![]() ![]() Other top Covid anti-vaccine theories include claims that the nation’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. “So not only do you have these conspiracy theories that QAnon pushes specifically about what the vaccine will do to people, but also engenders this general distrust of the government and institutions that I think is particularly dangerous right now,” Smith said. right now, she noted, is that the vaccines implant a microchip created by Bill Gates for citizen surveillance.) (One of the most popular political conspiracies in the U.S. “QAnon at its core is an anti-government conspiracy - and we are existing in a time where communication with governments is extremely important, particularly for public health - so you have QAnon turning its attention to vaccinations,” said Smith, who has been studying the intersection of vaccine misinformation and conspiracy theories since the pandemic began. ![]() Melanie Smith, head of analysis at Graphika, a social media analytics firm that tracks misinformation, said the fringe QAnon movement has gained influence with anti-vaccine communities online, boosting momentum and pushing unfounded claims about Covid vaccines into the mainstream. Taken together, the scientific unknowns and political anxiety have mixed to produce a complex new breed of vaccine opponent. Even debunking unfounded claims about the Covid vaccines involves explaining a vaccine that operates by a new mechanism.Īnother is that the outbreak arrived at a time when enormous communities distrustful of government have been growing online. Part of the trouble is that there is limited data about the coronavirus vaccines, making some narratives harder to refute than claims about vaccines that have been around for years - such as that childhood shots cause autism, which repeated studies over years have prove d n to be untrue. But false claims and conspiracies about Covid vaccines are already looking more difficult to police than those social media companies have had to deal with in the past. If mistrust - or even just confusion - makes people more reluctant to get immunized, it could imperil efforts to end the pandemic that has claimed the lives of more than 315,000 Americans and 1.5 million people around the world.Īnd that herculean task of building public trust will soon fall to Biden, who will have to decide whether his administration should play a role in efforts to curb vaccine falsehoods online.Īnti-vaccination movements are not new to the online landscape, and tech platforms have long been grappling with how to handle them. Skepticism is starting out high: As recently as late November, 40 percent of Americans said they would “definitely” or “probably” decide against getting inoculated - primarily out of concern about the vaccines’ safety and efficacy, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center. He and a number of other congressional leaders are urging President-elect Joe Biden to tap a misinformation expert for his Covid-19 task force. “Distrust of vaccines has increased with loud voices using the platforms to spread fear,” said House Intelligence Chair Adam Schiff (D-Calif.). It might be difficult to tell the difference.” “Some of it will be good and some of it will be misleading. Michael Burgess of Texas, the top Republican on the House Energy and Commerce health subcommittee and a physician. “One of my biggest concerns is that social media companies will have difficulty handling the sheer volume of information,” said Rep. It’s a challenge that could be even more difficult to overcome than election misinformation, which centered largely around one day in November and could be debunked by officials pointing to well-established protocols.Īlarms are already sounding in Washington. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |