Connect with us

Published

on

Ben Collins is a reporter for NBC News who specializes in coverage of disinformation and extremism, particularly on social media. His work has earned him many plaudits, including a 2023 Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Television Political Journalism.

Collins is treated as an expert in the burgeoning field of countering the spread of misinformation. Yet his error rate is noteworthy.

Take the Gaza hospital explosion, for example. On Tuesday, reports surfaced that the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza had come under attack, resulting in as many as 500 deaths. The New York Times ran with “Israeli Strikes Kill Hundreds in Hospital, Palestinians Say.” Underneath this headline was an image of an obliterated buildingreaders who squinted would have noticed that this wasnotthe hospital, but a completely different target.

The Times’ only source for information about the explosion was the Gaza Health Ministry; mainstream reporting noted that Palestinian authorities laid the blame squarely on an Israeli airstrike. Subsequent intelligence reports from both Israel and the U.S. provide credible evidence that the hospital was most probably struck by Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a terrorist group.

Did Collins soberly wait for these facts to come in? Nope. The award-winning disinformation expert helped circulate the inaccurate claims of the Palestinian authorities. When other voices on social media recommended caution, Collins chimed in to assert that any delay in reporting the horrific casualty numbers represented a profound moral failing. (Casualty estimates have yet to be confirmed.)

In theory, the confusion surrounding the hospital explosion is a great topic for a self-described disinformation reporter. Many left-leaning writers and political figures recklessly endorsed the Palestinian view that Israel had bombed the hospital. Reps. Rashida Tlaib (DMich.) and Ilhan Omar (DMinn.) both made statements blaming Israel and did not swiftly delete them after what really happened became clearer. Omar eventually acknowledged the new information, but Tlaib again blamed Israel for the explosion during a speech at a pro-Palestine rally outside the U.S. Capitol. Is this not something worthy of coverage by Collins and company?

Keep in mind that Collins represents the journalistic side of a multi-faceted effort to monitor and eliminate purportedly wrong ideas. Disinformation tracking has become an industry unto itself, and aspects of the industry enjoy government funding: A disinformation watchdog that called on advertisers to divest from various non-liberal news sourcesincluding Reasonreceived funding from the U.S. State Department.

Disinformation reporters often seem interested in sparring only with contrarian people and in defense of mainstream narratives: Matt Taibbi, Glenn Greenwald, Elon Musk, and others. Collins, for instance, downplayed TheNew York Post’s Hunter Biden laptop story and denied that there was any effort to censor the lab leak theory of COVID-19’s origins, even in the wake of ceaseless revelations that various government agencies pressured social media companies to de-platform contrarian speech about precisely these topics.

Collins’ reporting often contains basic errors that suggest he doesn’t particularly understand the rightwing forces he’s denouncing. His most recent article alleges that Musk’s plans for Twitter were shaped by a far-right former Trump administration staffer, even though it’s fairly clear the staffer wasn’t actually telling Musk what to do, but rather warning about what would happen to Musk if he offended “the regime.” If that sounds conspiratorial, try to follow this clip of Collins and MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow elucidating the Musk plan. It’s impossible to describe, so please watch: In his latest article, @oneunderscore__ offers for consideration that the series of changes that have taken place at Twitter "may have been a plan all along."https://t.co/c5k2Jd6eWH pic.twitter.com/kt5jvUmftR

— Maddow Blog (@MaddowBlog) October 3, 2023

What?

If you’re going to paint broad swaths of opinion that depart from mainstream orthodoxy as paranoid and conspiratorial, you should take great pains to avoid echoing paranoia and conspiracy. You should also beware of elementary errorslike immediately taking a terrorist group’s assertions at face valueand call out others who make them.

Perhaps the Walter Cronkite Awards ought to have slightly higher standards?

Collins is not the only journalist who gets things wrong, of course. But there’s something extra galling about journalistic errors when they are perpetrated by someone who holds himself out as especially talented at identifying lies. That’s the real problem with the army of self-appointed fact-checkers and misinformation watchdogs who police social media with particular focus on alternative content creatorsthey’re frequently no less wrong than anyone else.

Earlier this week,Reutersreported that U.S. lawmakers were “seeking answers” from Meta, X, Google, and TikTok about the spread of false information on those platforms.

“Deceptive content has ricocheted across social media sites since the conflict began, sometimes receiving millions of views,” wrote Sen. Michael Bennet (DCo.) in a letter to the companies.

This framing totally ignores the fact that some of the most pernicious misstatements about the situation in Gaza were peddled by mainstream journalistic institutions like The New York Times.On social media, people were able to challenge prevailing narratives that the expert class had blindly excepted. For instance, Community Notesthe crowd-sourced, Wikipedia-style fact-checking system on Xis often able to provide useful context about claims that appear on that platform.

