🎧 Episode 31: Can Robots Detect Disinformation?
Can Robots Detect Disinformation?We previously reported that robots can spew out new kinds of disinformation. But can they also help detect and flag it? To find out, Eva talked to researcher Giovanni Da San Martino, who is researching natural language processing at the University of Padova.Here are some
Polio Found in London, Austria Scraps Jab Mandate: Inoculated Newsletter (23.06.2022)
Hi readers, this is our last rodeo before we head out to enjoy our summer breaks – back in September, promise. We've already seen that the childhood vaccinations have dipped during the pandemic, but in some truly frightening news, traces of the polio vaccine and evidence that it has spread from
Radicalized Parents, Global Vaccine Disinformation Web, Inoculated Newsletter (09.06.2022)
📰 News: A wave of parents has been radicalized by Covid-era misinformation to reject ordinary childhood immunizations — with potentially lethal consequences, according to the New York Times. How a biotech company battles online lies about its COVID vaccine, Fortune reports. American influencers built a global network of vaccine disinformation, according to
🎧 Political Biases: What Role Do They Play in Disinformation?
Listen to our new episode here: https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/szpm2r/30_Political_biases.m4a Researching the benefits of situations where people come together to solve puzzles or make decisions, Cecilie Steenbuch Traberg realised that there is a dark side of collective intelligence. This led her to research
Lab-Leak Hypothesis, Tracking Vaccine-Preventable Deaths, Inoculated Newsletter (26.05.2022)
📰News of the week: The lab-leak hypothesis complicated scientists' work, as COVID disinformation has threatened research—and lives, according to Scientific American. Fringe groups in Germany spreading Kremlin narratives are failing to catch on, but they underscore how the country’s extremism is changing as ideological divisions blur, Coda Story
We Fact-checked VAIDS, a New Antivax New Conspiracy (Hint: It Doesn’t Exist)
In this episode, we fact-check VAIDS, a made-up syndrome anti-vaxxers are using to scare people away from getting vaccinated. Here is some background info: https://health-desk.org/articles/is-there-any-evidence-of-vaccine-acquired-immunodeficiency-in-relation-to-covid-19-vaccines-and-booster-shots Here's the list of the "Disinfo Dozen": https://counterhate.com/research/the-disinformation-dozen/ Please subscribe to our newsletter, and this show onApple
The Next Pandemic, How Disinformation Differs: Inoculated Newsletter (12.05.2022)
Last month, Elon Musk’s bid to buy Twitter prompted the WHO's Mike Ryan, executive director of the health emergencies program, to say that misinformation costs lives. We looked at what Musk might mean for disinformation and Twitter in last week's episode. Listen here. 📰News : Another pandemic is inevitable, experts
Elon Musk and Twitter - A Disinformation Nightmare?
Elon Musk’s bid to buy Twitter has prompted the WHO to make a statement on misinformation. Misinformation costs lives, Mike Ryan, executive director of the health emergencies program at the WHO, said about the offer from Musk, a self-described free-speech absolutist. The Recode podcast has pointed out that in
Donald Trump, Covid Hitting Policemen: Inoculated Newsletter (28.4.2022)
Here at The Inoculation, we've been scraping Twitter for a bit, trying to find out if far-right politicians are more likely to be anti-vaxx (hint: they are). While we were looking at the Netherlands, we had a hunch that the anti-vaxx politicians are more likely to be pro-Putin. We did
Are Antivaxxers More Likely to be Pro-Putin?
As part of our data investigation, we took a look at politicians' tweets in the Netherlands. We found that far-right politicians are more likely to tweet about anti-vaccine topics, but we also saw that tweeters with antivaxx stances were more supportive of Vladimir Putin and Russia's invasion of Ukraine. We
Wary of Russian Aggression, the Baltics Contain Political Falsehoods but Struggle with COVID Disinfo
Disinformation warfare is not new to the Baltic States - and they have been boosting their preparedness since 2014 and were lauded as successful. Then why did countering COVID-19 disinformation prove challenging? In December, Daiva and Eva spoke to Nika Aleksejeva, who is a data journalism trainer and lead researcher
Portugal: Is Europe’s Vaccine Hero Losing Its “Special Balance”, Allowing Right-Wing Parties to Flourish?
After elections in January, Portuguese Socialists have secured an absolute majority, promising political continuity in the country that enjoys Europe's highest rate of vaccination against COVID-19. But the side story of the election was that Portugal's previous immunity to far-right representation in parliament has waned: the Chega party increased its