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
Querdenker, Fake Debunking, Epoch Times: Inoculated Newsletter (17.3.2022)
📰News: Coda Story takes a look at the Epoch Times, the purveyor of Trumpian misinformation and anti-science conspiracies that already gained traction in Germany eyes expansion in the UK. Long Lead has a fantastic investigation into Querdenker, COVID-skeptics resisting Germany’s public health measures stormed the Reichstag. ProPublica reports that
French Elections are Coming up. Right-Wing Politicians Are Dominating the Vaccine Debate on Twitter. Here's Why: (Episode 24)
We used a custom Twitter scraper to collect and analyze the tweets of 12 candidates slated to run in the first round of the French presidential election on April 10. We discuss our findings and talk to Estelle Brun, an associate research fellow at IRIS - Institut de Relations Internationales
Ukraine Disinformation Special: Inoculated Newsletter (3.3.2022)
In this edition, we'll take a look at Ukraine and Russian disinformation. Some background on how Russian disinformation works in these podcast episodes: 📰News of the week: Kremlin-backed media outlets RT and Sputnik are officially banned in the EU, a crackdown on Russian disinformation amid Moscow's invasion of Ukraine2. Twitter
The Falsehood Firehose: How Russian Disinformation Actors Spread Propaganda (Episode 23)
As Russia invades Ukraine, we revisited our conversation with Miriam Matthews, author of a report published last April called Superspreaders of Malign and Subversive Information. It describes how Russia actors use malign and subversive information efforts to target U.S. audiences from January 2020 to July 2020. While we couldn't
Telegram, Zerohedge and Canadian Truckers: Inoculated Newsletter (17.2.2022)
📰News of the week: U.S. intelligence officials said Zerohedge, a conservative financial news website, with a significant American readership is amplifying Kremlin propaganda, according to the AP. Here's our episode on how the "Russian firehose" of disinformation works. 2. U.S. accounts drive Canadian convoy protest chatter, according to