Ian Wells
@ianrwells.bsky.social
Senior Lecturer/ Teaching Fellow, University of East London. Aged psychologist, with interests in teaching ‘thinking’ skills and mis/disinformation. ‘Woke-poison peddler’
A New Mexico judge branded Facebook and Instagram owner Meta a “public nuisance,” and ordered the company to pay $567 million into a fund to remediate harms its apps caused to children.
Judge orders Meta to pay $567 million in New Mexico child safety case
The judge ruled that teenagers in the state were in the midst of a mental health crisis and that Meta’s platforms were a “significant contributing cause.”
washingtonpost.com
“We will launch during a dynamic political environment where many civil society groups that we would expect to attack us would have their resources focused on other concerns,” All you need to know about the morality of social media companies ! www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/t...
Meta Plans to Add Facial Recognition Technology to Its Smart Glasses
nytimes.com
Imagine if the British Head of State had said this about two British citizens who had been murdered by their son. We might have problems, but I’d like to think the vast majority of Britains would understand this is deeply unpleasant
I wonder how many of the commenters on this story registered which political party was in power in 2023 ? ‘Critical Thinking’ requires an understand of context !! Amazingly, if you read far enough the Mail admit who was ‘responsible’ www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...
Britain is officially the number one immigrant destination in Europe
Germany, now centre of Europe's anti-immigration fightback, took 1.22m, followed by Spain (1.1m), Italy (378,000) and France (295,000).
dailymail.co.uk
It will be very interesting to see if this fine is ever collected. It’s very nice to ‘say’ that X have been fined €120m, but it’s a whole other thing to actual get the money from Elon !!!!! www.politico.eu/article/eu-c...
EU says it will ‘make sure’ Elon Musk’s X pays €120M fine
Commission also says it will remain on X for now to “get in touch” with citizens.
politico.eu
Yet more for my 'Must read' list !!!!!
Valentin Mang@valentinmang.bsky.social · 11mo agoNew paper out in @jexpsocpsych.bsky.social ! We (@kwinter.bsky.social, @kaiepstude.bsky.social , Bob Fennis and I) found that encouraging counterfactual thinking reduces engagement with conspiracy theories (i.e., clicks on, and reading times for, conspiracy articles). A 🧵 1/n
This ought to be compulsory reading for HE managers. Gen AI might not always be the answer !
Carl Hendrick@carlhendrick.substack.com · 11mo agoWhy ChatGPT for Teachers Might Make Things Worse I've spent the morning with the this new product and I have concerns... carlhendrick.substack.com/p/why-chatgp...
Sad to see a great British institution under attack, and the British ‘Establishment’ either silent, or actively cheering on its demise. We should cherish the BBC
Will Jennings📉🗳️@drjennings.bsky.social · 12mo agoBe clear, the American far right are coming for British democracy.
So, Elon won’t want his Grok AI looking at X too much, but he’ll happily promote as much human use as possible ? www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Too much social media gives AI chatbots ‘brain rot’
Large language models fed low-quality data skip steps in their reasoning process.
nature.com
Large study finds no link between mRNA COVID vaccines early in pregnancy and birth defects www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/stu... via @cidrap.bsky.social
Study finds no link between mRNA COVID vaccines early in pregnancy and birth defects
cidrap.umn.edu
Yet more on ‘AI psychosis’ ! Seems that this ought, at the very least, to temper the head-long rush towards ‘AI with everything’ www.wired.com/story/ftc-co...
People Who Say They’re Experiencing AI Psychosis Beg the FTC for Help
The Federal Trade Commission received 200 complaints mentioning ChatGPT between November 2022 and August 2025. Several attributed delusions, paranoia, and spiritual crises to the chatbot.
wired.com
Why do people keep writing things that I need to read !!!!
Jakob-Moritz Eberl@jamoeberl.bsky.social · last yr.Hey! Look what's now out in print! And I am very happy to see that #Altmetrics currently logs our paper at 5000+ views and 6 citations already. 🤗 @digitaljournalism.bsky.social @compcommlab.bsky.social Full original thread linked below.
