By DAVID KLEPPER Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The online advertisement to Donald Trump supporters was clear enough: Click here, and receive a free Trump 2024 flag and a commemorative coin. All in exchange for taking a quick survey and providing a credit card number for the $5 shipping and handling.

“You’ll get two free gifts just by taking this quick poll in support of Trump,” says the ad’s narrator.

The ad — which has appeared on Facebook, YouTube and other platforms — didn’t mention the $80 charge that would later appear on credit card statements. Those that clicked were scammed.

Political advertisements on social media are one of the best ways for candidates to reach supporters and raise campaign cash. But as a new report from Syracuse University shows, weak regulations governing online ads and haphazard enforcement by tech companies also make ads a prime source for misleading information about elections — and a tantalizingly easy way for con artists to target victims.

“There is very little regulation on the platforms,” said Jennifer Stromer-Galley, the professor who led the research for the ElectionGraph Project at Syracuse University’s Institute for Democracy, Journalism & Citizenship. “It leaves the American public vulnerable to misinformation, disinformation and propaganda.”

Stromer’s research examined more than 2,200 groups on Facebook or Instagram that ran ads between September and May mentioning one of the presidential candidates. Combined, the ads cost nearly $19 million and were seen more than 1 billion times.

Data connected to the ads (and made public by Meta, Facebook’s owner) shows that both right- and left-leaning ads targeted older voters more than younger ones. Right-leaning ads were more likely to target men, progressive ads were more likely to target women.

Overall, conservative-leaning organizations bought more ads than progressive-leaning groups. Immigration was the top issue raised in right-leaning ads while the economy dominated progressive ads.

Many of the ads contained misleading information, or deepfake video and audio of celebrities supposedly crying during a speech by former First Lady Melania Trump. Stromer-Galley noted that falsehoods in ads about urban crime and immigration were especially common.

While most of the groups paying for the ads are legitimate, others seemed more interested in getting a user’s personal financial data than boosting any particular candidate. Using a partnership with the data science firm Neo4j, Stromer-Galley found that some of the pages shared common creators, or ran virtually identical ads. When one page disappeared — perhaps removed by Facebook moderators — another would pop up quickly to take its place.

Many of the pages sold Trump-related merchandise such as flags, hats, banners and coins or advertised fictitious investment schemes. The true motive, apparently, was to get a user’s credit card information.

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The ads promising a free Trump flag were placed by a group called Liberty Defender Group. Emails sent to several addresses listed for the company were not returned, and a phone number for a company representative could not be found. One website associated with the group has moved on from politics, and is now selling devices which claim to improve home energy efficiency.

Meta removed most of the network’s ads and pages earlier this year after researchers noticed their activity, but the ads are still visible on other platforms. The company says it prohibits scams or content that could interfere with the operation of an election and removes ads that violate the rules. In addition, the company urges its users not to click on suspicious links, or to hand over personal information to untrustworthy sources.

“Don’t answer messages asking for your password, social security number, or credit card information,” the company said.

The Trump campaign, which has no known ties to the network, did not respond to a message seeking comment.

The researchers at Syracuse were only able to study ads on Meta platforms because other companies do not make such information public. As a result, Stromer-Galley said the public is in the dark about the true amount of misinformation and scams spreading on social media.

Grammy winners Meshell Ndegeocello and Caroline Shaw, Nordic indie-folk trio Dreamers’ Circus and buzzy London jazz musician Shabaka Hutchings are among the artists booked for the Walker Art Center’s newly announced 2024-25 performing arts season.

The season, which was announced Wednesday, includes a series of music, dance and theatrical events, all of which take place in the McGuire Theater unless otherwise noted. For more details or to purchase tickets, see walkerart.org. Season highlights include:

Moor Mother: “The Great Bailout”: 7:30 p.m. Sept. 14, Camae Ayewa, aka Moor Mother, explores colonialism, slavery and commerce in Great Britain and their historical parallels in the United States in this musical piece performed by a hand-picked, seven-piece ensemble including Minneapolis musician Douglas Ewart.

“Tell it anyway, 2024”: 7:30 p.m. Oct. 4-5, a world premiere Walker commission from cross-disciplinary artist and MacArthur Fellow Ralph Lemon that examines issues of memory, race and impermanence.

Ontroerend Goed: “Fight Night”: 7:30 p.m. Oct. 10-11, Belgian theater collective Ontroerend Goed offers an interactive examination of free will and politics in which the actors’ fates hinge on a live vote from the audience.

Caroline Shaw and So Percussion: “Let the Soil Play Its Simple Part”: 7:30 p.m. Oct. 19, Grammy and Pulitzer Prize winner Caroline Shaw joins forces with the So Percussion quartet for an evening of rhythm and vocals drawn from their collaborative albums “Let the Soil Play Its Simple Part” and “Rectangles and Circumstance.”

