Headlines For Nov. 29, 2021

Despite three decades of effort, Canada’s carbon emissions have risen 20 percent since 1990, the country remains unprepared for climate disasters and subsidies for the oil and gas sector have not delivered promised emission reductions, say new reports from the federal government’s chief environmental watchdog.

Before last year’s presidential election, Facebook ads targeting Latino voters described Joe Biden as a communist. During his inauguration, another conspiracy theory spread online and on Spanish-language radio warning that a brooch worn by Lady Gaga signaled Biden was working with shadowy, leftist figures abroad.

A new coronavirus variant revived old conspiracy theories this week as widely shared social media posts falsely claimed the omicron variant was nothing but a cover-up for darker agendas

People have flocked to TikTok in droves over the past few years — but research into the social media giant’s potential health impacts hasn’t kept up. Despite the fact that TikTok now has over 1 billion users, public health researchers know very little about the health effects it might be having on the platform’s (mostly young) users. That’s concerning, because researchers know social media platforms can be harmful, especially to the health of some groups of teens and adolescents.

Journalists and academics are developing a new language for truth. The results are not always clearer. On Friday afternoons this fall, top American news executives have dialed into a series of off-the-record Zoom meetings led by Harvard academics whose goal is to “help newsroom leaders fight misinformation and media manipulation.”