SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Ads on Facebook are spreading misinformation about anti-HIV drugs
While many are focused on Facebook's unwillingness to curb false political ads, there appears to be another misinformation campaign going unchecked. The Guardian and GLAAD have noted that personal injury law firms continue to run Facebook ads making false claims about the risks of Truvada, a drug meant to reduce the likelihood of HIV transmission. Some float the specters of bone loss and kidney damage despite evidence that the risks of either are "not clinically significant," according to the San Francisco AIDS Foundation.
GLAAD said it contacted Facebook's public policy team and reached out to five fact-checking agencies, but the social network answered by pointing to a public ad policy page explaining why ads can be removed. In response, GLAAD posted an open letter asking Facebook to remove the ads, with support coming from 50 organizations, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and Senator Elizabeth Warren. The advocacy group is buying ads on Facebook to promote the letter among the LGBTQ+ community.
We've asked Facebook for comment.
(Score: 2, Flamebait) by epitaxial on Monday December 16 2019, @06:29PM (28 children)
This bullshit has finally made the rounds to SN. These ads are your typical class action lawsuit against a prescription, nothing more. Some people did have bad side effects from the drug but the left has blown this into anti gay propaganda.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 16 2019, @06:41PM (7 children)
These people are easily lead by corporate propaganda.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 16 2019, @06:51PM (6 children)
But the drug was thoroughly tested on goats, where HIV originated.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Monday December 16 2019, @08:39PM (5 children)
Much more likely to have been a monkey, but I'm not sure if that's just propaganda I've picked up over the years or not. In any case, gays are people too and should be treated with respect. I don't even know what people that are into bestiality are called, but sick would be a good definition.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 16 2019, @10:48PM (4 children)
No one ever heard of simian aids until after human aids... Looks like it started in humans to me.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 17 2019, @04:10AM (1 child)
Nobody knew or cared to look for it in simians before it was identified in humans. Or are you saying that the Ebola virus originates in humans?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 17 2019, @09:10AM
So it just wasn't a big deal that apes that cost tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars each were dying in captivity at various labs for unexplained reasons?
It didn't happen until AIDS became a thing. Make of that detail what you will.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 17 2019, @04:10AM (1 child)
Did anyone look for simian AIDS until after human AIDS was noticed? Folks that butcher and eat African monkeys generally aren't the sort of folks with access to high end medical care.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 17 2019, @09:12AM
I'll direct you to this post directly above: https://soylentnews.org/comments.pl?noupdate=1&sid=35141&commentsort=0&mode=threadtos&threshold=0&highlightthresh=-1&page=1&cid=933214#commentwrap [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 16 2019, @06:57PM (16 children)
For as much as SN editors like to include politics on this website, isn't it weird how the post on the recent UK election has been stuck in the subs queue since last week?
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 16 2019, @07:05PM
On a similar note, how about not seeing a single thing on reddit about that black anti semite shooter in New Jersey. If it was a white guy all the anti gun people would be crying and saying this was domestic terrorism blah blah. Black guy does it and nobody says a goddamn word.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 16 2019, @07:17PM
Our editors, being smart, do understand what it means for the next year elections. They are giving liberals a chance to build at least some narrative before we are allowed to discuss it.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by janrinok on Monday December 16 2019, @07:28PM (7 children)
Actually, I think you will find that most SN editors would quite happily do without the politics - but the community have decided that we should have them providing there is also a link to our main interests. That decision was made prior to the last US election.
Everyone knows by now the outcome of last week's UK election, and the submission that you are referring to adds nothing to that knowledge, so there seems to be little point in pushing it out on the front page.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 16 2019, @07:54PM (6 children)
>Everyone knows by now the outcome of last week's UK election, and the submission that you are referring to adds nothing to that knowledge, so there seems to be little point in pushing it out on the front page.
So you didn't approve it when it was submitted because everyone would know about it a week later?
