This edition of the Media & Disinformation Update from perspicacity features:

• The AI detection tools falsely labelling genuine content as synthetic

• A major European AI chatbot’s susceptibility to Iranian war propaganda

• Claude’s increasing vulnerability to state-backed disinformation

• How major technology platforms are promoting AI-powered ‘nudify’ apps

• Wikipedia’s ban on AI-generated articles

• A landmark challenge in Brazil to the use of journalism content by AI platforms

• Europe’s efforts to regulate harmful AI applications while delaying wider AI safeguards

perspicacity is committed to sharing investigative, fact-based reporting that meets the highest standards of journalistic integrity. To access the full stories summarised below, click on the links.

AI AUTHENTICATION

Leading AI image detection tools mislead online users, often declaring authentic content fake

NewsGuard, 8 May 2026

AI detection tools are known to sometimes misidentify AI-generated images as real, but an audit of leading AI detection tools has found another concerning weakness: three of the five leading tools tested thought real images were fake.

According to NewsGuard’s findings, the tools collectively declared authentic images to be AI-generated 13% of the time. This vulnerability has potentially significant consequences, empowering bad actors to dispute reality by citing a detection tool to argue that a given image is fake - and unfairly maligning those posting the real images.

ScamAI, which claims “Industry-leading accuracy” on its website, declared that six of 15 authentic images were AI-generated - a 40% fail rate. Hive and Sightengine correctly identified all 15 authentic images as real.

AI SLOP

Anthropic’s AI chatbot is learning more on Russian and Iranian propaganda sources, NewsGuard audit finds

NewsGuard, 4 May 2026

Anthropic’s AI chatbot Claude repeated false claims 15% of the time when it was asked about pro-Kremlin falsehoods - and cited Russian state-affiliated media every time - a NewsGuard audit found.

This marks a sharp increase compared to seven previous audits between March 2025 and February 2026, when Claude cited Russian state-affiliated sources only 4% of the time on similar prompts.

The increase suggests that Claude has become more vulnerable to state disinformation campaigns.

NewsGuard has been auditing Claude and nine other chatbots since July 2024, and Claude has consistently been among the top performers.

Related:

• Why the racist AI slop industry is booming

  The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, 19 May 2026

• The devout Muslim making a living from Islamophobic AI slop

  The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, 5 May 2026

FAKE NEWS

Mistral’s Le Chat, Europe’s leading AI chatbot, repeats falsehoods half the time when prompted on state-sponsored Iran War disinformation

NewsGuard, 28 April 2026

Europe’s leading home-grown chatbot is also a leading propaganda spreader. When prompted on false claims about the war in Iran advanced by Russian, Chinese, and Iranian state-aligned networks or outlets, Paris-based Mistral AI’s chatbot, Le Chat, repeated falsehoods 50% of the time in English and 57% of the time in French, an April 2026 NewsGuard audit found.

The findings suggest that Le Chat, the most prominent European-made chatbot, is vulnerable to state-sponsored disinformation, potentially increasing its spread.

2026 Iran War: 103 false claims and counting

NewsGuard, 8 May 2026

NewsGuard has identified 103 false claims related to the Iran conflict that collectively have attracted hundreds of millions of views. Three trends are apparent: the false claims push a pro-Iran agenda; they have evolved from using misrepresented ‘real’ photos and videos to using AI-generated imagery; and increasingly they involve assertions that accurate stories published by authentic media are AI-generated disinformation.

Wikipedia bans AI-generated articles

The Verge, 26 March 2026

Wikipedia will no longer allow editors to write or rewrite articles using AI. The update, which was added to Wikipedia’s guidelines late last week, cites as the reason for the ban the tendency for AI-written articles to violate “several of Wikipedia’s core content policies.”

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INFLUENCE OPERATIONS

TikTok accounts use AI-generated videos to incite anti-government protests in Moldova

Digital Forensic Research Lab, 3 April 2026

A network of at least 25 TikTok accounts appeared to co-ordinate the dissemination and amplification of AI-generated content targeting Moldova’s ruling Party of Action and Solidarity and the country’s president, Maia Sandu. It also sought to mobilise residents to participate in protests scheduled for 25 March, which ultimately did not take place.

The seeder accounts primarily published AI-generated videos that depicted fabricated protest scenes in Moldova. The videos often featured synthetic crowds and called for citizens to join anti-government demonstrations.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

Unprecedented proceeding against Google opens way to fair compensation for journalism in Brazil

Reporters Without Borders, 4 May 2026

Brazil’s competition authority has for the first time opened proceedings against a tech giant to investigate the harm it has caused to journalism. The proceedings were launched into Google News and Google’s search engine, whose features use generative artificial intelligence.

