The Phantom Separatists: Inside the Fake Websites That Are Tricking AI Into Spreading Alberta Breakup Lies There’s a strange new ghost town on the internet, and it isn’t in the desert. It’s a network of websites that look, at first glance, like passionate hubs for the Alberta independence movement. They have names that sound noble and patriotic. They feature rugged photos of the Rocky Mountains, prairie skies, and oil pumps silhouetted against a golden sunrise. They publish articles about the “next steps” toward a sovereign Alberta, complete with historical timelines, fake polls, and quotes from “local leaders” you’ve never met…

Germany has been one of Kyiv’s most important allies since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, but it has also become one of the primary targets of Kremlin disinformation. These propaganda attacks intensify noticeably around elections, according to data from Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation. Yet the deeper problem, argues communications researcher and essayist Danylo Poliluev-Schmidt, is not simply that Germany supports Ukraine. Rather, Germany’s media ecosystem is vulnerable to Russian influence because of the country’s unresolved totalitarian past and the rigid, deeply fragmented coordination between federal and state institutions. In his book The Armed Truth: What Germany and…