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Russian Trolls Fueled Anti-Vaccination Debate On Twitter, Study Finds (cbsnews.com) 209

"Russian Twitter trolls have attempted to fuel the anti-vaccination debate in the U.S.," reports CBS News, citing a study from George Washington University. Bots are reportedly sharing opinions from both sides of the debate to stir up controversy

The Daily Dot reports: The study further warns that the spread of anti-vaccine misinformation by "accounts masquerading as legitimate users" erodes the public consensus on the effectiveness of vaccination. News of the study comes as the U.S. faces the worst measles outbreak in 25 years. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Thursday that 940 known cases of measles have been reported so far this year. "This is the greatest number of cases reported in the U.S. since 1994 and since measles was declared eliminated in 2000," the CDC said.
While Facebook vowed ten weeks ago to crack down on anti-vaccination information, Thursday the Wall Street Journal reported that instead it "remains widely available" across Facebook -- and that Facebook is still running paid ads from a prominent anti-vaccination group. [Paywalled article]

According to the Journal, Facebook "says it is mindful of overreach and is still refining automated tools for culling content."
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Russian Trolls Fueled Anti-Vaccination Debate On Twitter, Study Finds

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  • by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 01, 2019 @01:39PM (#58691834)

    Next you'll tell me that Trump lied a few times?

  • by cdsparrow ( 658739 ) on Saturday June 01, 2019 @01:41PM (#58691848)

    Isn't true? Color me amazed.

    Most all of these BS issues could be fixed if we started teaching critical thinking again in school.

    • Re: (Score:1, Troll)

      by Mashiki ( 184564 )

      Most all of these BS issues could be fixed if we started teaching critical thinking again in school.

      Too bad they've drummed that out in favor of common core and it's analogs in other western countries.

    • by PopeRatzo ( 965947 ) on Saturday June 01, 2019 @02:21PM (#58692080) Journal

      Most all of these BS issues could be fixed if we started teaching critical thinking again in school.

      Yeah, about that:

      https://www.austinchronicle.co... [austinchronicle.com]

      https://www.insidehighered.com... [insidehighered.com]

      There has been a 40-year war on critical thinking in the United States, waged by the GOP and "conservatives". Russia has just made the most of that Civil War on Reason, starting in 2016.

    • I can haz rubella?

      I can haz measles?

      I can haz cheeseburder?

      Are you really sure that critical thinking can be taught? Is the mind a cup, to be filled by the teacher with knowledge?

  • by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 01, 2019 @01:42PM (#58691850)

    unfettered, unchastised, unmitigated

    Thanks, Trumpanzees

  • by fredrated ( 639554 ) on Saturday June 01, 2019 @01:53PM (#58691908) Journal

    with side benefits? The children of stupid people die.

    • People dying of stupidity has almost been abolished now. Society is too litigious, so have to protect the stupid people from hurting themselves. 100 years a complete idiot would likely get themselves killed at some point during the week. But now they are around and breeding.

    • by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 01, 2019 @02:10PM (#58692010)

      And if you think that not vaccinating kids hurts only those kids, then you are dumber than a sack of door knobs. And even if that were true, and you found it acceptable, you'd be a vile, miserable excuse for a human being.

    • Well, except 1) they sometimes take other people with them; and 2) those kids aren’t the guilty ones, so why take pleasure that they’re the ones dying?

    • Sure. And if, as an adult, you get the measles? IT LITERALLY KILLS YOU. Guess what else? Lots of people don't have immunity from vaccinations they got as kids because it was defective to start with. Aside from fomenting chaos and divisiveness in the U.S., shit like this also endangers our very lives.
    • by skam240 ( 789197 ) on Saturday June 01, 2019 @04:20PM (#58692594)

      I can't believe with the number of articles slashdot has done in regards to the anti-vax movement that there's still people who think the only people who will be effected by a breakdown in heard immunity are going to be anti-vaxers.

  • by Anonymous Coward

    Turn idiots into typhoid mary's and let them do the work for you.

