How does frequent social media use impact our mental health? A recent study attempted to pinpoint the effects of spending hours on Twitter and Facebook, but the inherent difficulty in analyzing human behavior limits our ability to find a precise answer.
RFK, Jr., who blamed the COVID vaccine for causing the death of baseball legend Hank Aaron, continues to spread deadly anti-vaccine nonsense on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. The companies' claims that they're trying to clean up disinformation ring hollow.
Should Facebook be in the business of "debunking" news and scientific data when events are rapidly changing? What's true today may be declared false tomorrow, only to be declared true again a week later. Furthermore, does Facebook have the expertise to do so?
There are two false narratives emerging on social media that need to be addressed. The first is that the virus is a hoax. The second is that the U.S. is "the next Italy." Both are wrong.
The purpose of the Facebook page "I Fu**ing Love Science" is to popularize science while remaining scientifically accurate. However, one of its posts was recently flagged as "fake news" by Facebook fact-checkers.
While Facebook has drawn massive criticism over manipulative political ads, the social media giant also runs advertisements around vaccinations, which is another divisive policy topic. A new study gives us a glimpse of the ads' content, targets and purchasers.
Facebook plans to crack down on content that peddles fake health news and other snake oil. While this is a great idea in theory if done properly, FB's track record of policing the content of its social media platform is poor. Their officials should seek outside help. May we suggest the American Council on Science and Health?
From hospital inpatient “wealth screenings” for potential donors, to digital "geofencing" cell phones in emergency rooms, the erosion of patient privacy is real. Guess who's the latest to have access to your intimate data (e.g. pregnancy status, ovulation cycle, blood pressure) without your consent?
With the proposed consumer privacy initiative in California a reaction to internet data abuse, it's time, long overdue, to discuss the murky territory once-presumed-protected health information has entered.
In the early days of microbiology experiments, when researchers needed test subjects they frequently went to those closest nearby which included their family or themselves.
Now, we have animals to use for experimentation or humans, if the right permission is granted and protocols obtained.
That said, some modern biohackers, or people who take a do it yourself (DIY) mentality to science experiments, are going old school and using their own bodies as the first test subject. Recently, Aaron Traywick, CEO of Ascendance Biomedical, did just that. He injected himself on stage at the conference BodyHacking Con with a homemade herpes treatment.
A 1% increase in suicide-related search terms resulted in 54 additional suicides in the United States. Do search engines like Google or social media outlets like Facebook have any responsibility to monitor the mental health of their users?
Facebook, a site from which a substantial number of people acquire their daily news, has decided that pages that post fake stories will be banned from advertising. That's a perfectly fine decision, but it raises a bigger and more profound question: Who decides which news is fake? Mark Zuckerberg?