![]() ![]() The tool is a new service from NewsGuard, developed by two veteran journalists in 2018 to combat misinformation in the news. Led by HealthGuard, the campaign features a browser extension that flags health hoaxes, provides credibility ratings for hundreds of websites, and guides users to sources that offer trusted information. WebMD and Medscape have also joined with corporate, nonprofit and media leaders in a global public service campaign, VaxFacts, to identify and counter misleading vaccine information. "The issue of vaccine hesitancy is also of particular concern in communities of color, which have been disproportionately impacted by the virus." Finding a way for health experts and institutions to connect with those questioning Covid-19 vaccines without validating or amplifying concerns will be a fundamental component of rebuilding."While reports show increasing receptivity to getting a Covid vaccine, about 1 in 5 Americans still say they are not planning to get one, or would only if required," said John Whyte, MD, WebMD's Chief Medical Officer. “We need to build bridges between health experts and institutions and vaccine-hesitant populations. The political nature of the most dominant vaccine narratives on West African social media highlights the importance of rebuilding trust in vaccine institutions and depoliticizing them,” they continued. ![]() “Messaging that can address deep-seated issues of trust with actors and institutions connected to vaccines is key. BE VACCINE MISINFORMATION UNDERMINE EFFORTS IMMUNIZE VERIFICATIONThey urged that fact-checking efforts should be applied consistently across regions and languages, noting that Facebook’s third-party verification programme did not regulate a lot of the misinformation identified during the study. By refocusing moderation efforts on tracking suspicious behavior and implementing measures to curb bad actors’ dissemination tactics, platforms may be able to limit the reach of disinformation in the long run,” they explained. They will continue to employ sophisticated tactics to spread their harmful content. But disinformation networks are resilient and adaptive. “Content moderation can reduce the visibility of harmful misinformation in the short run. The researchers advised that identifying problematic social media behaviour should be prioritised above moderating individual contents. “Mistrust in institutions continues to be strongly associated with vaccine refusal in many African countries,” the study concluded. The conspiracy theories typically present organisations such as the United Nations (UN) and World Health Organization (WHO) and people like Bill Gates as “corrupt and ill-intended.” ![]() “These include conspiracy theories about depopulation programs, a totalitarian, one-world government known as the New World Order, and even certain elements of QAnon, such as the idea that former US President Donald Trump was secretly fighting a corrupt political and financial establishment.” “North American and European conspiracy theories are reaching both Anglophone and Francophone West Africa on social media and are a key feature of online vaccine misinformation in the region,” the report said. Source: First Draftįirst Draft warned that the messages “are amplifying wider narratives that could erode trust in key actors and institutions connected to vaccines.” These contents enjoy a wide readership on Facebook and other social networks. The report traced anti-vaccine contents being spread in the sub-region to American anti-science websites, Pro-Russian disinformation networks, French disinformation websites, European conspiracy theorists, among others. “The use of disinformation tactics to spread anti-vaccine messages underlines the need for platforms to not only focus their efforts on fact-checking, but also to identify the use of specific methods to more effectively prevent harmful content from being spread,” they recommended. ![]()
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