News/Analysis/Mis-leaders

Welcome to The Spectrum of Misinformation newsletter with misinformation news, analysis & practical advice for communicators. 

In News digest, read about US measles misinformation, fake facts about UK research, HPV infertility myths, TikTok's harmful medical test content, misinformation driving people smuggling, how reminders can boost resistance to fake news. Discover the misinformers' latest tactics in The challenge of mis-leaders, catch-up on LSHTM's work in Notes on a counter-misinformation campaign #2 and fill up on analysis and advice with Want to learn more?

News digest

AFP covers measles vaccine misinformation around an outbreak in Texas. NBC News debunks claims MMR vaccine caused the outbreak with Matthew Washam stating there has never been a documented case of MMR causing a measles infection that spread to others.

The Independent reports MPs saying an unpublished report shows Google ads helped to monetise a website that shared misinformation about the Southport stabbings.

Full Fact corrects The Sun's claim the UK Government 'squander £8BILLION fund on projects like TikTok dancing, ‘queer animals’ & pro-trans robots' when £8bn is the entire UKRI budget and the 26 projects targeted by TaxPayers’ Alliance totalled £10.4m.

The Guardian highlights Trump repeating false claims on US funding for Ukraine, inclusion scholarships, and social security payments to dead people, in a speech to Congress. AP digs into the social security data and shows COBOL quirks are behind the misleading stats.

USA Today busts myths on social media about HPV vaccine Gardasil-9, including the false claim that it can cause infertility, which is in fact a real risk from the cancer the vaccine protects against.

DW covers a JAMA study which found 85% of Instagram and TikTok posts about medical tests provide misleading or potentially harmful advice that failed to mention important harms.

BBC World Service must be state-funded to counter a disinformation drive from Russia BBC bosses will argue, according to The Guardian.

ITV looks at a UK Government campaign warning Iraqis about online misinformation spread by people smugglers.

Reuters Institute highlights how Japanese broadcaster NHK has monitored misinformation about natural disasters since 2013.

NPR carries a sobering personal piece by Zach Mack on how he spent a year trying to persuade his father not to believe conspiracy theories.

In research news: CNN covers a new study showing misinformation training 'boosters' after an initial inoculation could extend the immunity from prebunking interventions from weeks to months. While Cambridge University examines research showing inoculation can help protect against 'native advertisements' that imitate real news articles.

All a bit much? The Conversation shares 6 strategies to stay informed and avoid being overwhelmed by misinformation.

The challenge of Mis-leaders

When we talk about misinformation we often focus on 'fake news'.

But it's worth remembering misinformation includes misleading as well as false claims. A live case study is RFK Jr's response to a measles outbreak in Texas that led to the first US measles deaths since 2015.

Initially he downplayed the threat, saying: "There have been four measles outbreaks this year. In this country last year there were 16. So, it’s not unusual. We have measles outbreaks every year.”

On 2 March he appeared to change tack in an op-ed for Fox News, writing: "Tragically, this outbreak has claimed the life of a school-aged child... Prior to the introduction of the vaccine in the 1960s, virtually every child in the United States contracted measles."

But, as others have observed, his op-ed mixes evidence-based public health messages such as: "vaccines not only protect individual children from measles, but also contribute to community immunity" with lines closer to anti-vax views: "Parents play a pivotal role in safeguarding their children’s health... The decision to vaccinate is a personal one."

Instead of explicitly recommending children are given the MMR vaccine to combat the outbreak he shifts the focus towards Vitamin A: "Studies have found that vitamin A can dramatically reduce measles mortality."

CNN covered how in follow-up interviews RFK Jr talked up the use of cold liver oil, which is high in vitamins A and D.

Dr Amesh Adalja told CNN: "vitamin A supplementation can be lifesaving for measles cases when vitamin A deficiency is present" BUT this was taken "out of context" with the studies mainly using evidence from low-income countries where Vitamin A deficiency is common.

RFK Jr mentioned the antibiotic clarithromycin, perhaps because it might be used to prevent secondary bacterial infections like pneumonia. But Dr Christina Johns warned against conflating care with cure: "There is no treatment for measles.”

