Anti-vax groups in Germany more radicalized, Disinformation in Spanish: Inoculated Newsletter (09.12.2021)

This past week, events in Germany have been scarily foreshadowed by a chat we hat earlier this year. In February, Daiva and I asked Aliaksander Herasimenka, a researcher at the Oxford Internet Institut, about the effect of anti-vax movements on democracy. "We would see the emergence of new types of political groups, political and political organizations, that will be more disruptive than what we previously called populist." (You can listen to the episode here.) We didn't expect reality to catch up this quickly:

Radical anti-vax groups are said to have used Telegram to plan to murder a German state head, according to Der Spiegel, and, in a separate incident, marched to a state politician's house carrying torches. German journalist Alexander Roth predicts that more violence is to come (article in German).

Gewaltbereite Querdenker: “Wir müssen uns auf etwas gefasst machen” | BR.de

Der Journalist Alexander Roth recherchiert seit Jahren in der Querdenker-Szene. Er beobachtet eine gewaltbereite Radikalisierung. Waffenkäufe. Aber auch reale Ängste. Wie kann der Staat damit umgehen? Und wie konnte es so weit kommen?

Bayern 2 - ZündfunkSandra Limoncini

📰News of the week:

1. Poynter takes a look at Europe's Digital Services and Digital Markets Acts. Many officials consider the second piece of legislation, The Digital Services Act, to be a “game changer” when it comes to online mis/disinformation.  

🎁Bonus read of the week:

In November, we published an episode about disinformation in Spanish. This week, First Draft published its research on Spanish-language misinformation. Among its key findings: Narratives concerning the safety of Covid-19 vaccines were among the most widespread and impactful on social media.

A Limiting Lens: How Vaccine Misinformation Has Influenced Hispanic Conversations Online - First Draft

First Draft explores Covid-19 vaccine misinformation surrounding Hispanic and Latinx communities on Telegram, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

First Draft

🎁Bonus read of the week (2):

Melissa Fleming and Jeremy Heimans on countering vaccine falsehoods

Traditional health messages don’t convince the vaccine-hesitant, but there are digital techniques that can move the needle, say a UN official and a social entrepreneur

The EconomistThe Economist

📝 Longform of the week:

What’s Really Behind Global Vaccine Hesitancy

Countries with low vaccination rates are suffering from more than just inequity.

The AtlanticOlga Khazan

🔬Research of the week (pre-print):

A team of researchers set out to see if the could measuere to what degree and in which contexts, do digital media have detrimental effects on democracy?”

https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/p3z9v

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