As the presidential election heads into its final weeks, you’re probably seeing a torrent of campaign ads, memes and political headlines on your social media.
There’s a lot of misinformation swirling around online too.
And after back-to-back hurricanes, misinformation is also spinning up around natural disasters — from how storms are formed to disaster recovery.
When your social media feed is jammed with images and headlines about political candidates and storm victims, how can you tell what’s real and what’s fake?
In this episode of Florida Matters, we talk about how to decipher the truth in the midst of all the misinformation. Also, how AI political-generated content impacts real life and perpetuates conspiracy theories. We also give the latest on hurricanes Helene and Milton.
Misinformation in the media
Alex Mahadevan is the director of MediaWise at Poynter Institute. His team equips people with the skills to identify misinformation through media literacy education.
He says the biggest shift in misinformation has been the people sharing the images and how they feel about them specifically.
“They don't care that they're AI generated. So, we're seeing the zone flooded with AI-generated content, and people are sharing it because it supports what they think about the world.”
Mahadevan says while these images can absolutely sway the opinion of how people feel about the subject of the photo, he thinks the real goal is to confirm someone’s existing opinion.
“While they do, I think, sway some people, I think the biggest harm in all this AI-generated political content is it's keeping people locked in their polarized unreality.”
These images water down actual life, in addition to real images that show real emotion.
“What you're left with is this sort of slime-like false reality that we're seeing on social media that might be funny, but it's not really humorous that our reality is being completely supplanted by artificial intelligence.”
Mahadevan suggests and encourages personal fact-checking among the people you know because you have a lot more influence than you may think. But ultimately, there’s not really a great tool yet for fact-checking or spotting AI-generated content.
“What it's all about is trying to answer the question of who posted it, trying to dig into the bio of whoever shared the image,” Mahadevan said.
Always make sure what you’re looking at comes from a credible source, like an expert or a legitimate journalist. And reverse search images you aren’t sure about.
“If you see an AI-generated image that you think is AI generated, you can do a search on that. And it might lead you to an artificial intelligence art community,” he explained. “It might lead you to a fact check that's saying, ‘Listen, this image of a little girl and dog is actually AI generated.’ So there, there are a couple of tools, but it's all about just being critical of what you see online and not believing something just because it confirms how you feel about the world and what your politics are. So, you know, really thinking, trying to practice intellectual humility, and when you see something that that makes you feel like you are 100% right and you've always been right, that's a cue to stop and check it out.”
Hurricane recovery
Hurricane Milton made landfall nearly two weeks ago. For some, the disaster isn’t over. Flooding is still causing big problems after the storm dumped more than a foot of rain in some parts of the greater Tampa Bay area.
In Pasco County, retired firefighter Douglas Woods got half a foot of water in his Land O’ Lakes home after nearby Cypress Creek overflowed. “I moved here in May of ’94 and I’ve had water in my garage a couple of times. This is by far the worst I’ve ever seen,” Woods said. “There’s nothing to compare it to. We were sandbagging. We tarped that roof down there. We did everything we could possibly do. There’s nothing else we could have done.”
In Hernando County, the Withlacoochee River is finally starting to go down, but it’s going to take some time for flood waters to recede. Last week, the river crested at almost 20 feet.
Hernando County emergency manager, David DeCarlo, says it’s the highest the river’s been since the 1930s.
“There's some several lakes within that area of Ridge Manor in Hernando County, by the Trilby Gage that began to flood, a number of houses are underwater,” he explained. “Some neighborhoods are just inundated. The roads are inundated. Their houses maybe fine, but ingress and egress into their neighborhoods just far exceeds what a vehicle can get through.”
As of Tuesday morning, the gage was reading at 19.22 feet.
The flooding caused the Florida Department of Transportation to close parts of U.S. Road 301.
DeCarlo says the sheriff’s office and fire rescue are still conducting water rescues when necessary and to call 911 if you need to be rescued.
PODS, or points of distribution centers, are located throughout the county. One is at Ridge Manor Community Park. People can go there to pick up water and ready-to-eat meals. There’s also a comfort station set up where people can shower and wash clothes. It’s open 24 hours a day.
For information, reach out to the Public Information Center, open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. The phone number is 352-754-4083.
