Yesterday's TracingCOVID newsletter asks if UCSF values money so far above everything else, they promoted(!) misinformation-spreading Vinay Prasad to public health professor(??) in the middle of this pandemic: https://tracingcovid.substack.com/p/revving-costs #COVID #COVID19 #infodemic #publichealth #SanFrancisco

(4/5) "Keeping Classrooms Filled" should have been a public health priority. But Monica Gandhi and her "Urgency of Normal" partner Jeanne Noble said the top priority should be defanging public health's in-school transmission mitigations: Nov 16 2021 California students can get vaccinated. When will the state let them take off their masks? (Fresno Bee) - https://www.fresnobee.com/news/california/article255839706.html #COVID #COVID19 #infodemic #misinformation

Monica Gandhi gets in the news with contrarian takes, often unnecessary, that cloud instead of clarify https://www.latimes.com/science/story/2021-10-28/its-harder-to-justify-covid-vaccine-for-kids-if-pandemics-end-is-near (2/5) #COVID #COVID19 #infodemic #misinformation

Monica Gandhi is on a book tour saying schools were closed too long (which they were) but one reason they didn't open sooner was doctor-pundits like her discouraging youth vaccines and discouraging masks: (1/5) "Only One Vaccine Is OK’d for Older Teens. It’s Also the Hardest to Manage in Rural America." https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/pfizer-vaccine-authorized-for-older-teens-also-hardest-to-manage-in-rural-america/ "The question of whether to vaccinate kids may soon be moot, though, said Monica Gandhi" #COVID #COVID19 #infodemic #misinformation

"Misinformation contributing to lower life expectancy in US, FDA chief says" https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/3944280-misinformation-contributing-to-lower-life-expectancy-in-us-fda-chief-says/
The best immunity to disinformation is ritual contact with quality, specific information. Subscribe to a regional news outlet, if your area is lucky enough to have one. #infodemic #disinformation #misinformation #COVID #COVID19 #healthcare #publichealth

All study subjects were recruited from Twitter. Let's broaden their choices in the future: "Research Letter: Physician and Biomedical Scientist Harassment on Social Media During the COVID-19 Pandemic" https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2806018
"While the Surgeon General2 encourages physicians and scientists to use social media to address misinformation,3 concerns for harassment remain.4-6" #COVID #COVID19 #infodemic #disinformation #misinformation

@seldo Character and lying doesn't factor into FDA evaluations, it seems. "Israeli health ministry calls out Elon Musk for sharing ‘fake news’ on COVID-19" https://www.jewishnews.co.uk /israeli-health-ministry-calls-out-elon-musk-for-sharing-fake-news-on-covid-19/ #COVID #infodemic

For anyone grasping the hybrid [horror movie]/[comedy of errors] that is the **Hyped AI Rollout of 2023** I cannot recommend this video enough. It's even better on a second viewing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAHRbFetqII&t=3398s Adam Conover interviewing Dr. Timnit Gebru, Electrical Engineering Phd and Dr. Emily Bender, linguistics professor sorting the "safety" from the "ethics" and real from the sparks. #AI #AIHype #AISafety #AIEthics #tech #infodemic @timnitGebru and @emilymbender

Elon Musk is always in court. His lawyers argue that because he's famous, video of Musk overpromising Tesla's capabilities is inadmissable evidence, since it "could be a deepfake" made by AI: https://sfist.com/2023/04/27/elon-musk-ordered-to-be-deposed-in-trial-over-2018-tesla-autopilot-crash-in-mountain-view/ #ElonMusk #Tesla #AI #Misinformation #Disinformation #Infodemic

My latest Tracing newsletter is out. Tracing #53, "Apple Engineer Walter Huang’s Survivors" forecasts this year's information landscape, by looking into how it's already affected by #AI and #AIHype and true believer's hoped-for #AGI. This newsletter talks about Huang's survivors who are suing Tesla and Elon Musk for wrongful death https://tracingcovid.substack.com/p/apple-engineer-walter-huangs-survivors #COVID #COVID19 #infodemic #ElonMusk #antivaxx #HCW #Healthcare #PublicHealth