The members of the Administrative Council for Economic Defense, Brazil’s anti-trust authority, unanimously concluded that there is evidence of anti-competitive conduct by Google in its use of journalistic content, including services that use generative AI.

From displaying short excerpts from news articles in search results to generating AI-powered responses using content from the press, Google has increasingly extracted value from journalistic content, reduced traffic to news sites and undermined their ability to sustain themselves through advertising revenue.

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NON-CONSENSUAL INTIMATE IMAGES

Apple and Google steer users to nudify apps

Tech Transparency Project, 15 April 2026

Apple and Google are helping users to find apps that create deepfake nude images of women, a Tech Transparency Project investigation has found, showing how the platforms are key participants in the spread of AI tools that can turn real people into sexualised images.

The Tech Transparency Project revealed in January that the Apple and Google app stores each hosted dozens of ‘nudify’ and undressing apps that can digitally ‘strip off’ someone’s clothes. This latest investigation found that the app stores’ search and advertising systems actually point users to such apps, giving them increased visibility.

EU backs nude app ban and delays to landmark AI rules

The Verge, 26 March 2026

European lawmakers have voted to delay key parts of the EU AI Act, the bloc’s flagship law for regulating artificial intelligence, while also backing proposals to ban nudify apps. The proposals would push back looming deadlines for watermarking AI-generated content and high-risk AI systems.

The measures, approved by a large majority in the European Parliament, would push back compliance deadlines for developers of high-risk AI systems — those deemed to pose a “serious risk” to health, safety, or fundamental rights — until December 2027.

Companies developing AI systems covered by specific safety rules in sectors like toys or medical devices would have even longer to comply, with a proposed deadline of August 2028. Rules requiring providers to watermark AI-generated content would also be delayed until November 2026. All of these measures had originally been set to take effect in August 2026.

Members also backed proposals to include a ban on nudify apps in the revised AI Act, following widespread outrage in the EU over the flood of Grok’s sexualised deepfakes on X earlier this year.

At scale, such practices are often referred to as influence operations. Influence operations can be carried out by governments or by non-state actors, and can target people’s opinions on anything from a domestic political figure or a wartime adversary to a contentious issue such as climate change.

Influence operations that target another country are often known as Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI). This is defined as co-ordinated, deceptive behaviour by foreign actors to manipulate the information environment of another state. The aim is usually to undermine the values or political processes of that state, often during war or elections.

Influence operations – including FIMI – often feature disinformation, but they can also amplify genuine information, or restrict access to information in a targeted way.

This edition of perspicacity’s Media & Disinformation Update focuses on influence operations carried out by China and Russia – though they are far from the only perpetrators.

perspicacity is committed to sharing investigative, fact-based reporting that meets the highest standards of journalistic integrity. To access the full stories summarised below, click on the links.

CHINA

How a Chinese marketing network quietly injects political narratives into Taiwanese lifestyle content

Reporters Without Borders, 23 April 2026

A new investigation by Reporters Without Borders reveals how Facebook pages posing as lifestyle hubs for hobbies and health tips inject Beijing’s political narratives into their feeds to influence public opinion in Taiwan.

China-linked influence operation targets Tibetan elections

Digital Forensic Research Lab, 24 April 2026

A Chinese influence operation consisting of 90 Facebook profiles and 13 Instagram profiles targeted the 26 April elections for the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile. The operation was connected to a larger network posting narratives about the Philippines, the US, Taiwan, and Japan.

RUSSIA

How Russia recruits teenagers in occupied Ukraine for a pro-Moscow propaganda machine

Organized Crime & Corruption Reporting Project, 30 April 2026

Trips to Russia, master classes from Kremlin-aligned media figures, and lessons in Soviet military glory: through its ‘Young Correspondents’ programme, Russia is training teenagers in occupied Ukraine to promote the invasion and wage information war on Moscow’s behalf.

Russian influence campaign shifts to target Ukraine’s European allies funding its defense

NewsGuard, 27 February 2026

As the US pulled back financial support, a Russian influence operation known as Storm-1516 has targeted France and Germany with false claims amassing hundreds of millions of views.

The operation has shifted its strategy to no longer just spreading false claims about Ukraine, but also aiming disparaging narratives at French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz – apparently in an effort to discredit two of Ukraine’s staunchest allies as they move to fill the near-total eradication of US financial support for Ukraine.

