Reality Check Podcast: Open AI’s Sora Spreads False News Claims 80% of the Time and a Russian Disinformation Laundering Loop
Welcome to Reality Check, a newsletter tracking the false claims and online conspiracy theories that shape our world — and who’s behind them.
A note to readers: Powerful forces are working to silence our independent, apolitical journalism. We’ve faced unconstitutional censorship attempts by FCC Chairman Brendan Carr and violent threats from foreign disinformation operatives. Unlike others, we haven’t backed down — and won’t. Support our work by becoming a Premium Member and sharing Reality Check.
Follow us: X | LinkedIn | Instagram | Bluesky
Reality Check Podcast: OpenAI’s Sora Spreads False Claims in the News 80% of the Time and a Russian Disinformation Laundering Loop that Relied on Microsoft’s MSN and a Member of Congress
This week’s episode covers the ease with which OpenAI’s Sora can generate realistic deepfake videos designed to spread false claims in the news at scale. We also unpack how a fabricated corruption claim about Volodymyr Zelenskyy traveled from a fringe Turkish outlet through Russian media to the mainstream platform MSN operated by Microsoft and a member of Congress, before returning to Moscow as supposed “proof.”
This podcast is created based on NewsGuard’s Reality Check newsletter using Google’s NotebookLM AI tool. Each podcast’s content is closely reviewed by NewsGuard’s team of journalists for accuracy. For more information on NewsGuard’s use of AI to make these podcasts, read our commentary “AI Made This Podcast — But We Made Sure it Got it Right.”
Note: The Reality Check Podcast is now available to stream on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Listen to our weekly roundup of the most viral false claims and conspiracy theories wherever you get your podcasts.
Learn more about Reality Check’s Premium Membership here.
Reality Check is produced by co-CEOs Steven Brill and Gordon Crovitz, and the NewsGuard team.
We launched Reality Check after seeing how much interest there is in our work beyond the business and tech communities that we otherwise serve. Subscribe to this newsletter to support our apolitical mission to counter false claims for readers, brands, and democracies. Our work is more important than ever.
Have feedback? Send us an email: realitycheck@newsguardtech.com.