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Seventh grade Alabama teacher Sarah Wildes relies on a tool called Checkology to teach her students how to spot real news and misinformation.
Courtesy of Sarah Wildes

When Sarah Wildes, a seventh grade teacher in Alabama, was asked by a student about the mass confusion surrounding the results of the 2020 U.S. presidential election, she knew she had a big job in front of her. 

“I have to tread lightly, but I pointed out that we do know,” said Wildes, a science and technology teacher at Sparkman Middle School in the small town of Toney. “There are facts. There have been committees who reviewed the election. The numbers show us a truth, but the social media bubbles confuse us about that truth.”

Wildes and teachers across the country face a vexing and evolving challenge as the new school year begins and students return to the classroom following a roughly 18-month hiatus from normal in-person learning. Since the last time full classrooms congregated, a whole industry of misinformation has exploded online, spreading conspiracy theories on everything from the alleged steal of the presidential election, which Joe Biden won, to the prevalence of microchips in Covid-19 vaccines.

It’s bad enough that kids are exposed to dangerous untruths across their favorite social media apps like Facebook, YouTube and TikTok. An equally large problem is that, while stuck at home during the pandemic, many students had their days of virtual schooling interrupted by screaming parents, who themselves had fallen deep into the internet’s darkest rabbit holes.

Some 15 percent of Americans believe QAnon conspiracy theories, according to a May report from non-profit groups Public Religion Research Institute and Interfaith Youth Core. QAnon believers were largely responsible for spreading “stop the steal” content on social media, backing the lie that former president Donald Trump won the election.

Meanwhile, 22% of Americans self-identify as anti-vaxxers, according to an academic study published in May, even as scientists and public health officials agree on the extreme efficacy and importance of Covid-19 vaccines.

For kids who have yet to fully develop critical thinking skills, basic truths are being distorted by the combination of misinformation on social media and a growing population of duped and radicalized parents.

“They were at home consuming this information without really being able to bust out of their own bubble having been in quarantine,” Wildes said. “They were starved for guidance on how to navigate all the things that they were seeing.”

In addition to dealing with the standard curriculum and trying to make up for lost classroom time, Wildes is taking on the responsibility of helping students filter out misinformation and find reliable news outlets. She’s leaning on the News Literacy Project (NLP), a non-profit in Washington, D.C., that last year developed Checkology, an online tool for educators to help students spot and dispel misinformation.

Checkology teaches students about the various types of misinformation they may encounter, the role the press plays in democracy, understanding bias in the news and recognizing how people fall into conspiracies. Since its launch in May 2016, Checkology has registered more than 1.3 million students and nearly 36,300 teachers. 

“The pandemic, the election, social justice issues — people are looking for information, and educators need support to navigate that disinformation out there,” said Shaelynn Farnsworth, NLP’s director of educator network expansion.

Finding a Reddit community

Other online communities are giving the children of conspiracy theorists ways to connect and share their experiences. And also to detox.

Mobius, a 17-year-old who lives on the West Coast, said his mom is an anti-vaxxer who has started down the path of QAnon. Mobius, who asked us not to use his real name to preserve his family relationships, said his mom talks about the coronavirus as biological warfare and thinks the government is trying to profit from vaccines. He said 90% of her information comes from Facebook or TikTok.

In July, most of Mobius’s family was infected with Covid-19 after his mother contracted the virus and didn’t enter quarantine. She even traveled by plane while she was sick, said Mobius, adding that he was the only one in the family to get vaccinated and to avoid infection.

He said his mom wouldn’t let his siblings get the vaccine and that he missed several childhood immunizations growing up.

Mobius posted about his experience in QAnonCasualties, a Reddit group that says it offers “support, resources and a place to vent” for people who have friends or loved ones “taken in by QAnon.” The group was created in July 2019 and has 186,000 members. It’s flooded with stories that resemble Mobius’ experience.

A woman wearing a pin during an anti-mandatory coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine protest held outside New York City Hall in New York, August 16, 2021.
Jeenah Moon | Reuters

One user post last month was from a university student recounting the anxiety she felt after her dad showed her a video that claimed Covid vaccines would make her infertile. A more recent post came from a 16-year-old girl, who claims she recently “escaped” her abusive QAnon parents and doesn’t know whether to get the Covid vaccination.