Sanctioned Kremlin-affiliated content persists via Pravda Network, attempting to shape Ukraine’s image abroad

Digital Forensic Research Lab, 3 April 2026

A massive, semi-automated, pro-Kremlin disinformation operation known as the Pravda Network is using hundreds of websites in dozens of countries to aggregate and amplify Russian state narratives, laundering sanctioned Russian media and exploiting gaps in EU enforcement.

Despite extensive sanctions targeting Kremlin-affiliated media actors that spread false information, their content remains easily accessible within the EU. Actors such as the Pravda Network compound the problem by saturating the EU information space with pro-Kremlin content.

Content posted in early February and disseminated by websites linked to the Pravda Network promoted pro-Kremlin narratives featuring disinformation around Ukraine’s imminent loss in the war.

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Information manipulation during elections in Georgia, Moldova, Armenia, and Azerbaijan

Digital Forensic Research Lab, 31 March 2026

Recent elections in Georgia, Moldova and Azerbaijan reveal how foreign and domestic actors combine to shape information environments, exploiting narratives, digital platforms, and political vulnerabilities to influence electoral discourse. Parliamentary elections in Armenia in the coming days will test the nation’s democratic resilience after decades of tensions with Azerbaijan.

All four countries exist within overlapping zones of Russian influence and interference, Western engagement, and contested territorial sovereignty.

Maintaining friendly powers at all costs

Forbidden Stories, 13 March 2026

Russian influence agents engaged in covert operations during election campaigns in South Africa, Namibia and Madagascar between 2019 and 2025, according to a data leak reviewed by Forbidden Stories and its partners.

Related:

• Sixty Russian agents identified: Prigozhin’s influence network taken over by the Foreign Intelligence Service

  Forbidden Stories, 20 February 2026

• Propaganda machine: Secret documents reveal Russia’s foreign influence strategy across three continents

  Forbidden Stories, 14 February 2026

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Fabricated EU economic loss counter used to undermine sanctions support in Estonia

Digital Forensic Research Lab, 27 April 2026

A global, cross-platform, pro-Kremlin information influence campaign falsely claimed that the EU is losing €65-135 million ($76-159 million) every day as a result of sanctions against Russia. The narrative circulated widely online and echoed within Estonia’s Russian-language information space.

Morocco-based YouTube channel acts as French-language proxy for sanctioned Kremlin propagandists

Digital Forensic Research Lab, 10 April 2026

A Morocco-based YouTube channel is platforming sanctioned Russian ideologues and pro-Kremlin propagandists to French-speaking audiences. Despite hosting sanctioned content, the channel remains available throughout the EU and has amassed over 10.5 million views.

In Europe, elections in Hungary and Bulgaria were accompanied by disinformation campaigns involving AI-generated content and networks of fake social media profiles.

Meanwhile in the US, the Pentagon is facing legal challenges o…

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Landmark verdict in social media addiction trial

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In the blink of an eye, AI has fundamentally changed how we use the internet. Ask ChatGPT a question, and rather than a list of links or references, you often…

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Propaganda and deception have always been features of warfare, used by those seeking to sell their version of events to gain support at home and an edge on the battlefield.

The US-Israeli war on Iran, which began on 28 February, is no exception. T…

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They offer an insight into how AI models operate, and the incentives for social media platforms to promote misinformation.

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Welcome to Edition #12 of perspicacity’s Media and Disinformation Update. This edition features:

• the criminal investigation into social media platform X by French prosecutors on allegations of its manipulation by owner Elon Musk for ‘foreign interference’

• the AI-enabled impersonation of US Sec…

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Welcome to Edition #11 of perspicacity’s Media and Disinformation Update. In this edition you’ll read about the US government report on children’s health that referenced fake reports among its sources, disinformation propagated by chatbot ‘fact-checks’, and a study that found more than half of mental health advice on TikTok contained misinformation.

Also covered are X’s concerns about its own AI ‘community notes’ system, the exodus of journalists fleeing repression in El Salvador, and the pro-Scottish independence accounts on X that suddenly went dark during an internet blackout in Iran…

perspicacity is committed to fact-based reporting that meets the highest standards of journalistic integrity. No content is AI-generated. To access the full stories summarised below, click on the headline.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Hey chatbot, is this true? AI 'fact checks' sow misinformation

France24 / AFP, 2 June 2025

As misinformation exploded during India's four-day conflict with Pakistan, social media users turned to an AI chatbot for verification, only to encounter more falsehoods.