WaxFactory: “Traces (after Sophie Calle)”: Oct. 28-Nov. 10, downtown Minneapolis: Co-created by Brooklyn theater artist Ivan Talijancic and Minnesota playwright Rachel Jendrzejewski, “Traces” is a roving theater piece that unfolds in real time across downtown Minneapolis. It’s based on the opus of French conceptual artist Sophie Calle and follows a fictional character through a series of public locations.

Nadia Beugre: “Quartiers Libre Revisited”: 8 p.m. Nov. 1-2, an expanded version of choreographer Nadia Beugre’s “Quartiers Libre (Free Rein),” seen on the Walker stage in 2012, features the artist alongside two performers from her home country of Cote d’Ivoire.

Choreographers’ Evening: 4 and 7:30 p.m. Nov. 30, now in its 52nd year, the Walker’s annual dance showcase celebrates Minnesota’s dance community with performances by a roster of local choreographers and movement artists.

Meshell Ndegeocello: “No More Water: The Gospel of James Baldwin”: 6:30 and 9 p.m. Dec. 7, The latest evolution of Grammy winner Meshell Ndegeocello’s study of writer and activist James Baldwin is based on her 2024 album of the same name, which marks its namesake’s 100th birthday.

Out There 2025: This annual festival highlights new innovations and radical approaches to theatrical live performance. It includes Forced Entertainment: “Exquisite Pain,” 7:30 p.m. Jan. 9-11; Edgar Arceneaux: “Boney Manilli,” 7:30 p.m. Jan. 23-25; Jaha Koo: “Cuckoo,” 7:30 p.m. Feb. 6-8; Autumn Knight: “New Work,” 7:30 p.m. Feb. 20-22.

Dreamers’ Circus: 7:30 p.m. March 4, hailing from Sweden and Denmark, the indie-folk trio Dreamers’ Circus bridges the gaps between the traditional and the contemporary through fiddle, accordion, piano, cittern and other instruments.

Shamel Pitts: “Tribe: Touch of Red”: 8 p.m. March 6-8, Northrop Auditorium: Choreographer Shamel Pitts created this piece featuring two fighters and onstage seating for the audience with scenic design by MacArthur Fellow Mimi Lien.

Shabaka Hutchings: 7:30 p.m. March 20, this Mercury Prize-nominated saxophonist has operated at the center of London’s new jazz scene for a decade. At the height of his acclaim, he set aside the saxophone and took up the flute, which he’ll play with a six-member ensemble.

Eiko Otake and Wen Hui: “What Is War,” 7:30 p.m. April 11-12, performance artist Eiko Otake and dance-theater artist Wen Hui join forces for the world premiere of this Walker commission. It explores how war has affected both performers’ lives, as Otake grew up in postwar Japan and Wen in China during the Cultural Revolution.

Tyshawn Sorey Trio and Greg Osby: 6:30 (Trio) and 9 p.m. (Trio and Osby) April 26, drummer and composer Tyshawn Sorey also acts as jazz archivist in his Walker debut. Alto saxophonist Greg Osby joins Sorey’s trio for the second set.

Deerhoof: 7:30 p.m. May 1, celebrated avant garde indie band Deerhoof celebrate 30 years together by performing one song from each of their 20 albums.

Mathew Janczewski: “Arena Dances: Only the perverse fantasy can still save us,” 7:30 p.m. May 16-17, Minnesota-based choreographer Mathew Janczewski examines the gender binary and asks how creative repression changes us in this world premiere Walker commission.

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Associated Press

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is warning drivers about “cheap, substandard replacement air bag inflators” in used cars that can fail to prevent serious injuries or death in a vehicle wreck.

The agency said Wednesday that three people have been killed and two suffered severe injuries in the past nine months due to substandard, aftermarket air bag inflators.

“If consumers own or are considering the purchase of a used vehicle, NHTSA urges them to learn their vehicle’s history and ensure their vehicle has genuine air bag inflators,” the agency said.

In each of the five cases in which someone was killed or injured, the vehicle had previously been involved in a crash and the original airbags were replaced. Malfunctioning airbag inflators sent “large metal fragments into drivers’ chests, necks, eyes and faces, killing or severely injuring drivers in otherwise survivable crashes,” according to NHTSA.

Other cheap inflators may deploy too slowly, or partially, meaning occupants of a vehicle may strike the dashboard or steering wheel in a collision.

Anyone in the hunt for a used vehicle should secure a vehicle history report, or do so now if they did not before buying a vehicle, the NHTSA said Wednesday.

If it is determined by a car dealership or a qualified mechanic that a vehicle has a faulty air bag inflator, the NHTSA advises replacing them and notifying a local Homeland Security Investigations office, or FBI field office.

By WAFAA SHURAFA and SAMY MAGDY Associated Press

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — The Israeli military urged all Palestinians to leave Gaza City and head south Wednesday, pressing ahead with a fresh offensive across the north, south and center of the embattled territory that has killed dozens of people over the past 48 hours.

The stepped-up military activity came as U.S., Egyptian and Qatari mediators were meeting with Israeli officials in the Qatari capital, Doha, for talks seeking a long-elusive cease-fire deal with Gaza’s Hamas, which has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.

