With cat photos and sometimes scathing irony, Mathieu Rebeaud, a Swiss-based researcher in biochemistry, has nearly tripled his Twitter following since the coronavirus pandemic began.
With 14,000 followers, he posts almost daily, giving explanations on the latest scientific research and, in particular, aims to fight misinformation that spreads as fast as the virus itself.
He is among a growing number of doctors, academics and institutions who in recent weeks have adapted and amplified their scientific messaging in hopes of countering what has been termed an “infodemic” — a deluge of information, including widespread false claims, which experts say can pose a serious threat to public health. “In the case of the COVID-19 pandemic, conspiracy theories provide complete, simple, seemingly rationalistic and watertight explanations,” Kinga Polynczuk-Alenius, a University of Helsinki researcher, said.
In February, British medical journal The Lancet warned that “the rapid dissemination of trustworthy information” was needed most during a period of uncertainty. Jean-Francois Chambon, a doctor and director of communications at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, said he had no choice but to forcefully deny a widely shared video in March accusing the institution of having “created” the new coronavirus.
“We must go to any lengths” to debunk the lies, he said. The institute created a web page dedicated to educating the public about the virus, Chambon said. “We realized that there was a lot of ‘fake news’ on the subject,” he added.
Earlier this month, the Red Cross launched what it said was the first global network of social media influencers to battle misinformation and spread lifesaving content about the pandemic.
The World Health Organization, meanwhile, has entered into an agreement with Facebook to transmit information directly to users via personal message services. The battle however feels unbalanced, said the researcher, who works at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland.
“Dismantling nonsense takes 10 times more energy than spreading it,” he said, agreeing with the findings of a 2018 study by the magazine Science which noted that “lies spread faster than the truth.”
Source: Japan Times
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