Mission: Media Bias Detector
Tracking active cases for Media Bias Detector.
PubPeer-Flagged Fraud in Biomedical Research Papers
PubPeer's vigilance has led to confirmed retractions in early 2026, including two Nature Immunology papers (2001-2002) by Andrea Cerutti and Paolo Casali for image duplication flagged since 2016, a Nature paper from Francis Crick Institute for PhD student data manipulation, and the largest leucovorin-autism trial in European Journal of Pediatrics due to data inconsistencies flagged on PubPeer. New developments feature a Nigerian chemist nearing 35 retractions for image duplication, OSU heart researcher facing remedial training post-misconduct finding with PubPeer involvement, and fresh PubPeer scrutiny on OIST's Paola Laurino across seven papers. Ongoing probes include Taylor & Francis review of COVID vaccine DNA contamination paper and Sonia Melo's lawsuit against MD Anderson; Bishop's Feb 2026 analysis confirms PubPeer preceded 58% of highly-cited retractions (2021-2025). Sholto David's $2.63M settlement against MD Anderson highlights sleuth accountability.
Ideological Bias in Social Media Moderation
X's 2025 Transparency Report reveals a sharp decline to 2,326 hateful conduct suspensions in H2 2024, emphasizing 'freedom of speech, not reach' with focus on labeling over removal. A February 2026 Nature study confirms X's 'For You' algorithm amplifies conservative content, shifting user political attitudes rightward by 0.12 standard deviations. Meta's Q3 2025 report shows >90% enforcement precision and reduced errors, without ideological bias admissions; recent complaints of censorship appear more prevalent on other platforms like YouTube and TikTok.
Federal Grant Fraud and Bureaucratic Waste
As of February 2026, no comprehensive GAO report on FY2025 improper payments has emerged, but recent HHS-OIG audits reveal continued waste, including $45.6 million in improper Maine Medicaid payments for autism services reported January 21, 2026. Late 2025 OIG findings on NIH oversight gaps and CMS $11.2 billion at-risk contracts reaffirm systemic vulnerabilities in grant and contract management. While some programs show improvement, the pattern of poor oversight across federal agencies persists, validating prior concerns.