Antonio Machado about lie as a weapon of fascism and directed an insult at Abascal. https://t.co/RjAHmfh0TV #FakeNews #Fascismo #IA #IL (translated)

Janoninho stated that people on the other side were sending audio messages in groups because, according to him, the fake news they disseminated did not circulate or generate discussion. He said that they themselves were asking for the topic to be revisited and declared that the situation had "ended." The publication included the hashtag #LulaArmyAtBand. #ExercitoDoLulaNaBand https://t.co/oJrg7pGwZ9 #FakeNews #Desinformação #Lula (translated)

Fake sneakers are a rapidly growing market that attracts buyers with attractive prices and confusingly high-quality imitations, although acquiring such products carries legal risks and violates the trademark rights of the original manufacturers. #FakeSneaker #Produktpiraterie #SneakerKultur (translated)

Leandro Ruschel questioned why Globo and other media outlets were classifying as "fake news" audios that, according to him, mentioned millions passed "under the table" to people linked to the PT regime. He also stated that a report cited a promise of a bribe of R$ 1 billion to the party if Vorcaro managed to access the Pension Funds. Ruschel accused Globo of falsely stating that Vorcaro's lawyer had denied the authenticity of the audio. According to him, the lawyer acknowledged that the voice was Vorcaro's but said that only the businessman could confirm the story. Ruschel added that a magazine presented, the day before, an expert examination that confirmed the authenticity of the audio and questioned why the press was trying to bury the accusation. #FakeNews #Globo #Política (translated)