Grok – under scrutiny for inserting ‘white genocide’, a far-right conspiracy theory, into unrelated queries – wrongly identified old video footage from Sudan's Khartoum airport as a missile strike on a Pakistan airbase during the country's recent conflict with India. Unrelated footage of a building on fire in Nepal was misidentified as “likely” showing Pakistan's military response to Indian strikes.

The issue is a global one. When AFP fact-checkers in Uruguay asked Gemini about an AI-generated image of a woman, it not only confirmed its authenticity but also fabricated details about her identity and where the image was likely taken.

Related:

• Grok struggles with fact-checking amid Israel-Iran war

  Digital Forensic Research Lab, 24 June 2025

• Elon Musk's AI chatbot churns out antisemitic posts days after update

  NBC News, 8 July 2025

• xAI apologized for Grok's “horrific” rant, blamed the chatbot's new instructions and “extremist” X user posts

  Business Insider, 12 July 2025

• AI chatbots could spread ‘fake news’ with serious health consequences

  University of South Australia, 30 June 2025

• Conspiracy theorists are building AI chatbots to spread their beliefs

  Crikey, 17 June 2025

Meta’s suit against Hong Kong firm was just the beginning: more companies linked to CrushAI ‘nudify’ apps

Bellingcat, 18 June 2025

On the surface, Crushmate appeared to be one of many artificial intelligence “girlfriend” or “companion” apps. Its multiple websites said it specialised in “crafting the AI girl of your dreams.” On Google and Apple’s app stores, it was described as an “AI chat product designed to provide users with a comprehensive emotional support and communication experience.”

But ads linked to the app on popular social media platforms, including thousands on Instagram and Facebook, showed it was offering an entirely different service: making non-consensual nude images of real women.

EL SALVADOR

At least 40 journalists have fled El Salvador, fearing imprisonment

International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, 25 June 2025

Dozens of journalists from El Salvador have gone into exile in the face of escalating government harassment, intimidation and arbitrary press restrictions, according to the Journalists Association of El Salvador.

The organisation estimates that 40 journalists, fearing arrest, have had to leave in the last month as President Nayib Bukele has escalated the crackdown on his critics.

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NIGERIA

Violent extremist disinformation: Insights from Nigeria and beyond

International Centre for Counter-Terrorism, 28 May 2025

The intentional spread of false or misleading information to inflict harm raises unprecedented challenges in today’s digital age. Drawing on findings from a multiyear project, this brief seeks to raise awareness of the complex dynamics and potential harms associated with disinformation propagated by extremist actors. Focusing on Nigeria, and in particular Boko Haram, it outlines the enabling conditions, defining features and potential harmful impacts of such disinformation.

SOCIAL MEDIA

TikTok deploys Czech election task force amid disinformation fears

Euractiv, 6 June 2025

TikTok is taking pre-emptive action ahead of the Czech parliamentary elections in October by deploying a 53-member team of local moderators to monitor content on the platform.

The move comes amid growing public concern about manipulation through social media, a sentiment shared by 78% of Czechs, according to a recent survey commissioned by the Czech Interior Ministry.

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Welcome to Edition #10 of perspicacity’s Media and Disinformation Update. This edition features a new low for global press freedom, the ongoing inaccuracy of AI chatbots, and state propaganda efforts in Russia and th…

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Welcome to Edition #9 of perspicacity’s Media and Disinformation Update. This edition features the debunking of an article lead-authored by Grok 3 that claimed to prove that humans are not responsible global warming;…

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Included in this edition are the annulment of the first round of presidential elections in Romania following apparent state-backed cyberattacks, Albania’s decision to shut down TikTok, Apple’s capitulation to Russian censors, and Australia’s ban on under-16s using social medi…

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People, as we well know, make mistakes. But even with that knowledge, it seems likely that we underestimate the extent to which we err.

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This edition includes news of the journalist in Burundi who faces a 12-year prison sentence for sharing information in a private WhatsApp group, the participant in Russia’s disinformation campaign in the Central African Republic who has lifted the lid on how Moscow’s propagan…

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In this edition you’ll read about the Trump-aligned dark money network that ran a fake campaign championing misrepresentative Kamala Harris policy positions, the introduction of a bill in Kyrgyzstan proposing to fine or jail people posting content discrediting public officia…

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Coupled with exponential advances in technology - and particularly in artificial intelligence (AI) - disinforma…

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If you don't want Musk feeding your tweets to Grok, now might be the time to leave the app formerly known as Twitter.*

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This newsletter brings you the most penetrating reports and investigations published in September 2024 on media freedom and disinformation issues across the world.

In this newsletter you’ll read about attempts to influence the US election by China and Russia, the arrest of Tel…

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