NYT article: Joseph Mercola, The Most Influential Spreader of Coronavirus Misinformation Online,2021

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/24/...action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage


The Most Influential Spreader of Coronavirus Misinformation Online
Researchers and regulators say Joseph Mercola, an osteopathic physician, creates and profits from misleading claims about Covid-19 vaccines.



“Dr. Mercola, 67, an osteopathic physician in Cape Coral, Fla., has long been a subject of criticism and government regulatory actions for his promotion of unproven or unapproved treatments. But most recently, he has become the chief spreader of coronavirus misinformation online, according to researchers.

Over the last decade, Dr. Mercola has built a vast operation to push natural health cures, disseminate anti-vaccination content and profit from all of it, said researchers who have studied his network. In 2017, he filed an affidavit claiming his net worth was “in excess of $100 million.”

“As his popularity grew, Dr. Mercola began a cycle. It starts with making unproven and sometimes far-fetched health claims, such as that spring mattresses amplify harmful radiation, and then selling products online — from vitamin supplements to organic yogurt — that he promotes as alternative treatments.“

 

Tangential but this is the reason I support UBI. So some poor Joes don't have to 'earn' a salary by analyzing AB tests of crazy Facebook posts so that people like this can grift 10's of millions from social-media-addled rubes.

 

There are literally many hundreds of (non-critical/non skeptical) posts on “Dr.” Mercola’s “cures” on Phoenix Rising, going back many years.

 

UBI? AB? Sorry but I just can't work these out.

 

Too many people seriously underestimate the benefits of removing BS jobs that mostly amount to scams. The people who do the labor all do it because they have little to no options. Just like organized crime, especially since low-level grunts are all paid very low, only the people above make serious money.

 

UBI = Universal Basic Income.

A/B testing is basically people running competing ad campaigns to optimize how many rubes they can convince. Common in the advertising industry but scammers use the same, basically a sort of natural selection process to find out the most effective message.

Few people who work doing pointless jobs like optimizing ads to sell BS cures would work at those if they simply did not have to work. It's only the people at the top who make the money anyway, but they need an endless supply of people willing to do any job, no matter how unethical.