Weekly Quiz: Dubious Authorship, Digital Manipulation, and Defence Spending

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const title = "Weekly Quiz: Dubious Authorship, Digital Manipulation, and Defence Spending"; const date = "June 13, 2026"; const data = [ { image: "https://walrus-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/img/Granta-AI-1800.jpg", title: "The Real Scandal Isn’t That AI Wrote a Prize-Winning Story. It’s the Response", url: "https://thewalrus.ca/the-real-scandal-isnt-that-ai-wrote-a-prize-winning-story-its-the-response/", question: "Questions of authorship and accountability emerged when a John Hughes title was withdrawn from contention for the Miles Franklin Literary Award—Australia’s most prestigious literary prize—in 2021 after passages were found to resemble material from other works. What was the name of the novel?", options: [ "Lost World", "No One", "The Dogs", "Someone Else", ], answer: "The Dogs", correct: "Integrity has long been something readers demand and publishers are expected to deliver. In 2006, for example, when it was discovered that James Frey’s 2003 memoir A Million Little Pieces was largely fabricated, his publisher, Random House, agreed to a settlement of up to $2.35 million (US) to cover refunds and legal fees. John Hughes’s 2021 novel The Dogs was withdrawn from the Miles Franklin Literary Award (Australia’s equivalent of the Giller Prize) after investigations turned up passages lifted from Svetlana Alexievich’s The Unwomanly Face of War (among others). Jumi Bello’s novel The Leaving was pulled from publication in 2022 under similar circumstances.", incorrect: "Integrity has long been something readers demand and publishers are expected to deliver. In 2006, for example, when it was discovered that James Frey’s 2003 memoir A Million Little Pieces was largely fabricated, his publisher, Random House, agreed to a settlement of up to $2.35 million (US) to cover refunds and legal fees. John Hughes’s 2021 novel The Dogs was withdrawn from the Miles Franklin Literary Award (Australia’s equivalent of the Giller Prize) after investigations turned up passages lifted from Svetlana Alexievich’s The Unwomanly Face of War (among others). Jumi Bello’s novel The Leaving was pulled from publication in 2022 under similar circumstances.", }, { title: "A PR Hoax Created the Year’s Hottest Rock Band. Imagine What It Can Do in Politics", url: "https://thewalrus.ca/a-pr-hoax-created-the-years-hottest-rock-band-imagine-what-it-can-do-in-politics/", question: "A 2026 study published in Nature examined how social media algorithms shape the information people encounter online. According to the study, what effect did continued exposure to X have on the content consumption habits of its users?", options: [ "Users became more likely to follow conservative political content", "Users became less likely to engage with any kind of political content", "Users demonstrated a growing preference for content generated by artificial intelligence", "Users spent more time engaging with influencer content than with content from friends and family", ], answer: "Users became more likely to follow conservative political content", correct: "The study found that exposure to X led users to follow more conservative political content over time. As one media scholar put it, “X’s algorithms are not neutral tools. They are an editorial force, shaping what people know, whom they pay attention to.” Another 2026 analysis conducted by Nature reached a similar conclusion about TikTok’s recommendation algorithm. Using hundreds of test accounts, researchers found that Democratic users saw more Republican content during the 2024 United States election, while Republican users were more often shown videos that matched their political views.", incorrect: "The study found that exposure to X led users to follow more conservative political content over time. As one media scholar put it, “X’s algorithms are not neutral tools. They are an editorial force, shaping what people know, whom they pay attention to.” Another 2026 analysis conducted by Nature reached a similar conclusion about TikTok’s recommendation algorithm. Using hundreds of test accounts, researchers found that Democratic users saw more Republican content during the 2024 United States election, while Republican users were more often shown videos that matched their political views.", }, { image: " https://walrus-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/img/WEB_FIFA-WorldCup_JUN26.jpg", title: "The World Cup Is in Toronto and I Don’t Care", url: "https://thewalrus.ca/i-love-soccer-i-hate-fifa/", question: "Questions about affordability have tempered excitement for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Among the many criticisms levelled at FIFA is its handling of ticket resales. How much does the organization collect in fees when a ticket is resold through its official platform?", options: [ "10 percent", "20 percent", "30 percent", "40 percent", ], answer: "30 percent", correct: "The FIFA World Cup is the easiest sporting event to bandwagon. It’s easy to don colours and join the crowds, fill the bars and cheer your voice hoarse. But FIFA is an organization so corrupt its Wikipedia page has a category devoted to “Corruption”; so detached from average fans that it has done nothing to limit ticket prices being inflated so far above historical averages that they’re utterly unreachable for anyone but the rich (from around $1,800 for a ticket to the final game in 2022 to at least $14,000 for a ticket to the final this year, when the initial promise was that tickets to the final game would not exceed $1,550); so insatiable that it has encouraged the predatory secondary ticket resale market by launching its own platform and taking 30 percent of every ticket resold (15 percent from seller and 15 percent from buyer) with some priced at $2.3 million each.", incorrect: "The FIFA World Cup is the easiest sporting event to bandwagon. It’s easy to don colours and join the crowds, fill the bars and cheer your voice hoarse. But FIFA is an organization so corrupt its Wikipedia page has a category devoted to “Corruption”; so detached from average fans that it has done nothing to limit ticket prices being inflated so far above historical averages that they’re utterly unreachable for anyone but the rich (from around $1,800 for a ticket to the final game in 2022 to at least $14,000 for a ticket to the final this year, when the initial promise was that tickets to the final game would not exceed $1,550); so insatiable that it has encouraged the predatory secondary ticket resale market by launching its own platform and taking 30 percent of every ticket resold (15 percent from seller and 15 percent from buyer) with some priced at $2.3 million each.", }, { title: "Canada and America Are Drifting Apart. The Pentagon Just Made It Official", url: "https://thewalrus.ca/canada-and-america-are-drifting-apart-the-pentagon-just-made-it-official/", question: "In May, the US paused its participation in the Permanent Joint Board on Defense, the oldest formal Canada–US defence co-operation mechanism. Officials cited a lack of Canadian defence spending as the reason for the move, but the broader picture is more complex. How much did Canada spend on defence in 2025?", options: [ "$31 billion", "$42 billion", "$55 billion", "$63 billion", ], answer: "$63 billion", correct: "Canada now meets the 2 percent North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) goal for defence spending, a dramatic increase from where the country was at when the goal was announced in 2014. Today, Canada spends 2.01 percent on defence; only five of the thirty-two NATO members spend more. In fact, Canada spends about as much as the fifteen smallest NATO defence budgets put together. Canada has also pledged to meet the new NATO 5 percent goal. In dollar terms, Canada spent $63 billion on defence in 2025, the “single largest year-on-year increase in defence investment in generations,” according to Prime Minister Mark Carney.", incorrect: "Canada now meets the 2 percent North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) goal for defence spending, a dramatic increase from where the country was at when the goal was announced in 2014. Today, Canada spends 2.01 percent on defence; only five of the thirty-two NATO members spend more. In fact, Canada spends about as much as the fifteen smallest NATO defence budgets put together. Canada has also pledged to meet the new NATO 5 percent goal. In dollar terms, Canada spent $63 billion on defence in 2025, the “single largest year-on-year increase in defence investment in generations,” according to Prime Minister Mark Carney.", }, ]; ke