With misinformation about vitamin A spreading on social media, doctors worry parents are giving it to their children instead of getting them vaccinated. RFK Jr also failed to mention that vitamin A is usually administered in hospital due to the risk of vitamin A toxicity: too much can lead to vomiting, nausea, blurry vision, muscle weakness, liver damage, and brain damage.

So what's going on?

My take is we're seeing the 'mis-leader' playbook unfolding in real time, combining tactics such as delay ("it's not unusual"), with distract (suggesting vitamin A or clarithromycin might help) and ignore (vitamin A toxicity risk - imagine if these were vaccine harms!).

The goal is to move the conversation away from the consensus (MMR is safe and effective and protects your child against measles) towards alternative narratives the mis-leader can control.

By cherry-picking real data and studies and switching narratives misinformers don't need to spread verifiably fake news to undermine trust in vaccines and the authorities, while appearing reasonable.

I'm not suggesting some masterplan, rather, this is the way misinformers operate. They share something with a kernel of truth, mislead, and then soften their audience up to believe their wilder false claims that bring them financial or political rewards.

A measure of the success of these tactics is, with the US in the middle of a deadly measles outbreak, Reuters reporting the CDC has been tasked with conducting a large study into vaccines and autism, when extensive research has failed to find any evidence for a link.

Notes on a counter-misinformation campaign #2

At the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) our counter-misinformation campaign is gaining momentum.

We chose the key health topics where we'll respond to misinformation attacks and promoted six principles for counter-misinformation communications to help our staff devise effective interventions.

Gavi liked our principles so much they interviewed our Director and republished them. While, in what I suspect will be the first of many hit pieces, Canadian far-right outlet Rebel News tried to pick them apart.

We've begun the real work of crafting the interventions themselves, with an initial focus on vaccine misinformation targeting Neutrals or "don't knows". One of the key learnings is: tailor your interventions to different audiences. It's probably not helpful to talk to young mothers about shingles or flu vaccine misinformation, instead focus on measles and whooping cough.

We're developing messages for three different age groups: young mothers with babies, the under 30s, and over 65s. We'll then look at using different media and social channels to reach each group.

Another key challenge when developing interventions is to work out what the most common misinformation is about each topic.

I found a couple of approaches useful, including entering a topic such as "HPV" or "mRNA vaccine" into the search tool AlsoAsked and looking at the diagram of what questions people are asking online.

As I could only use this tool a few times for free, I then tried AI, asking Co-Pilot things like: "What questions do people ask on line when searching for [insert vaccine] controversies?" or "What is common misinformation about [insert vaccine]". Because the answers don't have to be right, just broadly representative, while it didn't capture everything it did provide some helpful suggestions on what to cover.

Another lesson was where information is confusing or incomplete misinformation fills the void. For instance, while we're good at telling people to get vaccinated there's very little on the how, and overcoming barriers such as people not knowing if jabs are free, where they can get them, whether they can accompany their child, and little to explain to those born after the elimination of diseases (eg polio) why we need vaccination to stop them coming back.

The other thing that's been keeping me busy is finalising the proposal for an event on health misinformation at LSHTM in September.

Rather than a standard academic event, the idea is to bring experts, journalists, and communications professionals together to share knowledge and inspiring ideas about how to combat health misinformation in the media, on social media, and online.

I'm pleased to say that last week we got the go-ahead for the event. We've put together an ambitious programme and we'll be sending out invitations soon to a range of high-profile speakers who we hope will want to take part.

One of the goals of the event will be to launch an informal UK health counter-misinformation network that could help share intel about misinformation attacks on key health topics, as well as evidence of what interventions work, hopefully sparking some collaborations.

It's still early days, but with the flood gates of US misinformation opening our work is generating a lot of enthusiasm that I'm hoping we can harness. I'll be sharing more updates as our campaign progresses.

Want to learn more?

If you missed #1 of notes on a counter-misinformation campaign you can catch up here. Who's responsible for all of this fake news? Meet The Generator. There's background on the US surge as well as a book club bonus in my previous newsletter. And don't miss a feature on how to engage with the media about misinformation.