Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

Russian Social Media Accounts Played Both Sides of the Vaccine Debate

posted by chromas on Friday August 24 2018, @09:59PM   Printer-friendly
from the antipro dept.

takyon writes:

Russian trolls 'spreading discord' over vaccine safety online

Bots and Russian trolls spread misinformation about vaccines on Twitter to sow division and distribute malicious content before and during the American presidential election, according to a new study.

Scientists at George Washington University, in Washington DC, made the discovery while trying to improve social media communications for public health workers, researchers said. Instead, they found trolls and bots skewing online debate and upending consensus about vaccine safety.

The study discovered several accounts, now known to belong to the same Russian trolls who interfered in the US election, as well as marketing and malware bots, tweeting about vaccines.

Russian trolls played both sides, the researchers said, tweeting pro- and anti-vaccine content in a politically charged context. "These trolls seem to be using vaccination as a wedge issue, promoting discord in American society," Mark Dredze, a team member and professor of computer science at Johns Hopkins, which was also involved in the study, said. "By playing both sides, they erode public trust in vaccination, exposing us all to the risk of infectious diseases. Viruses don't respect national boundaries."

Also at NYT.

Weaponized Health Communication: Twitter Bots and Russian Trolls Amplify the Vaccine Debate (DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2018.304567) (DX)

Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Russian Social Media Accounts Played Both Sides of the Vaccine Debate | Log In/Create an Account | Top | 53 comments | Search Discussion
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 24 2018, @11:18PM (5 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 24 2018, @11:18PM (#726070)

    And yet, it's the old people that have a low inflammation threshold and thus mostly react to trolls.

  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by janrinok on Saturday August 25 2018, @05:38AM (4 children)

    by janrinok (52) Subscriber Badge on Saturday August 25 2018, @05:38AM (#726152) Journal
    That's because they can still remember the horrors of many wars. They can remember being at school and having drills on what to do in the event of a nuclear war. They can remember the Warsaw Pact before Russia became our friends. Not good friends, but I hear it said by some very influential people that they really do like us and we should like them too.

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by aristarchus on Saturday August 25 2018, @12:15PM (2 children)

      by aristarchus (2645) on Saturday August 25 2018, @12:15PM (#726214) Journal

      This explains so much. As according to Santayana,those who don't know history [me.me] are condemned to repeat it, but those who only remember Cold War history are doomed to attempting to supress aristarchus submissions.

      • (Score: 2) by janrinok on Saturday August 25 2018, @01:16PM (1 child)

        by janrinok (52) Subscriber Badge on Saturday August 25 2018, @01:16PM (#726223) Journal
        I've actually put a positive note for the other editors against your submission that is waiting in the queue. Whether an editor chooses to select that story from the (currently) 47 stories in the queue is a matter for them.

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by RandomFactor on Saturday August 25 2018, @05:58PM

      by RandomFactor (3682) Subscriber Badge on Saturday August 25 2018, @05:58PM (#726277) Journal

      Hell yes. We had regular drills in elementary school. All lined up against the walls in an inner hallway and ducked down in a ball with our hands over our heads.

      I guess it might have kept us from getting shredded by flying glass at least...

      --
      В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды