A report by activists found that half of debunked online disinformation targeting three prominent scientists remains live and unlabelled.
Nicotra and his colleagues looked at pandemic-related disinformation targeting three prominent scientists: Anthony Fauci, head of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in Bethesda, Maryland; German virologist Christian Drosten; and Belgian virologist Marc Van Ranst. They checked posts across five social-media sites — Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram and Telegram.
The failure to label debunked disinformation is a problem, says Nicotra, because unlabelled posts get much more engagement than ones that are labelled. Labelling is a “very effective strategy” for fighting disinformation, Nicotra says. “Especially if users who have previously interacted with the content are also informed.”
“We know enough to say the same problem exists on the others, and it might even be worse,” says Nicotra. “But the lack of transparency makes our job more difficult.”A spokesperson for Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, which is based in Menlo Park, California, says that the company has strict rules on misinformation about COVID-19 and vaccines, and does not allow death threats against anyone on the platforms.
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