Academics, universities and government agencies are overhauling or ending research programs designed to counter the spread of online misinformation amid a legal campaign from conservative politicians and activists who accuse them of colluding with tech companies to censor right-wing views.
The escalating campaign — led by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and other Republicans in Congress and state government — has cast a pall over programs that study not just political falsehoodsbut also the quality of medical information online.
Facing litigation,Stanford University officials are discussing howthey can continue tracking election-related misinformation through the Election Integrity Partnership (EIP), a prominent consortium that flagged social media conspiracies about voting in 2020 and 2022, several participants told The Washington Post. The coalition of disinformation researchers may shrink and also may stop communicating with X and Facebook about their findings.
The National Institutes of Health froze a $150 million program intended to advance the communication of medical information, citing regulatory and legal threats. Physicians told The Post that they had planned to use the grants to fund projects on noncontroversial topics such as nutritional guidelines and not just politically charged issues such as vaccinations that have been the focus of the conservativeallegations.
NIH officials sent a memo in July to some employees, warning them not to flag misleading social media posts to tech companies and to limit their communication with the public to answering medical questions.
“If the question relates in any way to misinformation or disinformation, please do not respond,” read the guidance email, sent in July after a Louisiana judge blocked many federal agencies from communicating with social media companies. NIH declined to comment on whether the guidance was lifted in light of a September appeals court ruling, which significantly narrowed the initial court order.
“In the name of protecting free speech, the scientific community is not allowed to speak,” said Dean Schillinger,a health communication scientist who planned to apply to the NIH program to collaborate with a Tagalog-language newspaper to share accurate health information with Filipinos. “Science is being halted in its tracks.”
Academics and government scientists say the campaign also is successfully throttling the years-long effort to study online falsehoods, which grew after Russian attempts to interfere in the 2016 election caught both social media sites and politicians unaware.
Interviews with more than two dozen professors, government officials, physicians, nonprofits and research funders, many of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss their internal deliberations freely, describe an escalating campaign emerging as online propaganda is rising.
Social media platforms have pulled back on moderating content even as evidence mounts that Russia and China have intensified covert influence campaigns; next week, the disinformation watchdog NewsGuard will release a study that found 12 major media accounts from Russia, China and Iran saw the number of likes and reposts on X nearly double after Musk removed labels calling them government-affiliated. Advances in generative artificial intelligence have opened the door to potentialwidespread voter manipulation.Meanwhile, public health officials are grappling with medical misinformation, as the United States heads into the fall and winter virus season.
Conservatives have long complained that social media platforms stifle their views, but the efforts to limit moderation have intensified in the past year.
The most high-profile effort, a lawsuit known as Missouri v. Biden, is now before the Supreme Court, where the Biden administration seeks to have the high court block a ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit that found the White House, FBI and top federal health officials likely violated the First Amendment by improperly influencing tech companies’ decisions to remove or suppress posts on the coronavirus and elections. That ruling was narrower than a district court’s finding that also barred government officials from working with academic groups, including the Stanford Internet Observatory. But the Biden Justice Department argues the injunction still contradicts certain First Amendment principles, including that the president is entitled to use his bully pulpit to persuade American companies “to act in ways that the President believes would advance the public interest.”
“The university is deeply concerned about ongoing efforts to chill freedom of inquiry and undermine legitimate and much needed academic research in the areas of misinformation — both at Stanford and across academia,” Stanford Assistant Vice President Dee Mostofi told The Post. “Stanford believes strongly in academic freedom and the right of the faculty to choose the research they wish to pursue. The Stanford Internet Observatory is continuing its critical research on the important problem of misinformation.”
Jordan has issued subpoenas and demands for researchers’ communications with the government and social media platforms as part of a larger congressional probe into the Biden administration’s alleged collusion with Big Tech.
“This effort is clearly intended to deter researchers from pursuing these studies and penalize them for their findings,” Jen Jones, the program director for the Center for Science and Democracy at the Union of Concerned Scientists, an environmental group that promotes scientific research, said in a statement.
Disinformation scholars, many of whom tracked both covid-19 and 2020 election-rigging conspiracies, also have faced an onslaught of public records requests and lawsuits from conservative sympathizersechoing Jordan’s probe. Billionaire Elon Musk’s X has sued a nonprofit advocacy group, the Center for Countering Digital Hate, accusing it of improperly accessing large amounts of data through someone else’s license —a practice that researchers say is common. Trump adviser Stephen Miller’s America First Legal Foundation is representing the founder of the conspiracy-spreading website, the Gateway Pundit, in a May lawsuit alleging researchers at Stanford, the University of Washington and other organizations conspired with the government to restrict speech. The case is ongoing.