Disinformation reporters, on the other hand, are extremely partisan and prone to error. Let’s stop pretending that they have some special, magical power to separate the truth from lies.

Continue Reading

Politics

‘Shameful’ that black boys in London more likely to die than white boys, says Met Police chief

Published

on

By

'Shameful' that black boys in London more likely to die than white boys, says Met Police chief

It is “shameful” that black boys growing up in London are “far more likely” to die than white boys, Metropolitan Police chief Sir Mark Rowley has told Sky News.

The commissioner told Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips that relations with minority communities “is difficult for us”.

Sir Mark, who came out of retirement to become head of the UK’s largest police force in 2022, said: “We can’t pretend otherwise that we’ve got a history between policing and black communities where policing has got a lot wrong.

“And we get a lot more right today, but we do still make mistakes. That’s not in doubt. I’m being as relentless in that as it can be.”

He said the “vast majority” of the force are “good people”.

However, he added: “But that legacy, combined with the tragedy that some of this crime falls most heavily in black communities, that creates a real problem because the legacy creates concern.”

Sir Mark, who also leads the UK’s counter-terrorism policing, said it is “not right” that black boys growing up in London “are far more likely to be dead by the time they’re 18” than white boys.

“That’s, I think, shameful for the city,” he admitted.

The Met Police chief’s admission comes two years after an official report found the force is institutionally racist, misogynistic and homophobic.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Police chase suspected phone thief

Baroness Casey was commissioned in 2021 to look into the Met Police after serving police officer Wayne Couzens abducted, raped and murdered Sarah Everard.

She pinned the primary blame for the Met’s culture on its past leadership and found that stop and search and the use of force against black people was excessive.

At the time, Sir Mark, who had been commissioner for six months when the report was published, said he would not use the labels of institutionally racist, institutionally misogynistic and institutionally homophobic, which Casey insisted the Met deserved.

However, London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who helped hire Sir Mark – and could fire him – made it clear the commissioner agreed with Baroness Casey’s verdict.

After the report was released, Sir Mark said “institutional” was political language so he was not going to use it, but he accepted “we have racists, misogynists…systematic failings, management failings, cultural failings”.

A few months after the report, Sir Mark launched a two-year £366m plan to overhaul the Met, including increased emphasis on neighbourhood policing to rebuild public trust and plans to recruit 500 more community support officers and an extra 565 people to work with teams investigating domestic violence, sexual offences and child sexual abuse and exploitation.

Watch the full interview on Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips from 8.30am on Sunday.

Continue Reading

World

Backlash as Air India crash report points to possible human error – here’s what experts think

Published

on

By

Backlash as Air India crash report points to possible human error - here's what experts think

As investigators continue to piece together the full picture, early findings of the Air India crash are pointing towards a critical area of concern — the aircraft’s fuel control switches.

The flight, bound for London Gatwick, crashed just moments after taking off from Ahmedabad airport on 12 June, killing all but one of the 242 people on board the plane and at least 19 on the ground.

According to the preliminary report by India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), the two engine fuel control switches on the plane were moved from the “RUN” to “CUTOFF” position.

These switches control fuel flow to the engines and should only be used when the aircraft is on ground, first to start the engines before a flight and later to shut them down at the gate.

They are designed so they’re unlikely to be changed accidentally, pointing to possible human error on the Air India flight.

The findings include the final conversation between the pilots and show there was confusion in the cockpit as well.

When one pilot asked the other why he cut off the fuel, he responded to say he did not do so.

Pic: Takagi
Image:
The Air India plane before the crash. Pic: Takagi

Moments later, a Mayday call was made from the cockpit, but the plane could not regain power quickly enough and plummeted to the ground.

Captain Amit Singh, founder of Safety Matters Foundation, an organisation dedicated to aviation safety, told Sky News: “This exchange indicates that the engine shutdowns were uncommanded.

“However, the report does not identify the cause – whether it was crew error, mechanical malfunction, or electronic failure.”

Previous warning of ‘possible fuel switch issue’

“The Boeing 787 uses spring-loaded locking mechanisms on its fuel control switches to prevent accidental movement,” Mr Singh explained.

But a previous bulletin from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) “warned that these switches might be installed with the locking feature disengaged,” he said.

This could “make them susceptible to unintended movement due to vibration, contact, or quadrant flex”, he added.

A tail of an Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner plane that crashed is seen stuck on a building. Pic: Reuters
Image:
The plane’s tail lodged in a building. Pic: Reuters

Speaking to Sky News, aviation expert Terry Tozner said: “The take-off was normal, the aircraft rotated at the correct speed left the ground and almost immediately, the cut-off switches were selected to off, one then two.

