BBC Radio 4: The Misinformation Virus

Andy

Andy

Retired committee member
Not listened to this but thought it might be of interest.
In this online age, the internet is a global megaphone, billions of messages amplified and shared, even when they're false. Fake science spreads faster than the truth ever could, unhindered by national boundaries. Mainstream scientists are struggling to respond. The science journalist and writer, Angela Saini, is fascinated by how bad ideas spread and in this programme she investigates the very real impact of online scientific misinformation. From the dangerous anti-vaccination campaigns to those who deny the reality of climate change, she assesses the scale and extent of the threat we face. And she discovers the sinister world of deliberate disinformation where an army of bots and trolls work to sew dissent and confusion in the online space.
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https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000c9sm
 
chrisb said:
I'm sure they will soon abandon the virus theory and put it all down to abnormal information beliefs.
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:rofl:

Heard it go out live yesterday, it was quite interesting. They looked into how misinformation spreads, and the fact that the way the internet is structured can actually exacerbate the effects even before the bots get going.
 
Same with fake facts about a lot of topics, not just science.

E.g. someone being reported as saying something that they didn't actually say. Spreads very easily.

And people/organisations can too easily pretend to be authoritative sources of information when they really aren't.

I do love and am very grateful for the internet, (especially due to the social isolation that ME has caused for me) but the effect of the internet on misinformation does trouble me a lot. I wonder how much it has contributed to the frequency of people holding extreme views (e.g. conspiracy theories, believing global warming is fake).

But if we didn't have the Internet, we (the ME community) would never have been able to connect ME patients to support each other and to make people aware of the dangers of the BPS approach. And for people to work together to publicly challenge it.
 
This misinformation and hype was discussed on another thread, and how physicians and researchers should reach out more on social media concerning unscientific treatments (surgery) and give both the positive and negatives. I follow a few doctors on twitter and they're having a hell of time dismissing and trying to educate all the 'anti-vaxxer' cults.
 
Kitty said:
:rofl:

Heard it go out live yesterday, it was quite interesting. They looked into how misinformation spreads, and the fact that the way the internet is structured can actually exacerbate the effects even before the bots get going.
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This is just part of the narrative of attack on the internet to safe guard us all so that all truth can come from the likes of the Murdoch empire.
 
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Mij said:
I follow a few doctors on twitter and they're having a hell of time dismissing and trying to educate all the 'anti-vaxxer' cults.
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It's all a waste of time. Antivaxxers only comprise 1-2% of the population in most regions and are not the most common cause of a child being unvaccinated. Anti-vaxxer numbers are not growing significantly, 95%+ vaccination rates can be achieved without spending any effort convincing these antivaxxers. The primary characteristic is that they're skeptical of mainstream medicine and thus unlikely to be convinced by arguments on the internet, no matter how authoritative.
 
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