Nadgey Louis-Charles, a spokeswoman for the House Judiciary Committee that Jordan chairs, said the Jordan-led investigation is focused on “the federal government’s involvement in speech censorship, and the investigation’s purpose is to inform legislative solutions for how to protect free speech.”
“The Committee sends letters only to entities with a connection to the federal government in the context of moderating speech online,” she said. “No entity receives a letter from the Committee without a written explanation of the entity’s connection to the federal government.”
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey (R), in a statement, said the federal government “silenced” information because “it didn’t fit their narrative.”
“Missouri v. Biden is the most important First Amendment case in a generation, which is why we’re taking it to the nation’s highest court,” he said.
“As a pro-democracy organization, American First Legal is committed to defeating the censorship-industrial complex that is crushing freedom and promoting dangerous conspiracy theories about Americans who dare to question government dogma,” Miller said in a statement.
‘A serious threat to the integrity of science’
In September 2022, an NIH council greenlit a $150 million program to fund research on how to best communicate health issues to the public. Administrators had planned the initiative for months, convening a strategy workshop with top tech and advertising executives, academics, faith leaders and physicians.
“We know there’s a lot of inaccurate health information out there,” said Bill Klein, the associate director of the National Cancer Institute’s Behavioral Research Program at a meeting approving the program. He showed a slide of headlines about how online misinformation hampered the response to the covid-19 pandemic, as well as other public health issues, including gun violence and HIV treatment.
The program was intended to address topics vulnerable to online rumors, including nutrition,tobacco, mental health and cancer screenings such as mammograms, according to three people who attended a planning workshop.
Yet in early summer 2023, NIH officials contacted someresearchers with the news that the grant program had been canceled. NIH appended a cryptic notice to its website in June, saying the program was on “pause” so that the agency could “reconsider its scope and aims” amid a heated regulatory environment.
promethazine annoy – promethazine italian promethazine prospect
This post was incredibly informative and well-organized. I learned so much from reading it. Thank you for your hard work and dedication!rendingnicheblog
claritin pills comrade – loratadine medication flap claritin forever
loratadine medication somewhat – claritin touch loratadine medication lean
valtrex pills bush – valacyclovir bedroom valtrex pills always
uti medication admiration – uti medication sugar treatment for uti confidence
acne medication happiness – acne treatment twinkle acne treatment project
prandin sale – jardiance 25mg uk empagliflozin online
pill micronase – cost micronase 2.5mg buy dapagliflozin 10mg online
buy methylprednisolone – methylprednisolone 16mg tablet azelastine order
purchase desloratadine pill – aristocort uk order albuterol inhalator generic
ivermectin 12 mg – ivermectin covid how to buy cefaclor
zithromax brand – tindamax 500mg pills where to buy ciprofloxacin without a prescription
how to get cleocin without a prescription – suprax 100mg ca buy chloromycetin
Howdy! Do you know if they make any plugins to assist with Search Engine Optimization? I’m trying to get my site to rank for some targeted keywords but I’m not seeing very good gains.
If you know of any please share. Thanks! I saw similar art here:
Scrapebox List
order augmentin 375mg without prescription – buy ampicillin no prescription cipro for sale
buy amoxicillin sale – purchase amoxil generic buy generic cipro online
buy clomipramine 50mg online cheap – buy cheap generic duloxetine sinequan medication
atarax 25mg cheap – purchase buspirone purchase amitriptyline pills
buy quetiapine tablets – fluvoxamine canada order eskalith without prescription
buy clozapine pills – cheap clozaril pepcid 40mg uk
purchase lasix generic – how to get medex without a prescription order capoten for sale
flagyl price – zithromax 250mg cost buy zithromax generic
ivermectin without a doctor prescription – purchase amoxiclav generic tetracycline 250mg cheap
buy valacyclovir – order nemasole online cheap buy acyclovir tablets
metronidazole 400mg tablet – cefaclor where to buy zithromax cheap
buy cipro no prescription – buy amoxiclav online cheap augmentin without prescription
oral ampicillin buy ampicillin no prescription buy generic amoxicillin
dutasteride price avodart 0.5mg over the counter ranitidine 300mg for sale
buy zocor 10mg pill purchase valacyclovir for sale
buy sumatriptan 25mg pills buy levaquin 250mg pill order levofloxacin 500mg without prescription
zofran 8mg brand buy aldactone 100mg sale
buy nexium generic topamax 200mg tablet topamax 200mg generic
order flomax pills celebrex for sale
buy metoclopramide 20mg pill buy losartan 25mg pill buy losartan cheap
purchase mobic sale celebrex ca celecoxib cost
buy cheap methotrexate buy medex pills for sale buy warfarin 5mg generic
inderal 10mg pills brand inderal plavix 75mg pill
online essay writing essays buy essays online to buy
Wow, amazing blog layout! How lengthy have you ever been running a blog for?
