Follow evidence to the joint committee of MPs and peers considering the draft online harms bill Johnson says he is “very worried” about Cop26 because they might not get the agreements they need for the world to get to net zero by the middle of the century. But he thinks Continue Reading
Vaccines and immunisation
Australia Covid live update: Victoria records 1,890 new cases and five deaths; NSW businesses prepare to reopen- Tempemail
Lockdown set to lift in Sydney at midnight as Victoria releases secondary contacts from requirement to isolate amid a surge in cases. Follow updates live Victoria cases surge to new record as NSW investigates new Delta strain NSW vaccination verification app update still weeks away Sharri Markson’s book on Wuhan Continue Reading
Vaccine booking website causes confusion with some regional Australians told to head interstate | Society
The government’s Covid-19 vaccination booking website is telling regional Australians they will need to travel hundreds of kilometres, in some cases across state borders, to receive their dose , despite much closer options expected to be available within weeks. The errors have prompted doctors to urge the Morrison government to Continue Reading
Small number of Facebook users responsible for most Covid vaccine skepticism – report | Technology
A small subset of Facebook users is reportedly responsible for the majority of content expressing or encouraging skepticism about Covid-19 vaccines, according to early results from an internal Facebook study. The study, first reported by the Washington Post, confirms what researchers have long argued about how the echo chamber effect Continue Reading
Facebook to remove false claims about Covid vaccines | Technology
Facebook is to begin removing false claims about Covid vaccines, the company has announced, as the UK prepares to roll out the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. It is the strongest move yet by Facebook to prevent its platform from being used to promote anti-vaccination rhetoric. The Pfizer/BioNTech Covid jab is an mRNA Continue Reading
Tech giants join with governments to fight Covid misinformation | Technology
Facebook, Twitter and Google are working with a coalition of governments including the UK and Canada to fight misinformation and conspiracy theories around Covid vaccinations. Formed by the British fact-checking charity Full Fact, the new working group will aim to set cross-platform standards for tackling misinformation – as well as Continue Reading
Social media firms must face sanction for ‘anti-vax content’, demands Labour | World news- Tempemail
Social media companies that fail to act to “stamp out dangerous anti-vaccine content” should be subject to financial and criminal penalties, Labour has demanded. As hopes rise that a vaccine against coronavirus could be ready within weeks, analysis by Labour has revealed that dedicated online groups with hundreds of thousands Continue Reading
Facebook to ban ads discouraging vaccination | Technology- Tempemail
Facebook will ban ads that discourage people from getting vaccinated, the social media company announced Tuesday, as it launches a new public health campaign aimed at spreading flu vaccine information. The changes are a departure from Facebook’s previous policy, which prohibited ads with vaccine misinformation but allowed ads expressing opposition Continue Reading
The QAnon conspiracy | World news- Tempemail
QAnon is a wide-ranging and baseless internet conspiracy theory that has been on the fringes of rightwing internet communities for years, but its visibility has exploded in recent months amid the social unrest and uncertainty of the coronavirus pandemic. QAnon has its roots in previously established conspiracy theories, some relatively Continue Reading
Engagement with anti-vaccine Facebook posts trebles in one month | Media- Tempemail
Engagement with anti-vaccine posts on a sample of UK Facebook pages trebled between July and August, analysis by the Guardian has found, triggering calls for a major new push to tackle conspiracy theories. Interactions on posts expressing scepticism or hostility towards vaccines on six UK Facebook pages increased from 12,000 Continue Reading