“I don’t know what’s real or not anymore,” she wrote on the Reddit board. “I’m terrified and confused. My parents told me I’d get blood clots, I’d die, be dead within five years, be sterile, microchipped, tracked by the government, controlled by the government etc.” 

QAnon is a far-right conspiracy theory movement that emerged after the 2016 election. Though the messaging is disjointed, members often claim the world is controlled by a cabal of Satanic and cannibalistic elites who conspired against former President Trump.

Mobius, who just entered college and needed the vaccination to attend, said he began to question his family’s views around the time Trump entered office. He got more proactive in seeking the facts, turning to news sources rather than listening to his mom. He landed on the Associated Press and BBC as his most trusted outlets.

Still, Mobius said he tries to avoid talking about anything remotely political with his mom’s side of the family. He said his mom has gotten better about spouting conspiracies since getting sick, though her beliefs haven’t changed.

On QAnonCasualties, divorcees mourn the loss of decades-long relationships, workers talk about leaving their jobs because of a supervisor’s anti-vaccine rants and teens and young adults desperately vent about their parents.

Afraid of ‘vaccine toxicity’

Another member of the Reddit group, who asked to be called Vulture, posted on the board in early August, looking for support and advice on dealing with her mom. 

Vulture, who’s 18 and was only comfortable going by a pseudonym, described her mom as an anti-vaxxer who began diving into the QAnon conspiracy in early 2020, at the start of the pandemic.

She said her mom believes 5G cell phone towers are harmful (one QAnon theory says that 5G causes the coronavirus), and she doesn’t allow her children to have WiFi on at night because she’s concerned about radiation. Vulture said her mom gets her information from Facebook, YouTube, Telegram and even in-person groups. 

Vulture’s parents divorced and her mom is now married to another woman. Her mom’s wife got vaccinated earlier this year, creating a riff in the relationship because Vulture’s mom was afraid she had “vaccine toxicity” and told her wife she no longer loved her unconditionally. 

Vulture said her mom has also threatened to kick her and her younger sibling out of the house if they get vaccinated, a threat that weighs heavily on her, especially as she prepares for her freshman year in college.

Jake A, 33, aka Yellowstone Wolf, from Phoenix, wrapped in a QAnon flag, addresses supporters of US President Donald Trump as they protest outside the Maricopa County Election Department as counting continues after the US presidential election in Phoenix, Arizona, on November 5, 2020.
Olivier Touron | AFP | Getty Images

While teenagers like Mobius and Vulture are finding like-minded people online, groups such as Polarization and Extremism Research Innovation Lab (PERIL) and the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) are trying to protect kids from falling victim to hoaxes and disinformation.

Last year PERIL and SPLC published “A Parents & Caregivers Guide to Online Youth Radicalization,” to help adults deal with teenagers who are at risk of exposure to extremism and conspiracy theories.

“Radicalization is a problem for our entire society, from the innocent people it victimizes to the family bonds it breaks apart,” the guide says. It includes sections on how to recognize warning signs, understanding what drives people toward extremism and how caregivers can engage with at-risk youth.

PERIL and the SPLC also created supplements to the guide for educators, counselors and coaches and mentors.

Seventh grade Alabama teacher Sarah Wildes relies on a tool called Checkology to teach her students how to spot real news and misinformation.
Courtesy of Sarah Wildes

Wildes, the Alabama school teacher, sees a bigger role for the classroom and technology like Checkology in combating the spread of misinformation.

“Once people start going down the rabbit hole, it’s hard to get them out,” she said.

Checkology isn’t dogmatic in its approach, Wildes said. Through interactive lessons, the program is designed to give kids the tools to figure out what’s a hoax and what’s a fact supported by evidence. NLP also puts together a weekly newsletter, The Sift, which is intended to help educators teach students news literacy and to understand why a hoax or conspiracy theory that’s spreading is inaccurate.

Wildes said, based on the behavior she witnesses, that she thinks many middle school kids today are better equipped than adults to reject misinformation.

“I think they really enjoy being spoken to in a way that makes them responsible for their own thoughts,” she said.