Color me skeptical that SoylentNews is that concerned with avoiding days old news, given that most of the posts here are just weeks-old Hacker News submissions.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Monday December 16 2019, @08:44PM (4 children)
Feel free to get all your news from Hacker News, then. Personally, I like the simple no-nonsense Soylent News interface. The lack of advertisements makes me feel like it's 1995 all over again. In a good way.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 16 2019, @09:19PM
Needs more <blink>blinking text</blink> and under construction [textfiles.com] graphics.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 16 2019, @10:25PM
Unfortunately the Hacker News commentariat is a bigger echo chamber than this place, they just post things sooner.
(Score: 1) by Acabatag on Monday December 16 2019, @11:23PM (1 child)
Is there really no advertising on SN? I guess these days I have no way to know....
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday December 17 2019, @03:44PM
#1 No advertisements built into the UI. Unlike 99% of the internet.
#2 The Soylent News staff is run by volunteers, who have stated they don't post advertisement stories. They don't post stories they are being paid to post, that they aren't getting kickbacks to post, or other advertisement like things.
At some point, you gotta trust someone and until proven otherwise, I trust that they're not posting advertisements.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Tuesday December 17 2019, @01:42AM
Please re-read what I wrote. I cannot see a link in that submission to any of our main areas of interest. In fact, it was submitted before the actual count of votes had been completed so its own content was already of dubious interest by the time it was received.
Furthermore, we are not a news aggregation service. There are many other sites that do that role far better than we ever could. So, in most cases, timeliness is not a priority when it comes to getting stories to the front page. With our volunteer staff it is unlikely that submissions will be read as soon as they are received, and they may sit in the submission queue for several hours before anyone is able to even take a look at them. Rather we try to publish stories that have been received over recent days. We also try to select stories which cover the area of our interests and which could generate a useful and interesting discussion. As many have already said, most come here for the discussion and not to be updated on the latest news which is easily available elsewhere.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 16 2019, @07:37PM (5 children)
Yes, also they didn't post the IG report results (that now everyone admits the FBI did lots of bad things... but it was just "mistakes" for now).
There are also very active mods on this site that upvote the anti-Trump drivel and downvote well-sourced facts.
Just look at the fluoride thread a couple before this one, one account even denied that a direct quote from the scientific article even came from there and it was impossible to convince it otherwise.
I suspect that person also believes Trump/Sanders/Gabbard is Putin's puppet. It appears Hillary Clinton and her ilk (the fascists that run the US) have literally managed to create a bunch of idiots who follow their commands, like the obvious corporate propaganda in tfa.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by MostCynical on Monday December 16 2019, @09:34PM (3 children)
Need "-1 WTF" mod.
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 16 2019, @09:39PM (1 child)
The crazies are melting down, they put all their marbles in Trump's basket and can't stand the idea they were suckered by a reality TV buffoon. Many people tried to warn them, but "unironic heresy!"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 17 2019, @09:24PM
https://www.scribd.com/document/440156909/Fisa-Court-to-FBI [scribd.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 16 2019, @10:53PM
You can't see anything there at all? You've literally been programmed to no longer recognize reality and are in for some big surprises.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 16 2019, @11:25PM
Hey! Two out of three is not bad!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 16 2019, @07:45PM (2 children)
According to the article-linked Guardian article, one such ad claimed:
Is that "typical" of class-action lawsuits?
That being said, I'm not sure it should be Facebook's job to police medical claims. The counter claims should probably be against the claimers, and have a judge(s) order the ads pulled. When Facebook receives the judge's order, it then pulls the ad.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 16 2019, @07:49PM (1 child)
Rewording: "The counter claimers should probably file a lawsuit against the claimers, and have a judge(s) order..."
Addendum: This doesn't seem like it's a new problem; magazines and newsletters have been running medicine related ads for more than a century.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Monday December 16 2019, @09:38PM
Some countries [nps.org.au] try to stop that sort of advertising
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex