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Source: https://time.com/5773801/scientists-counter-misinformation-coronavirus/
'There Are Sensible Voices That Are Emerging,' How Scientists Are Using Social Media to Counter Coronavirus Misinformation
By Jasmine Aguilera
7:04 PM EST
As a new form of coronavirus continues to infect a growing number of people around the world, medical professionals, scientists and big tech giants are fighting the spread of another contagion — misinformation. Just like a virus, it can be difficult to contain and many working in medical and scientific fields are using the very tools used to spread misinformation to counter it.
Though so much misinformation is spread on platforms like Twitter and Facebook, Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, and hundreds of other scientists and medical professionals who are studying the 2019 Novel Coronavirus, have been utilizing social media to disseminate accurate information in real time, countering conspiracy theories and collaborating for research.
“Today, in this outbreak, we are sharing information almost to the second of its release,” says Crystal Watson, senior researcher and assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. “That allows a lot more collective thinking and decision making.”
Watson says that social media had made it possible for scientific information to be shared much more quickly. “In prior outbreaks before social media, often we had to wait for a publication in a journal, for example, to learn about some of what was going on,” she says.
Many working in scientific and medical fields started to notice the spread of harmful misinformation at the beginning of the outbreak and experts started using their expertise to help counter it. “I think there’s some [misinformation] that is intentionally harmful, either disseminating information about a false cure, for example, or spreading information that stigmatizes specific groups of people,” Watson says. “So it’s really important that we get on top of that and provide correct information and push it out as best we can.”...
'There Are Sensible Voices That Are Emerging,' How Scientists Are Using Social Media to Counter Coronavirus Misinformation
By Jasmine Aguilera
7:04 PM EST
As a new form of coronavirus continues to infect a growing number of people around the world, medical professionals, scientists and big tech giants are fighting the spread of another contagion — misinformation. Just like a virus, it can be difficult to contain and many working in medical and scientific fields are using the very tools used to spread misinformation to counter it.
Though so much misinformation is spread on platforms like Twitter and Facebook, Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, and hundreds of other scientists and medical professionals who are studying the 2019 Novel Coronavirus, have been utilizing social media to disseminate accurate information in real time, countering conspiracy theories and collaborating for research.
“Today, in this outbreak, we are sharing information almost to the second of its release,” says Crystal Watson, senior researcher and assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. “That allows a lot more collective thinking and decision making.”
Watson says that social media had made it possible for scientific information to be shared much more quickly. “In prior outbreaks before social media, often we had to wait for a publication in a journal, for example, to learn about some of what was going on,” she says.
Many working in scientific and medical fields started to notice the spread of harmful misinformation at the beginning of the outbreak and experts started using their expertise to help counter it. “I think there’s some [misinformation] that is intentionally harmful, either disseminating information about a false cure, for example, or spreading information that stigmatizes specific groups of people,” Watson says. “So it’s really important that we get on top of that and provide correct information and push it out as best we can.”...
