Category: Misinformation, Disinformation, and Conspiracy Theories
Her Baby Needs Heart Surgery. But She Is Demanding ‘Unvaccinated’ Blood.
(NYT) New Zealand’s health service is seeking to take temporary custody of a critically ill infant so it can perform a lifesaving operation. A New Zealand couple is refusing to allow their infant son to undergo lifesaving heart surgery using blood from people vaccinated against Covid-19, showing how vaccine misinformation continues to manifest in unexpected […]
Dec 6, 2022
New Antivax Campaign Released as a “Documentary”
(diedsuddenly.info) From the webiste: Healthy adults are dropping dead all across the globe. In the last 18 months, the term “Died Suddenly” has risen to the very top of “most searched” Google terms. Now, the award-winning documentary team that brought you, “Watch The Water”, and “These Little Ones” travels around the world to find answers, […]
Dec 2, 2022
A Lasting Legacy of Covid: Far-Right Platforms Spreading Health Myths
(NYT) Not long after Randy Watt died of Covid-19, his daughter Danielle sat down at her computer, searching for clues as to why the smart and thoughtful man she knew had refused to get vaccinated. She pulled up Google, typed in a screen name he had used in the past and discovered a secret that […]
Nov 29, 2022
This tech millionaire went from covid trial funder to misinformation superspreader
(MIT Tech Review) After boosting unproven covid drugs and campaigning against vaccines, Steve Kirsch was abandoned by his team of scientific advisers—and left out of a job. In the early days of the pandemic, as billions of dollars poured into the hunt for novel treatments and vaccines, veteran Silicon Valley entrepreneur Steve Kirsch did what […]
Nov 28, 2022
‘Verified’ anti-vax accounts proliferate as Twitter struggles to police content
(Guardian) Platform’s paid verification system is being used to give sense of validity to accounts pushing health misinformation. Verified accounts are frequently seen as reliable and trustworthy, and Twitter’s algorithm gives them a higher ranking in search results, replies and follow recommendations.
Nov 21, 2022
‘I Didn’t Think COVID-19 Was Real’: Why 40% Misled During the Pandemic
(MedPageToday) Two in five Americans say they either misled others about their COVID-19 infection or vaccination status, or didn’t follow pandemic-related public health measures, a new study indicated. In a survey involving over 1,700 respondents, 41.6% suggested they either misrepresented and/or did not adhere to at least one of nine survey items, most commonly 24.3% […]
Nov 11, 2022
Parasite cleanses are ‘modern snake oil.’ Experts explain why.
(Washington Post) You don’t need to spend much time hobnobbing in wellness circles — on social media or in real life — before parasite cleanses come up. Long before they started trending on TikTok, I succumbed to doing a parasite cleanse because a doctor suggested it in her book about autoimmune disorders. According to the book, […]
Nov 1, 2022
A wave of anti-vaccine legislation is sweeping the United States
Vox – The anti-vaccine movement is gaining strength even after 1 million Americans have died of Covid-19. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, does not mince words when describing the scientific legacy of the Covid-19 vaccines: The mRNA shots, he said, are “the greatest scientific achievement in my […]
Oct 8, 2022
China’s ‘Absurd’ Covid Propaganda Stirs Rebellion
New York Times – The use of propaganda in the country has been on overdrive in the pandemic, with some Chinese citizens arguing the language has bordered on “nonsense.” “We have won the great battle against Covid!” “History will remember those who contributed!” “Extinguish every outbreak!” China is now one of the last places on […]
Sep 29, 2022