you made blogging glance easy. The overall look of your website
is great, as well as the content material! You can see similar: sklep online and here ecommerce
buy medrol 8mg medrol cheap purchase medrol pills
tenormin 50mg generic tenormin price buy atenolol 100mg online
buy flexeril online buy generic flexeril for sale order baclofen pills
order motilium generic sumycin over the counter
prilosec 10mg sale buy prilosec tablets omeprazole 10mg oral
rosuvastatin 10mg generic zetia 10mg for sale ezetimibe 10mg cost
lisinopril 2.5mg tablet prinivil order online lisinopril 5mg price
zovirax 800mg pill order acyclovir 400mg pill allopurinol 100mg usa
norvasc brand norvasc 5mg uk amlodipine 10mg tablet
atorvastatin 40mg cheap buy generic atorvastatin 20mg atorvastatin 40mg pill
orlistat 60mg brand diltiazem 180mg ca buy generic diltiazem for sale
buy glycomet pills order generic metformin 1000mg metformin 500mg oral
dapoxetine 60mg tablet buy cytotec pills
order metformin for sale order metformin 500mg pill glycomet 500mg brand
loratadine over the counter loratadine pill cost claritin
cenforce canada order cenforce 50mg generic buy cenforce 50mg sale
buy generic lyrica 75mg buy lyrica 75mg pill order lyrica online
hydroxychloroquine 400mg oral plaquenil tablet buy generic plaquenil
roulette online free money poker online real casino online
buy vardenafil medication purchase vardenafil online cheap
doxycycline 200mg oral oral vibra-tabs
buy furosemide 40mg order lasix 100mg online cheap
sildenafil online viagra 100mg generic
Instalación simple y descarga gratuita, no se requieren conocimientos técnicos y no se requiere raíz.Grabacion de llamadas, Grabacion de entorno, Ubicaciones GPS, Mensajes Whatsapp y Facebook, Mensajes SMS y muchas características mas. https://www.mycellspy.com/es/tutorials/
order gabapentin 100mg for sale neurontin 100mg ca generic neurontin
clomiphene 100mg brand buy generic clomid 100mg clomid uk
Ahora, la tecnología de posicionamiento se ha utilizado ampliamente. Muchos automóviles y teléfonos móviles tienen funciones de posicionamiento, y también hay muchas aplicaciones de posicionamiento. Cuando se pierde su teléfono, puede utilizar estas herramientas para iniciar rápidamente solicitudes de seguimiento de ubicación. ¿Entiende cómo ubicar la ubicación del teléfono, cómo ubicar el teléfono después de que se pierde?
generic levothyroxine levoxyl cost levothyroxine brand
azithromycin online order buy zithromax without a prescription azithromycin pills
purchase ventolin sale buy albuterol pill albuterol tablet
order absorica for sale buy generic isotretinoin
buy generic semaglutide over the counter rybelsus sale buy rybelsus generic
buy clomid cheap clomid generic clomid 50mg
cost synthroid levothroid oral synthroid for sale
order augmentin 625mg generic buy clavulanate without prescription
order ventolin 2mg generic order albuterol for sale ventolin price
buy doxycycline 100mg without prescription buy acticlate
buy amoxil 250mg generic amoxicillin us cost amoxil 500mg
buy omnacortil 5mg sale omnacortil brand buy prednisolone cheap
furosemide 100mg tablet purchase furosemide generic
order azipro 500mg pills brand azithromycin azithromycin 500mg sale
top selling sleep aids brand provigil
amoxil 250mg pill brand amoxicillin 250mg amoxicillin 500mg usa
order accutane 40mg online cheap isotretinoin 10mg oral
best quick gerd relief medication roxithromycin 150 mg over the counter
how to clear adult acne prescription meds for acne teenagers
how to eliminate heartburn purchase bactrim generic
deltasone 20mg us
prescription for sleep aids phenergan 25mg pills
alphabetical list of allergy medications best allergy over the counter types of allergy pills