I’ve said, a few times, that humans are adders, while computers are multipliers. But it appears that computer networks are mega-multipliers:
Researchers have found just 12 people are responsible for the bulk of the misleading claims and outright lies about COVID-19 vaccines that proliferate on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
“The ‘Disinformation Dozen’ produce 65% of the shares of anti-vaccine misinformation on social media platforms,” said Imran Ahmed, chief executive officer of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, which identified the accounts. …
These figures are well-known to both researchers and the social networks. They include anti-vaccine activists, alternative health entrepreneurs and physicians. Some of them run multiple accounts across the different platforms. They often promote “natural health.” Some even sell supplements and books.
Many of the messages about the COVID-19 vaccines being widely spread online mirror what’s been said in the past about other vaccines by peddlers of health misinformation. [NPR]
I suppose I shouldn’t be astounded, having been around social media networks since the 1980s, but I am. The reach of these twelve individuals is amazing, and speaks to the uneven understanding of the importance of public health procedures vs the desire of certain people to become wealthy, no matter what the cost might be for the public.
Not that all of these individuals are looking to become wealthy. The only one named in the article, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the son of the late Attorney General, appears to simply wish to help the public, but his poor understanding of vaccinology, combined with an astounding arrogance, results in abuse of social media.
This general urge has always been present, which may be a symptom of being a drama queen.
But my point remains: a very small number of people are endangering a relatively large number of people simply through the distribution of false information. And that’s made easy by the power of computer networks that do not accentuate provenance nor history nor, for that matter, credentials.
It’s just someone jawboning.
