#misinformation Tech News.

Fraudulent data breach disclosures were submitted to Maine's official breach portal and posted publicly before verification. A fake VRChat notice claimed 2.4 million users were exposed. VRChat denied the breach, stating the employee named does not exist and the company is contacting the Attorney General's office for removal.

OpenAI banned accounts linked to China that used ChatGPT for covert influence operations. The accounts promoted narratives to manipulate American debate about AI and tech policies, specifically turning Americans against data centers.

A new MIT Media Lab study found that relying on AI to verify news accuracy can weaken a person's ability to independently identify misinformation. Researchers compared the effect to GPS navigation reducing a person's natural sense of direction. Participants who relied heavily on AI became less capable of evaluating news credibility on their own.

A new MIT Media Lab study found that participants who relied on AI to verify news became worse at detecting misinformation on their own when the chatbot was removed. Over four weeks, 67 people evaluated headline-image pairs. AI assistance improved accuracy by 21 percent during sessions, but created a dependency that eroded independent fact-checking ability.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said the party contacted X at the highest level on Monday over fake AI-generated ads depicting him fighting Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey. The ads appeared repeatedly to UK X users. The Bank of England also urged users to report the ads.