WATCH: Former Facebook chief privacy officer on fighting vaccine misinformation

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Paramount cuts costs, SoftBank sells its Nvidia stake, Warren Buffett’s new tradition and more in Morning Squawk

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Paramount cuts costs, SoftBank sells its Nvidia stake, Warren Buffett's new tradition and more in Morning Squawk

Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., Nov. 10, 2025.

Brendan McDermid | Reuters

This is CNBC’s Morning Squawk newsletter. Subscribe here to receive future editions in your inbox.

Here are five key things investors need to know to start the trading day:

1. The reopening trade

Investors yesterday were pleased with the Senate’s approval of an agreement that could end the government shutdown. The three major indexes all surged in Monday’s session, regaining ground after posting sizable losses last week.

Here’s what to know:

  • The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite saw its biggest one-day rally since May, signaling traders’ shift back into the artificial intelligence trade. Microsoft snapped its longest losing streak since 2011.
  • Bitcoin climbed back above the $105,000 mark, another sign of the deal boosting animal spirits in the market.
  • The Senate officially passed the bill in another vote last night, sending it to the House of Representatives.
  • Earlier in the day, House Speaker Mike Johnson did not commit to holding a December vote on extending enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies — one of the deal’s key guarantees for Democrats. Here’s what Democrats are, and aren’t, getting in the deal.
  • Johnson said members of his chamber should return to Washington, D.C., to vote on the deal as soon as possible. Members of Congress were told that votes in the House could begin by 4 p.m. ET tomorrow.
  • When asked if he supports the agreement, President Donald Trump on Monday said “I would say so.”
  • Follow live markets updates here.

2. Cashing in your chips

The logo of Japanese company SoftBank Group is seen outside the company’s headquarters in Tokyo on January 22, 2025. 

Kazuhiro Nogi | Afp | Getty Images

Japanese firm SoftBank said Tuesday that it sold all of its stake in Nvidia for $5.83 billion. Nvidia shares slipped nearly 2% in premarket trading this morning.

The sale comes as SoftBank focuses its attention on OpenAI, the buzzy startup behind ChatGPT. But SoftBank is still involved with Nvidia through other artificial intelligence ventures that use the chipmaker’s technology, such as the Stargate project.

SoftBank also dumped some of its T-Mobile position for $9.17 billion.

3. Paramount+, or Paramount-?

The Paramount Studios in Los Angeles, California, US, on Sunday, Nov. 9, 2025.

Ethan Swope | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Paramount Skydance announced more plans to cut costs, lay off employees and raise prices yesterday. Shares jumped as much as 5% in overnight trading.

The CBS parent said it’s aiming to trim an additional $1 billion from its business. As CNBC’s Lillian Rizzo notes, that’s on top of the $2 billion in savings the company outlined when its merger completed in August. Paramount also announced its latest round of layoffs, tied to its divestiture of parts of its South American business, impacting about 1,600 employees.

The entertainment company said it would hike prices for its Paramount+ streaming service in the first quarter of 2026.

4. Air travel headwinds

American Airlines planes sit at gates at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport (CLT) on November 9, 2025 in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Grant Baldwin | Getty Images

Air travel remains under pressure as the government shutdown strains airport infrastructure. Just over 6% of U.S. flights were cancelled yesterday, according to aviation data firm Cirium.

Air traffic controllers, who are required to work during the shutdown, missed their second full paycheck yesterday. Trump said he would recommend a $10,000 bonus for controllers who don’t take off time during the shutdown, while threatening to dock pay for those who don’t go to work.

Flexjet global CEO Andrew Collins told CNBC’s Leslie Josephs that demand for flights on private planes has jumped sharply in recent days. But the Federal Aviation Administration on Monday limited private flights at 12 major U.S. airports amid the staffing challenges.

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5. A holiday tradition

Warren Buffett and Greg Abel walkthrough the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders Meeting in Omaha, Nebraska on May 3, 2025.

David A. Grogen | CNBC

Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett plans to “step up” the pace of giving away his $149 billion fortune to his children’s foundations, according to a letter released yesterday.

But Buffett said he would hold onto a “significant amount” of Class A shares so investors can build confidence in his successor, Greg Abel. Buffett said it “shouldn’t take long” for shareholders to warm up to Abel, who will take over as chief executive next year.

Buffett said his letter will become a Thanksgiving tradition and that Abel will take over writing Berkshire’s annual shareholder letters. In typical fashion for the investing titan, the Oracle of Omaha used his note on Monday to dole out some life advice, too.

