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Tackle scientific misinformation, but don’t delete it, says UK Royal Society report

The solution to online scientific misinformation is not to wipe it off the internet, according to a report released today by the U.K.’s Royal Society. 

Misinformation about the coronavirus, vaccine safety, and treatments for the virus abounds. Social media platforms have removed content spewing false information and suspended the accounts of those promoting it.

There may be a better way.

Instead of censoring this content, the authors of the report recommend tackling misinformation by supporting diverse media and sustainably funding independent fact-checking organizations, monitoring sources of scientific misinformation and limiting their reach, as well as investing in information literacy. 

“Clamping down on claims outside the consensus may seem desirable, but it can hamper the scientific process and force genuinely malicious content underground,” said Frank Kelly, professor of the mathematics of systems at the Statistical Laboratory at the University of Cambridge and chair of the report.

While the majority of people believe the internet has improved the public’s understanding of science, there’s also no denying that online misinformation causes real-world harm, he said, citing unvaccinated people sick with the coronavirus in hospital, 5G masts being burnt down, and little action to tackle climate change as offline consequences of online misinformation. 

Still, rather than deleting the online content, strategies such as demonetization, fact-checking labels and regulating recommendation algorithms can help curb the effects of this scientific misinformation, said Vint Cerf, Google’s chief internet evangelist and a member of the report’s working group. 

A one-size-fits all approach won’t work — those who create and share misinformation have many profiles, from “good Samaritans” accidentally sharing misinformation to “trolls” trying to attract attention or sow discord.

“Our polling showed that people have complex reasons for sharing misinformation, and we won’t change this by giving them more facts,” said Gina Neff, professor of technology and society at the Oxford Internet Institute, and executive director at the Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy at the University of Cambridge, and a member of the report’s working group.

This article is part of POLITICO’s premium policy service: Pro Health Care. From drug pricing, EMA, vaccines, pharma and more, our specialized journalists keep you on top of the topics driving the health care policy agenda. Email pro@politico.eu for a complimentary trial.

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J January 19, 2022 at 05:31AM
Sarah-Taïssir Bencharif

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