School of Physical Sciences, Dublin City University, Dublin, Leinster, Ireland.
Department of Oncology, University of Oxford, Roosevelt Drive, Oxford, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom.
PLoS One. 2021 Mar 12;16(3):e0245900. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0245900. eCollection 2021.
The coronavirus pandemic has seen a marked rise in medical disinformation across social media. A variety of claims have garnered considerable traction, including the assertion that COVID is a hoax or deliberately manufactured, that 5G frequency radiation causes coronavirus, and that the pandemic is a ruse by big pharmaceutical companies to profiteer off a vaccine. An estimated 30% of some populations subscribe some form of COVID medico-scientific conspiracy narratives, with detrimental impacts for themselves and others. Consequently, exposing the lack of veracity of these claims is of considerable importance. Previous work has demonstrated that historical medical and scientific conspiracies are highly unlikely to be sustainable. In this article, an expanded model for a hypothetical en masse COVID conspiracy is derived. Analysis suggests that even under ideal circumstances for conspirators, commonly encountered conspiratorial claims are highly unlikely to endure, and would quickly be exposed. This work also explores the spectrum of medico-scientific acceptance, motivations behind propagation of falsehoods, and the urgent need for the medical and scientific community to anticipate and counter the emergence of falsehoods.
冠状病毒大流行期间,社交媒体上的医学虚假信息明显增多。各种说法引起了相当大的关注,包括断言 COVID 是骗局或故意制造的、5G 频率辐射会导致冠状病毒,以及大制药公司利用疫苗牟取暴利是一场骗局。据估计,一些人群中约有 30%的人相信某种形式的 COVID 医学科学阴谋论,这对他们自己和他人都有不利影响。因此,揭露这些说法缺乏真实性是非常重要的。先前的工作表明,历史上的医学和科学阴谋极不可能持续。在本文中,衍生出了一个假设的大规模 COVID 阴谋的扩展模型。分析表明,即使对于阴谋者来说是理想的情况,常见的阴谋论说法也极不可能持续,并且会很快被揭露。这项工作还探讨了医学科学接受的范围、传播虚假信息的动机,以及医学和科学界迫切需要预测和应对虚假信息的出现。
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