“But nobody has said with any clarity whether or not the latch mechanisms worked okay on this particular aircraft. So we can only assume that they were in normal working order.”

In India, there has been a backlash over the findings, with some saying the report points to pilot error without much information and almost dismisses the possibility of a mechanical or electric failure.

Indian government responds

India’s civil aviation minister Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu has been quick to respond, saying: “We care for the welfare and the wellbeing of pilots so let’s not jump to any conclusions at this stage, let us wait for the final report.

“I believe we have the most wonderful workforce of pilots and crew in the whole world.”

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

India plane crash survivor carries brother’s coffin

Both pilots were experienced, with around 19,000 flying hours between them, including more than 9,000 on Boeing 787s.

The report says the aircraft maintenance checks were on schedule and that there are no signs of fuel contamination or a bird strike.

So far, no safety recommendations have been issued to Boeing or General Electric, the engine manufacturers.

Concern over destroyed flight recorder

Mr Singh said “the survivability of the flight recorders also raises concern”.

The plane’s rear flight recorder, designed to withstand impact forces of 3,400 Gs and temperatures of 1,100C for 60 minutes, “was damaged beyond recovery”.

Read more:
Everything you need to know about the crash
Air India’s lone survivor is nothing short of miracle

“The Ram Air Turbine (RAT), which deploys automatically when both engines fail and power drops below a threshold, was observed as deployed in CCTV footage when the aircraft was approximately 60ft above ground level,” Mr Singh said.

“This suggests that the dual engine failure likely occurred before the official timestamp of 08:08:42 UTC, implying a possible discrepancy.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi/X/AP
Image:
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi visiting the crash site. Pic: X/AP

Follow The World
Follow The World

Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday

Tap to follow

Mr Singh said it was also “of particular note” that the plane’s emergency locator transmitter (ELT) did not send any signal after the crash.

“Was the ELT damaged, unarmed, mis-wired, or malfunctioning?” he said.

The report has generated more questions than answers on topics including human error, power source failures and mechanical or electrical malfunction.

The final report is expected to take a year. Meanwhile, families grapple with the unimaginable loss of loved ones in one of the worst disasters in India’s aviation history.

Continue Reading

Environment

Tesla launches new software update with Grok, but it doesnt even interface with the car

Published

on

By

Tesla launches new software update with Grok, but it doesnt even interface with the car

Tesla has launched a new software update for its vehicles that includes the anticipated integration of Grok, but it doesnt even interface with the car yet.

Earlier this week, CEO Elon Musk said that Tesla would integrate Grok, the large language model developed by his private company, xAI, into its vehicles.

Today, Tesla started pushing the update to the fleet, but there’s a significant caveat.

The automaker wrote in the release notes (2025.26):

Advertisement – scroll for more content

Grok (Beta) (US, AMD)

Grok now available directly in your Tesla

Requires Premium Connectivity or a WiFi connection

Grok is currently in Beta & does not issue commands to your car – existing voice commands remain unchanged.

First off, it is only available in vehicles in the US equipped with the AMD infotainment computer, which means cars produced since mid-2021.

But more importantly, Tesla says that it doesn’t send commands to the car under the current version. Therefore, it is simply like having Grok on your phone, but on the onboard computer instead.

Tesla showed an example:

There are a few other features in the 2025.26 software update, but they are not major.

For Tesla vehicles equipped with ambient lighting strips inside the car, the light strip can now sync to music:

Accent lights now respond to music & you can also choose to match the lights to the album’s color for a more immersive effect

Toybox > Light Sync

Here’s the new setting:

The audio setting can now be saved under multiple presets to match listening preferences for different people or circumstances:

The software update also includes the capacity to zoom or adjust the playback speed of the Dashcam Viewer.

Cybertruck also gets the updated Dashcam Viewer app with a grid view for easier access and review of recordings:

Tesla also updated the charging info in its navigation system to be able to search which locations require valet service or pay-to-park access.

Upon arrival, drivers will receive a notification with access codes, parking restrictions, level or floor information, and restroom availability:

Finally, there’s a new onboarding guide directly on the center display to help people who are experiencing a Tesla vehicle for the first time.

Electrek’s Take

Tesla is really playing catch-up here. Right now, this update is essentially nothing. If you already have Grok, it’s no more different than having it on your phone or through the vehicle’s browser, since it has no capacity to interact with any function inside the vehicle.

Most other automakers are integrating LLMs inside vehicles with the capacity to interact with the vehicle. In China, this is becoming standard even in entry-level cars.

In the Xiaomi YU7, the vehicle’s AI can not only interact with the car, but it also sees what the car sees through its camera, and it can tell you about what it sees:

Tesla is clearly far behind on that front as many automakers are integrating with other LLMs like ChatGPT and in-house LLMs, like Xiaomi’s.

Continue Reading

Trending