This study of misinformation training in India sounds fascinating. Yet another for the ‘Must read’ list ! theprint.in/feature/biha...
In Bihar villages, children are learning to fight fake news. Study shows classrooms help
More than 13,500 adolescents across 583 villages participated in the experiment, discovering how to engage their families in conversations about truth and myth.
theprint.in
The relationship between AI chatbots and mental health is surely something that Psychologists should be heavily focused on ??? www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Can AI chatbots trigger psychosis? What the science says
Chatbots can reinforce delusional beliefs, and, in rare cases, users have experienced psychotic episodes.
nature.com
It’s a bit disturbing that this story doesn’t seem to have made the British Press ! www.nytimes.com/2025/10/13/w...
They Helped Topple Roe v. Wade. Now Their Sights Are Set on Britain.
nytimes.com
For anyone interested in the world of 'Multiple Intelligences', this is a great piece of writing. It's very disturbing to hear the father of multiple intelligences say that he's right, even if the evidence contradicts him !!! carlhendrick.substack.com/p/comfortabl...
Comfortable Fictions: The Myth of Multiple Intelligences
Why moral certainty keeps bad ideas alive in our schools
carlhendrick.substack.com
Really looking forward to reading all of this paper. Seems like a useful additional factor in understanding conspiracy belief link.springer.com/article/10.1...
The ‘sour grapes’ of conspiracy theories: how does the emotion of ressentiment predict conspiracy beliefs? - Acta Politica
This research examines how negative emotions affect the degree to which people endorse conspiracy theories. Conspiracy beliefs typically flourish in contemporary politics that evoke negative emotions. In the present article, we hypothesized that citizens in ressentiment, a particular emotional state salient in contemporary grievance politics, is a key underpinning of why people believe in conspiracy theories. Ressentiment is a multi-layered emotion, within which perceptions of unfairness, bitterness, and feelings of (suppressed) anger are central. Across three studies, we examined the role of ressentiment in predicting belief in conspiracy theories. Study 1 (United Kingdom, N = 300) and Study 2 (United States, N = 300) revealed a positive relationship between ressentiment, measured through a validated scale, and belief in conspiracy theories. This relationship was mediated by rejection of the status quo. In Study 3 (United States, N = 300, pre-registered), we used a vignette describing a fictitious country to experimentally show that evoking ressentiment (vs. control condition) significantly increased belief in conspiracy theories. Taken together, these findings reveal that ressentiment is central for understanding the emotional roots of believing in conspiracy theories.
link.springer.com
Genuine question for the Economists out there : Is this a financial bubble fuelled by a small number of very large companies making huge investments in each other ?? Are any AI companies anywhere near making sustainable profits ??? www.nytimes.com/2025/10/06/t...
OpenAI Agrees to Use Computer Chips from AMD
nytimes.com
Definitely one for an 'in-class' discussion. Be being worried about Gen AI 'friends' for children just me having a 'moral panic' ?? www.theguardian.com/technology/n...
‘My son genuinely believed it was real’: Parents are letting little kids play with AI. Are they wrong?
Some believe AI can spark their child’s imagination through personalized stories and generative images. Scientists are wary of its affect on creativity
theguardian.com
As a non-user it’s easy to forget the power of Facebook in the spread of disinformation www.theguardian.com/world/ng-int...
Inside the everyday Facebook networks where far-right ideas grow
The Guardian spent a year studying an online community trading in anti-immigration sentiment and misinformation. Experts say such spaces can play a role in radicalisation
theguardian.com
Excellent resource for anyone (like me !!) who is going to need to address Autism and Tylenol/Paracetemol in their teaching this week ! www.bmj.com/content/bmj/...
bmj.com
Great turn out for the celebration of 50 years of Clinical Psychology at the University of East London
It’s astonishing that I talked about Clearview AI four years ago with our UEL Psychology students, and it felt like SciFi. Now it’s disturbing reality !
Forbes@forbes.com · last yr.ICE handed the controversial facial recognition company its biggest federal contract to date as it continues its illegal immigration crackdown.