The Daily Dividend

How the TNT shortage could impact U.S. consumers

CNBC’s Lillian Rizzo, Sean Conlon, Dan Mangan, Kevin Breuninger, Leslie Josephs, Kate Rogers, Yun Li, John Melloy, Ryan Ermey and Macklin Fishman contributed to this report. Josephine Rozzelle edited this edition.

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AI spending is not all equal. Wall Street rewards hyperscalers, punishes DoorDash and Duolingo

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AI spending is not all equal. Wall Street rewards hyperscalers, punishes DoorDash and Duolingo

Duolingo, Doordash and Roblox apps

Tiffany Heard-Grear | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Across the tech sector this earnings season, companies told Wall Street to get ready for ramped up spending as the artificial intelligence boom accelerates.

But while investors largely rewarded the megacaps for their boosted capital expenditure forecasts, or just shrugged off their guidance, companies outside the trillion-dollar club are getting punished.

DoorDash, Duolingo and Roblox all saw their stock prices suffer double-digit slumps after the companies said spending is on the incline, raising concerns about future profitability. Unlike the tech giants, which are promising hefty buildouts to meet soaring demand for AI services and workloads, smaller companies are getting viewed more skeptically, with analysts uncertain about whether their bets will pay off and result in substantial new revenue opportunities.

“Investors don’t like investment cycles,” Evercore ISI’s Mark Mahaney told CNBC’s “Closing Bell: Overtime” last week. That’s what happened, he said, with “all those companies that went into and out of this earnings cycle and negatively surprised the market by saying, ‘We really want to lean into investments first.'”

Investors don't like investment cycles, says Evercore ISI's Mark Mahaney

DoorDash’s stock sank 17% on Thursday, its worst drop in the food delivery platform’s five years as a public company. In its third-quarter earnings report, DoorDash said it plans to shell out “several hundred million dollars” on new products and technology next year.

“We wish there was a way to grow a baby into an adult without investment, or to see the baby grow into an adult overnight, but we do not believe this is how life or business works,” the company wrote in its earnings release.

DoorDash has recently amped up investments in autonomous delivery, with the launch of Dot in September, and spent a combined $5.1 billion on restaurant booking platform SevenRooms and British food delivery service Deliveroo.

CEO Tony Xu said on the earnings call that the company’s investment track record signals “some success in repeating this playbook, and we’re doing this now for future growth.”

Analysts see it differently.

“Looking ahead, we maintain our Hold rating as we see limited multiple expansion opportunity until there is greater clarity surrounding how long investments could weigh on margins,” wrote analysts at Gordon Haskett.

A DoorDash spokesperson said in a statement that the company is “fortunate to have an increasingly successful core business” and that it takes a “disciplined investment approach” to new projects.

‘Monetization and user growth at odds’

Duolingo also had its worst day as a public company on Thursday, despite beating on revenue and bookings in its third-quarter earnings report.

The stock lost a quarter of its value and is now down 41% for the year, after Duolingo said it’s prioritizing finding new users. The company has been pouring money into AI features, such as an interactive video call option, as it tries to win over paying subscribers.

“There are experiments that put monetization and user growth at odds, and part of my job has been, always, arbitrating between these two,” CEO Luis von Ahn told CNBC after the earnings report. He said the company is shifting the “trade off to be much more towards user growth.”

On the earnings call, von Ahn said that it’s “going to take some time for us to see the results, financial results, over the long-term investments that we’re doing.”

After the report, analysts at KeyBanc Capital Markets downgraded the stock to the equivalent of hold from buy, citing concerns that increased investments will weigh on near-term bookings, earnings and valuation.

“This suggests to us that it might take several quarters to see more meaningful financial benefits,” the firm said.

Duolingo didn’t provide a comment.

AWS to build out new AI infrastructure for OpenAI in $38B deal

Meanwhile, the biggest companies in the tech industry may similarly be years away from seeing if their big AI wagers result in profits. But investors aren’t terribly concerned.

Alphabet and Amazon both rallied after reporting earnings in late October. The companies again raised their forecasts for capital expenditures for the year and suggested that there’s no slowdown coming in 2026.