    Also how long until people realise that, just because no weapons are fired, doesn't mean we're not at war. The openly state sponsored cyber-hostilities by china and russia against the west are clear acts of aggression akin to sending spies for the purposes of industrial sabotage.

  • Amazing (Score:2, Offtopic)

    Russian Trolls, is there anything they can't do?
  • Uh huh. (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Let me guess. Russian trolls also caused 9/11 and WW2 and herpes and your shitty high school grades and your low SAT scores and your break up with your college girlfriend.

  • by 93 Escort Wagon ( 326346 ) on Saturday June 01, 2019 @02:09PM (#58691996)

    Social media has its place, sometimes at least. But some people need to figure out it’s not a good place to “learn” things from - it’s the equivalent of believing what the drunk guy at the end of the bar is spouting off about.

    • People are lazy and when entertained, may be a little bit indoctrinated.

      Couple that with targeted advertising and you have yourself a winning combination.

  • Nah guys, it's totally ok because Donald Trump is president. You libs are just crazy. /s
    • It's not really a problem, the kind of morons who get their news and medical information from twitter don't matter, they're subhuman. They won't vaccinate anyway, and they'll vote for their traditional party either way.

  • They didn't do it for free.... Or fun!

    • by Anonymous Coward
      Putin thrives when all the western powers are entangled in infightning, which is why he funds stuff like this in the US and anti EU campaigns by "patriotic" parties in Europe.
  • by Applehu Akbar ( 2968043 ) on Saturday June 01, 2019 @02:52PM (#58692198)

    https://allianceforscience.cor... [cornell.edu]

    And it worked. Now we're disease-wracked as well as missing out on the latest biotech.

  • It's called trolling for hits, and most people who do it aren't Russian. Why are people still fucking that chicken [youtube.com] after Mueller wrapped his investigation with no collusion, and the "we're glad you're home, the Russian's pooped in the hallway" meme. [pics.me.me]

  • by Archfeld ( 6757 ) <treboreel@live.com> on Saturday June 01, 2019 @03:45PM (#58692434) Journal

    Anyone stupid enough to look to social media for medical advice deserves what they get. The losers in this scenario are the poor kids who are exposed to easily preventable diseases and the rest of the public at large who are subject to these retards. Why can't we prosecute them for handing out medical advice for which they are obviously not qualified to give ?

  • So who is the Russian troll? Jenny McCarthy? Rosy O'Donnell? Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.? All three were vocal vaccine skeptics before Facebook or Twitter were even incorporated.
    • by Anonymous Coward
      So there can be no one else fuelling on the debate if there where other people that initiated it before? Charlottesville didn't happen because Hitler was first?
      • I don't think Jenny McCarthy or Rosy O'Donnell initiated anything. All 3 people I listed were celebrities. Celebrities have much more influence on public debate than social media does. But only because they give the largest fuel to the cultural fires. If national-level celebrities were already voicing their views on this issue, it must be assumed that it was already a meme (in the original sense of the word meme rather than in the modern interpretation that it's taken).
        • And if many years later some foreign voices joined this chorus, it's not because of them that this conversation lit up. They were simply talking about that which was talked about. The Overton window was pushed in that direction long before these foreign voices joined the conversation.
  • ... people hyperventilating because stuff posted on Usenet might not have, you know, been fully approved by respectable authorities. I can't picture it ... the idea would have been laughable.

    Why have we gone nuts since then?

    "Social media" is either a freewheeling place where people can say what they want, or it's not. (E.g., is it YouTube, or GoogleTube? The original idea was "you", the public, posting stuff, not a curated collection of stuff.)

  • And their first reaction is to tear it down. Sadly they probably have succeeded and the US probably can't ever go back.

    The only recovery at this point is for all Americans to recognize Facebook for what it is. Trash no better than the sensational garbage you see at the supermarket checkout. As the National Enquirer fades away, a new contender rises up to take its place.

It is not best to swap horses while crossing the river. -- Abraham Lincoln

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