2023 World Press Freedom Index – journalism threatened by fake content industry
https://rsf.org/en/2023-world-press-freedom-index-journalism-threatened-fake-content-industry?data_type=general&year=2023 "The remarkable development of artificial intelligence is wreaking further havoc on the media world, which had already been undermined by Web 2.0. Meanwhile, Twitter owner Elon Musk is pushing an arbitrary, payment-based approach to information to the extreme, showing that platforms are quicksand for journalism." #AI #AIHype #infodemic #COVID #COVID19

"As the pandemic winds down, anti-vaccine activists are building a legal network" https://npr.org/2023/05/04/1173697394/as-the-pandemic-winds-down-anti-vaccine-activists-are-building-a-legal-network Steve Kirsch is a tech entrepreneur. "In recent years, Kirsch has become an increasingly vocal and generous funder of the anti-vaccine movement." #COVID #infodemic #COVID #COVID19 #infodemic #disinformation #misinformation

The new bird app owner, Elon Musk, is threatening involuntary impersonation now. Dishonestly like this erodes societal trust. Science requires cooperation, and cooperation rides on trust. #disinformation #infodemic #covid #informationhygiene https://www.npr.org/2023/05/02/1173422311/elon-musk-npr-twitter-reassign

"Global Increase in Disinformation" was found by Reporters without Borders, this Netherlands news outlet said. American press didn't cover this 🧐 http://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2023/05/03/nederland-stijgt-naar-zesde-plek-op-ranglijst-persvrijheid-wereldwijde-toename-van-desinformatie-a4163577 [Translated: ] Worldwide, RSF sees a growing “industry” of digital disinformation blurring the line between fact and fiction, making reliable information less accessible. Politicians have “unprecedented resources for tampering with information,” and use them to undermine journalists.
#infodemic #COVID #chatGPT #disinformation

A beautiful #OneHealth case report about #COVID19 and especially the consequences of the #Ivermectin #Infodemic in #Peru and the response of the traditional #Indigenous health care system 💝
https://www.cabidigitallibrary.org/doi/10.1079/cabionehealth.2023.0006

Unpopular opinion: Uncontained spread is Public Health's bread and butter. #publichealth celebrities are using the bird app now more than ever. Some even have Mastodon accounts and have stopped simul-posting. This is insulting. If the #infodemic propels uncontained spread, why are you not modeling better information habits? #COVID It's been three years, we've known how to contain COVID since year one. And bird flu is right on our tails.

Antivaxx OG Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is running for president as a Democrat https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/05/politics/robert-kennedy-president-democratic-nomination/index.html #COVID #infodemic Will this split the antivaxx votes between him and DeSantis?

"Letter signed by Elon Musk demanding AI research pause sparks controversy | The statement has been revealed to have false signatures" https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/mar/31/ai-research-pause-elon-musk-chatgpt Precisely how the #COVID misinformation vortex Great Barrington-Brownstone-Norfolk Group launched, with "Dr. Johnny Bananas" filler signatures https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/09/herd-immunity-letter-signed-fake-experts-dr-johnny-bananas-covid #AIHype #Infodemic

🔓 I put an unpaywalled newsletter out last night. Get it while it's hot: "Backstage is Show Business" https://tracingcovid.substack.com/p/backstage-is-show-business #COVID #infodemic Tracing just outside the lines. #misinformation #disinformation "The author of 'Thinking Fast and Slow' found excess efficiency makes people impulsive and emotional, whereas lengthier deliberations facilitate logic. This makes entertainers the new founts of reason."

(1/3) Suspension of healthcare delivery rules ends soon https://oregonlive.com/business/2023/03/end-of-pandemic-emergency-means-changes-to-nursing-homes-hospitals.html Also, expensive disease monitoring is already plummeting 🙈 because "Department of Health and Human Services won’t be able to require labs to report COVID testing data." #COVID #infodemic