28 ms·

Almost every piece of academic fraud is misinformation. Every shady AI marketing ad is misinformation. It's absurd that Biden's administration went after indi

Almost every piece of academic fraud is misinformation. Every shady AI marketing ad is misinformation. It's absurd that Biden's administration went after individuals sharing bad takes on COVID, but not classic fraudulent advertising. Very troubling to see such a huge mismatch between stated policy and government activity.

smt88 2y ago
> went after individuals sharing bad takes on COVID "Went after" is misleadingly strong phrasing. They took no legal action against these people. There is also an established public health function of government that, in no small part, corrects misinformation about things like smoking, fad diets, and, yes, Covid. > but not classic fraudulent advertising This is already illegal and policed by various federal and state agencies. If the regulatory state fails to punish them, consumers can (and often do) file class-action lawsuits. In short, this is a strange axe to grind and seems fairly off-topic anyway.
- anamax 2y ago
  > They took no legal action against these people. There was legal action taken against some doctors. In addition. https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/27/health/fda-ivermectin-lawsuit/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/27/health/fda-ivermectin-lawsuit... And, it's pretty clear that the govt was behind https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-twitter-blacklisting-of-jay-bhattacharya-medical-expert-covid-lockdown-stanford-doctor-shadow-banned-censorship-11670621083 https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-twitter-blacklisting-of-jay... It would have been illegal for the govt to force the NYT to not print those stories but ...
  - busyant 2y ago
    To OP: The fact that there is an "argument" over who is spreading misinformation as part of responses to your very question should tell you this is a difficult problem to deal with. There are many shades of gray to misinformation.
  - anamax 2y ago
    There's also: https://www.forbes.com/sites/paulhsieh/2022/07/25/should-we-punish-physicians-who-spread-covid-19-misinformation/?sh=145a794f304d https://www.forbes.com/sites/paulhsieh/2022/07/25/should-we-... Note that California passed (and then repealed) a law along these lines - https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/legal-regulatory-issues/californias-covid-19-misinformation-law-is-dead.html https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/legal-regulatory-issue... That said, see also https://www.courthousenews.com/california-doctors-falter-in-bid-to-shut-down-discipline-over-covid-advice/ https://www.courthousenews.com/california-doctors-falter-in-...
    - smt88 2y ago
      Again, for the millionth time: none of these were the Biden administration. California's legislature is not Joe Biden.
  - smt88 2y ago
    > There was legal action taken against some doctors. Please give us an example of legal action taken by the Biden administration against doctors. You're probably remembering that some doctors lost their licenses for spreading lies about Covid, which is entirely appropriate. That was action taken by boards of doctors against incompetent doctors who were a danger to their patients. Again, happy to see a counterexample if you have one, where a doctor suffered consequences from the Biden administration and/or unfairly. > And, it's pretty clear that the govt was behind [Twitter blacklisting...] The govt asking Twitter to do something and then Twitter voluntarily doing it is still not Biden "going after" someone. There were (and are) no consequences for social media companies refusing to take meetings with govt disinformation groups, as you can see from the fact that most of them don't do it and Twitter doesn't anymore. > It would have been illegal for the govt to force the NYT to not print those stories but ... A sure sign of a weak argument is the use of inuendo rather than saying what you actually mean.

smt88 2y ago

> went after individuals sharing bad takes on COVID "Went after" is misleadingly strong phrasing. They took no legal action against these people. There is also an established public health function of government that, in no small part, corrects misinformation about things like smoking, fad diets, and, yes, Covid. > but not classic fraudulent advertising This is already illegal and policed by various federal and state agencies. If the regulatory state fails to punish them, consumers can (and often do) file class-action lawsuits. In short, this is a strange axe to grind and seems fairly off-topic anyway.

anamax 2y ago
> They took no legal action against these people. There was legal action taken against some doctors. In addition. https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/27/health/fda-ivermectin-lawsuit/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/27/health/fda-ivermectin-lawsuit... And, it's pretty clear that the govt was behind https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-twitter-blacklisting-of-jay-bhattacharya-medical-expert-covid-lockdown-stanford-doctor-shadow-banned-censorship-11670621083 https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-twitter-blacklisting-of-jay... It would have been illegal for the govt to force the NYT to not print those stories but ...
- busyant 2y ago
  To OP: The fact that there is an "argument" over who is spreading misinformation as part of responses to your very question should tell you this is a difficult problem to deal with. There are many shades of gray to misinformation.
- anamax 2y ago
  There's also: https://www.forbes.com/sites/paulhsieh/2022/07/25/should-we-punish-physicians-who-spread-covid-19-misinformation/?sh=145a794f304d https://www.forbes.com/sites/paulhsieh/2022/07/25/should-we-... Note that California passed (and then repealed) a law along these lines - https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/legal-regulatory-issues/californias-covid-19-misinformation-law-is-dead.html https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/legal-regulatory-issue... That said, see also https://www.courthousenews.com/california-doctors-falter-in-bid-to-shut-down-discipline-over-covid-advice/ https://www.courthousenews.com/california-doctors-falter-in-...
  - smt88 2y ago
    Again, for the millionth time: none of these were the Biden administration. California's legislature is not Joe Biden.
- smt88 2y ago
  > There was legal action taken against some doctors. Please give us an example of legal action taken by the Biden administration against doctors. You're probably remembering that some doctors lost their licenses for spreading lies about Covid, which is entirely appropriate. That was action taken by boards of doctors against incompetent doctors who were a danger to their patients. Again, happy to see a counterexample if you have one, where a doctor suffered consequences from the Biden administration and/or unfairly. > And, it's pretty clear that the govt was behind [Twitter blacklisting...] The govt asking Twitter to do something and then Twitter voluntarily doing it is still not Biden "going after" someone. There were (and are) no consequences for social media companies refusing to take meetings with govt disinformation groups, as you can see from the fact that most of them don't do it and Twitter doesn't anymore. > It would have been illegal for the govt to force the NYT to not print those stories but ... A sure sign of a weak argument is the use of inuendo rather than saying what you actually mean.