Amazon Web Services is the leading provider of cloud infrastructure, a market where Google is third, and is racing to build out data centers to meet expected demand for compute capacity tied to AI. AWS and Google are also investing in their own silicon so that they’re less dependent on Nvidia and can offer customers a more complete tech stack.

Microsoft, which is second in the cloud infrastructure market, slipped after its earnings report, which also included a guide to higher capex. But the company, valued at close to $4 trillion, still mostly has the backing of Wall Street as it competes for more AI deals and bigger workloads.

The exception among the megacaps is Meta, which sank 11% following earnings. The company expects to spend as much as $72 billion this year on capex, but doesn’t sell a cloud service that rivals Amazon, Google and Microsoft.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg wears the Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses, as he delivers a speech presenting the new line of smart glasses, during the Meta Connect event at the company’s headquarters in Menlo Park, California, U.S., Sept. 17, 2025.

Carlos Barria | Reuters

While Meta says it’s infusing AI across its product portfolio and improving targeting in its core ad business, the lack of clarity surrounding revenue is giving investors pause. Mahaney grouped Meta in with companies that he said “negatively surprised” the market.

Roblox was also in that category.

Shares of the online gaming platform fell almost 16% on Oct. 30, after the company warned that higher spending on safety and infrastructure could hit margins. CEO David Baszucki told CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” that safety on its platform was a “top priority.”

Finance chief Naveen Chopra said the investments may weigh on near-term engagement and bookings but are “a magnifier of longer-term growth.”

Analysts at Benchmark downgraded shares to hold from buy, expecting investments will hinder profitability. Roth analysts, who recommend holding the stock, also see a potential hit to margins next year.

“The impact from these initiatives may negatively impact platform engagement in the near term,” the analysts at Roth wrote, “but is expected to have a greater long-term benefit for users.”

Roblox didn’t provide a comment for this story.

WATCH: Rising tide lifting hyperscaler boats

Rising tide is lifting all hyperscaler boats right now, says Madrona's Matt McIlwain

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Oura expects close to $2 billion in 2026 sales, almost doubling for the second consecutive year

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Oura expects close to  billion in 2026 sales, almost doubling for the second consecutive year

The Oura Ring 4.

Courtesy: Oura

The chief executive of Finland’s Oura told CNBC on Tuesday that he expects the wearable tech company to generate close to $2 billion in sales next year.

The smart ring maker has upped its forecast as it invests in artificial intelligence and international expansion, hot on the heels of a $900 million funding round in October. 

Oura is on track to secure $1 billion in sales in 2025, doubling its 2024 revenue, CEO Tom Hale told CNBC’s Arjun Kharpal from Web Summit in Lisbon, Portugal.  

Next year is “certainly going to be a lot more,” Hale said in an exclusive interview. “I don’t know if we know exactly how much but, it’ll be north, maybe close to $2 billion.” 

It represents a sharp increase from a previously reported sales forecast of over $1.5 billion, setting Oura up to nearly double sales for a second year running.  

“I think a big part of that is just that we’ve really hit the market well with health features for women, we’ve expanded internationally, all these things are driving our growth,” Hale said.  

Oura eyes 'close to $2 billion' in 2026 sales: CEO

The Finnish company, which is valued at $11 billion, sold over 5.5 million Oura Rings since the product’s launch in 2015 up until September. Oura says it has sold more than 2.5 million rings since June 2024.

Oura has been an “AI-forward company from the get-go,” Hale said, but he is even more bullish on the company’s adoption of AI going forward as the company eyes a range of preventative healthcare features.  

“One of the things that Oura does particularly well is it generates insights — basically text — for you that helps you understand your metrics,” he said. The company uses AI to translate those data points into advice and coaching. It has also its own chatbot, the Oura Advisor, which is like a “doctor in your pocket” that can be asked questions, Hale added.

In 2022, Oura struck a partnership with Natural Cycles, an FDA-cleared birth control app, to add fertility features to its offering. It introduced glucose monitoring earlier this year, via a partnership with Dexcom, and in October announced blood pressure research. 

“One the things that we really believe is that we can become like this sort of guardian angel, right, that’s with you all the time and is starting to give you these predictions about your longer-term health,” Hale said.  

Despite Oura’s ambitions, there is “no news on an IPO,” he added. 

— CNBC’s Arjun Kharpal contributed to this report

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