Israel says it is pursuing Hamas fighters regrouping in various parts of Gaza nine months into the war. But heavy strikes in recent days along the length of the territory also could be aimed at hiking up pressure on Hamas in the cease-fire talks.

In a visit Wednesday to central Gaza, Israel’s military chief, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, said forces were operating in different ways, in multiple parts of the territory “to carry out a very important mission: pressure. We will continue operating to bring home the hostages.”

Israel informed people in Gaza of the evacuation order by dropping leaflets urging “all those in Gaza City” to take two “safe routes” south to the area around the central town of Deir al-Balah. Gaza City, it said, will “remain a dangerous combat zone.”

Months ago, Israel ordered residents of northern Gaza, including Gaza City, to flee south, and much of the population left earlier in the war. Large parts of Gaza City and urban areas around it have been flattened or left a shattered landscape by previous Israeli assaults.

The United Nations says about 200,000 Palestinians have remained in the hard-hit north, and many say they have nowhere safe to go. Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people are crammed into squalid tent camps in central and southern Gaza.

Israeli ground troops have pushed into parts of Gaza City in recent days, triggering the flight of thousands of Palestinians trying to escape shelling and airstrikes. This past week, the military ordered Palestinians to evacuate from eastern and central parts of the city. There was no immediate mass exodus out of the city following Wednesday’s order. Many Palestinians have concluded that there is no refuge in war-stricken Gaza.

The evacuation order came after a series of deadly strikes over the past two days in other parts of the territory. Israeli bombardment early Wednesday hit four houses in Deir al-Balah and the nearby Nuseirat refugee camp, killing 20 Palestinians.

Among the dead were six children and three women, according to officials at al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, where the casualties were taken. An Associated Press reporter counted the bodies. The house hit in Deir al-Balah was inside the “humanitarian safe zone” where Israel has told Palestinians to flee for refuge.

The overnight bombardment came hours after Israeli warplanes struck the entrance of a school sheltering displaced families outside the southern city of Khan Younis. The toll from the strike rose to 31 people killed, including eight children, and more than 50 wounded, officials at the nearby Nasser Hospital said Wednesday.

Footage aired by Al Jazeera television showed kids playing soccer in the school’s yard when a sudden boom shook the area, prompting shouts of “a strike, a strike!”

The Israeli army said the airstrike near the school and reports of civilian casualties were under review. It claimed it was targeting a Hamas terrorists who took part in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel that triggered the war, though it provided no immediate evidence. The military blames civilian deaths on Hamas because they fight in dense, urban areas. But the army rarely comments on what it is targeting in individual strikes, which often kill women and children.

In nine months of bombardment and offensives in Gaza, Israel has killed more than 38,200 people and wounded more than 88,000, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count. Nearly the entire population has been driven from their homes. Many have been displaced multiple times.

During the Oct. 7 raid, terrorists killed 1,200 people in southern Israel, most of them civilians, according to Israeli authorities. The terrorists took roughly 250 people hostage. About 120 are still in captivity, with about a third said to be dead.

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Israel’s new ground assault in Gaza’s largest city has prompted what the U.N called a “dangerously chaotic” exodus of people scattering in multiple directions, unsure where to go. Some have fled to other parts of the north. The new Israeli military leaflets encouraged a mass movement south to the purported “humanitarian zone,” promising that people leaving Gaza City on the defined routes would not be stopped at Israeli checkpoints. Many Palestinians fear arrest or humiliation by troops at the checkpoints.

After Israel on Monday called for an evacuation from eastern and central parts of Gaza City, staff at two hospitals — Al-Ahli and the Patients Friends Association Hospital — rushed to move patients and shut down, the United Nations said.

Hospitals in Gaza have often evacuated preemptively at any sign of possible Israeli military action, fearing raids. In the past nine months, Israeli troops have attacked at least eight hospitals, causing the deaths of patients and medical workers along with massive destruction to facilities and equipment. Israel has claimed Hamas uses hospitals for military purposes, though it has provided only limited evidence.

Only 13 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are functioning, and those only partially, according to the United Nations’ humanitarian office.

Amid the ongoing violence, international mediators were making a new concerted effort to push through a proposed deal for a cease-fire and release of hostages.

Israel and Hamas had appeared to narrow the gaps in recent days, but obstacles remain, even after Hamas agreed to relent on its key demand that Israel commit to ending the war as part of any agreement.

Hamas still wants mediators to guarantee that negotiations conclude with a permanent cease-fire. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted he will not sign any deal forcing Israel to stop its campaign in Gaza without eliminating Hamas. Hamas on Monday accused Netanyahu of “putting more obstacles in the way of negotiations,” including the operations in Gaza City.

An Egyptian official said the head of Egypt’s General Intelligence Service, Abbas Kamel, went to Doha to join discussions over the deal. The official said U.S. and Israeli officials were also attending. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the press on the meetings.

A day earlier, CIA Director William Burns, who has led the American mediation, met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi in Cairo.

Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press correspondent Melanie Lidman in Jerusalem contributed to this report.