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Labeling misinformation online is doing more harm than good.
The possibility that COVID-19 came from a lab accident is just the latest example. Social media companies tried to suppress any discussion of it for months. But why? There’s no strong evidence against it, and evidence for other theories is still inconclusive. Pathogens have escaped from labs many times, and people have died as a result.
Social media fact-checkers don’t have any special knowledge or ability to sort fact from misinformation. What they have is extraordinary power to shape what people believe. And stifling ideas can backfire if it leads people to believe there’s a “real story” that is being suppressed.
Posted Wednesday, June 09, 2021 - 9:22 am
Labeling misinformation online is doing more harm than good.
The possibility that COVID-19 came from a lab accident is just the latest example. Social media companies tried to suppress any discussion of it for months. But why? There’s no strong evidence against it, and evidence for other theories is still inconclusive. Pathogens have escaped from labs many times, and people have died as a result.
Social media fact-checkers don’t have any special knowledge or ability to sort fact from misinformation. What they have is extraordinary power to shape what people believe. And stifling ideas can backfire if it leads people to believe there’s a “real story” that is being suppressed.
Adults who’ve yet to be vaccinated need to step up
Faye Flam
Guest Columnist
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control made waves when it announced that vaccinated people can doff their masks. But one group of people has no hope of doing so: kids, for whom vaccines are still largely not authorized by the Food and Drug Administration. Only the Pfizer shot is authorized for kids as young as 12. So while adults may celebrate going back to their normal lives, we’re still asking kids to observe all the rules of pandemic life.
They’ve been taken out of school or made to take extraordinary precautions there, isolated from their friends, deprived of many sports and other activities, and made to endure mask-wearing and social distancing, even outside. Add to that the hardships their families have faced from the economic disruption caused by the pandemic.
AP Photo/Jeff Chiu
Amen, and overdue. While adults finally get to strip off their masks, restrictions on children are remaining in place even though they are much less vulnerable to COVID-19, especially for serious acute infections. Bloomberg science columnist Faye Flam accuses the adults of using kids to protect themselves, and declares that enough is enough:
So while adults may celebrate going back to their normal lives, we’re still asking kids to observe all the rules of pandemic life.
They’ve been taken out of school or made to take extraordinary precautions there, isolated from their friends, deprived of many sports and other activities, and made to endure mask-wearing and social distancing, even outside. Add to that the hardships their families have faced from the economic disruption caused by the pandemic.