The surgeon general officially warns Americans about health misinformation being an urgent threat. This is amidst the United States government's current push when it comes to boosting stalling vaccination rates.
Dr. Vivek Murthy Warns on Health Misinformation
According to the story by ABCNews, Dr. Vivek Murthy's advisory, the very first under the new administration, addresses a full epidemic of misinformation as well as disinformation, including its pernicious impact when it comes to public health.
This also included specifically threatening the United States response to COVID-19.
It now frames misinformation as having hindered total vaccination efforts, causing people to reject certain public health measures, sown mistrust, use unproven treatments, and even prolonging the whole pandemic, resulting in putting people's lives at risk.
The advisory also noted that combatting misinformation is referred to as a "moral and civic responsibility" when it comes to the individual and institutional level.
Misinformation Could Lead to Animosity
According to the advisory, misinformation reportedly tends to flourish in certain environments of different significant societal division, distrust, and animosity. It then continued with the statement that distrust of the whole health care system due to some experiences with racism, as well as other inequities, might make it much easier for information to be able to spread in a number of communities.
It was also noted that growing polarization, which included the political sphere, might also contribute to the wide spread of misinformation.
The advisory reportedly also digs into different social media platforms as having contributed quite heavily to the "unprecedented speed and scale" of the spread of misinformation.
Murthy Says Health Misinformation Could be Urgent Threat
Murthy reportedly calls on technology as well as social media companies to take on more responsibility in order to stop online spread of potentially harmful health misinformation.
The statement continued, stating that health information really is an urgent threat direct to public health. As of the moment, however, misformation still continues as smaller groups spread through livestreaming.
The statement continued to note that it can sow mistrust, confusion, and even undermine public health efforts. This included their ongoing work to finally end the COVID-19 pandemic.
Murthy noted that as Surgeon General, Murthy's job is to help stay safe and remain healthy.
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Facebook on COVID-19 Misinformation
It was then noted that without limiting the spread of health misinformation, this puts American lives at risk. It was also said that tackling the particular change will require a firm all-of-society approach, and that it is critical for the long-term health of America.
The advisory then laid out a number of ways to better identify and even avoid sharing health misinformation. An article by AARP.org noted that Facebook is cracking down on misinformation. The platform has reportedly removed 14 million deceptive COVID-19 posts in 2020.
As users can now see, whenever searches for COVID-19 related content are made, they are then redirected to more reputable pages. Whenever certain COVID-19-related content appears on social media, users are then met with a warning that the post contains COVID-19 related content, urging them to be cautious in regards to the content.
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Written by Urian B.
