Category: Misinformation, Disinformation, and Conspiracy Theories
NPR Each morning, Stephanie Nichols gathers her second graders around a table to eat breakfast and start their day. As the kids unpack their knapsacks and settle into the classroom, Nichols likes to listen more than she speaks. Breakfast table conversation can be about anything – from video games to the New England Patriots. But […]
Nov 8, 2023
Matthew Perry Deserved Better Than #DiedSuddenly
Wired IT DIDN’T TAKE long for news of actor Matthew Perry’s death to go public. TMZ broke the story so early that paparazzi had already camped out to photograph the Friends star’s grieving parents as they arrived on the scene. The vulturous routines of the celebrity death news complex are, at this point, predictable. Tabloids compete for 911 […]
Oct 31, 2023
This Is How the FDA Plans to Fight Health Misinformation
Bloomberg Another challenge for the FDA is to get the public to trust what they’re saying in the first place. Hi, it’s Fiona in New York. A much-anticipated report on how the FDA can combat misinformation was published earlier this month. More on that later… Pre-bunking vs. de-bunking Health misinformation is as old as medicine […]
Oct 17, 2023
Vaccine Scientist Warns Antiscience Conspiracies Have Become a Deadly, Organized Movement
Scientific American Peter Hotez is no stranger to scientific backlash. The esteemed pediatrician and vaccinologist has been working to develop vaccines for neglected tropical diseases for decades and has encountered fierce opposition to his work. But in recent years the backlash has gained momentum and spread beyond vaccines to science and scientists in general. Hotez, […]
Oct 10, 2023
Anti-Vaxxers Think an Emergency Phone Alert Will Cause a Zombie Apocalypse
Rolling Stone The latest paranoia to grip online fringe communities is about FEMA supposedly sending harmful 5G signals to your phone. “IS THERE A Zombie Apocalypse activated by 5G towers on the way?!?!” wrote the QAnon influencer behind a Telegram channel called The Patriot Voice, which is followed by more than 50,000 people, in a post shared at […]
Oct 3, 2023
Spouting COVID Misinformation Tied to Use of Ivermectin, HCQ
MedPageToday And survey study finds similar usage of unproven drugs for COVID among Democrats and Republicans. Endorsing COVID-19 vaccine misinformation, lack of trust in physicians or scientists, and conspiracy-mindedness were linked to the use of non-evidence-based treatments for COVID-19, an internet-based survey study of U.S. adults showed. Of more than 13,000 survey respondents who reported […]
Oct 3, 2023
The Secret Ingredient of ChatGPT Is Human Advice
NYT Companies like OpenAI hone their bots using hand-tailored examples from well-educated workers. But is this always for the best? Last November, the company behind Facebook released a chatbot called Galactica. After a torrent of complaints that the bot made up historical events and spewed other nonsense, Meta removed it from the internet. Two weeks later, […]
Sep 27, 2023
What We Lost: Public Trust in the Medical Information Discourse Over the Pandemic
Contagion One of the most damaging aspects of the pandemic is that misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines and therapies created unnecessary hospitalizations and deaths. “We always cite the statistic that about 200,000 people died in 2021 alone after the COVID-19 vaccines were available,” said Katrine Wallace, PhD, research epidemiologist and an assistant professor of epidemiology and […]
Sep 12, 2023
Daily Dot A long line of vehicles lined up on Monday, waiting up to eight hours to exit the Burning Man festival after heavy rains and mud prompted a lockdown that left thousands of attendees stranded at the desert venue. But some are chalking up the saga to more than just bad weather. Among those is firebrand […]
Sep 5, 2023
Doctors, influencers call on their peers to use social media to ‘pre-bunk’ dangerous misinformation
Fierce Healthcare As medicine moves to proactive models of care, medical professionals are taking the same approach toward health misinformation on social media. During Fortune’s recent Brainstorm Health event, three medically trained health influencers discussed the importance of heading off the next big medical myths. Jessica Malaty Rivera is a research program assistant at the Johns Hopkins […]
Aug 29, 2023