Skip to content
Search
Human content, AI powered search.

Latest Stories

News

Italy's Red Button

Italy's Red Button
Willis Sparks
By Willis SparksJanuary 26, 2018
Willis Sparks
Willis Sparks is a senior editor for GZERO Daily. He is also a Director in the Global Macro practice at Eurasia Group, where he has worked since 2005. He has made speeches on international politics on every continent except Antarctica. Willis holds degrees from Brown University, the Juilliard School, Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs, and the Institut d'Etudes Politiques in Paris. He also holds an honorary degree from the Moscow Art Theatre School. A native of Macon, Georgia, Willis has worked as a stuntman at New York's Metropolitan Opera. As a child, he declined an opportunity to spend an afternoon riding the Great American Scream Machine, a rollercoaster, with Ronald McDonald, for money. He has never regretted that decision.
See Full Bio

Great news for Signal readers in Italy. If you’re online and see a news story that looks fake, you can now use the “red button” system created by the government to have that story checked out.

Just log on to the website of the Postal Police, the folks responsible for battling online crime, and let them know you’ve got a story for them to check out. They will then use special software to figure out the source of that story and report back on whether it’s fake. If this system works, it will come in especially handy during Italy’s upcoming election season.

At a moment when confidence in the reliability of information has already made news before and after elections in the US, South America, Europe, and Africa, is there anything similar in the works in other countries holding elections this year — places like Brazil, Mexico, Hungary, and the US?

Latest Videos

'Godfather of AI' warns of existential risksplay icon
GZERO World with Ian Bremmer

'Godfather of AI' warns of existential risks

Will AI replace human workers?
Ian Explains

Will AI replace human workers?

Trump, Russia, and a deal Ukraine can’t accept
Quick Take

Trump, Russia, and a deal Ukraine can’t accept

Trump threatens regime change in Venezuela
ask ian

Trump threatens regime change in Venezuela

Crisis en Venezuela: Trump, Maduro, Xi, y Putin CANTAN!!!
Puppet Regime

Crisis en Venezuela: Trump, Maduro, Xi, y Putin CANTAN!!!

Turkeys reject Trump's pardon
Puppet Regime

Turkeys reject Trump's pardon

More For You

The genocide no one talks about any more

Members of the Uyghurs diaspora gather in front of Alberta Legislature during the protest 'Stand in Support of East Turkistan' to commemorate the 1990 Barin Uprising, on April 6, 2024, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The East Turkestan independence movement seeks the region's independence for the Uyghur people from China. They advocate renaming the region from Xinjiang to East Turkestan, its historical name.

Members of the Uyghurs diaspora gather in front of Alberta Legislature during the protest 'Stand in Support of East Turkistan' to commemorate the 1990 Barin Uprising, on April 6, 2024, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The East Turkestan independence movement seeks the region's independence for the Uyghur people from China. They advocate renaming the region from Xinjiang to East Turkestan, its historical name.

Photo by Artur Widak/NurPhoto
Remember Xinjiang?There was a time, not long ago, when China’s crackdown on the Uyghurs, a Muslim minority group living in Xinjiang province in Northwestern China, was a hot topic – in the media, among human rights activists, and even among the world’s most powerful governments and international organizations. In 2021, the first Trump [...]

Putin-Modi meeting is all show, Kyrgyzstan plummets further from democracy, Stalemate ends in Yemen’s civil war

Russia's President Vladimir Putin and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi attend the India-Russia Business Forum in New Delhi, India, December 5, 2025.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi attend the India-Russia Business Forum in New Delhi, India, December 5, 2025.

Sputnik/Grigory Sysoyev/Pool via REUTERS
Putin leaves India with not much to show for itDespite the lavish ceremony, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting produced few concrete outcomes. India and Russia highlighted their “special” partnership and signed smaller agreements on minerals, pharmaceuticals, shipping, and trade frameworks. But on [...]

Daylight and complaints in Honduras’ election, Eurovision boycott, ICE arrests, India interest rate cuts

​Honduran presidential candidate Salvador Nasralla in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, on December 4, 2025.

Honduran presidential candidate Salvador Nasralla of the Liberal Party speaks during an interview with Reuters after alleging fraud in the highly contested vote count of the country's presidential election, in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, on December 4, 2025.

REUTERS/Fredy Rodriguez
23,900: There is finally some daylight in Honduras’ presidential election, as former Tegucigalpa Mayor Nasry Asfura – the far-right candidate whom US President Donald Trump endorsed – pulled ahead of former sports broadcaster Salvador Nasralla by 23,900 votes. With 87% of tally sheets counted, Asfura is now at 40.25%, while Nasralla – who is [...]

Indonesia investigates devastating floods, Tunisia arrests opposition leader, DRC and Rwanda peace deal

A mosque stands in an area affected by a deadly flash flood following heavy rains in Aceh Tamiang regency, Aceh province, Indonesia, December 4, 2025.

A mosque stands in an area affected by a deadly flash flood following heavy rains in Aceh Tamiang regency, Aceh province, Indonesia, December 4, 2025.

REUTERS/Ajeng Dinar Ulfiana
Indonesia identifies aggravator of Sumatra flood deathsAfter the death toll from cyclone-induced floods in Sumatra surpassed 800 – making it the most deadly natural disaster to hit the Indonesian island since the 2004 tsunami – the Indonesian government has pledged to take action against mining firms that illegally cleared forests, which may have [...]