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Google Scrubs Coronavirus Misinformation on Search, YouTube (bloomberg.com) 115

Posted by msmash from the taking-a-stand dept.
Since Covid-19 began to spread, Google has aggressively intervened in some of its most popular online services to limit the spread of misinformation. This is a departure for a company that has relied heavily on software and automation to index and rank information throughout its 22-year existence. From a report: Google searches related to the virus now trigger an "SOS Alert," with news from mainstream publications including National Public Radio, followed by information from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization displayed prominently. In contrast, a recent search for "flu season" showed the website verywellhealth.com at the top, while another search for "flu" produced tweets, including one from U.S. President Donald Trump comparing coronavirus to the common flu. The coronavirus has killed more than 3,900 people out of 113,000 confirmed cases.

Online platforms have been inundated with rumors and misinformed concerns about the pathogen as it spread west from Asia, particularly in floods of messages on Twitter, according to Carl Bergstrom, a professor at the University of Washington. Google is swept up in this because it has a deal with Twitter to show tweets in search results, especially for queries about live and recent events. "It's really just a churning mess right now," Bergstrom said. On YouTube, Google's video service, the company is trying to quickly remove videos claiming to prevent the virus in place of seeking medical treatment. And some apps related to the virus have been banned from the Google Play app store, prompting complaints from developers who say they just want to help. The company is also giving up revenue.
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Google Scrubs Coronavirus Misinformation on Search, YouTube More

Google Scrubs Coronavirus Misinformation on Search, YouTube

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  • On YouTube, Google's video service, the company is trying to quickly remove videos claiming to prevent the virus in place of seeking medical treatment.

    When they do seek medical attention, they almost never test anyone.

  • Who at Google can judge? (Score:3)

    by SuperKendall ( 25149 ) on Tuesday March 10, 2020 @11:50AM (#59815234)

    You have various official medical sources saying different things about how the virus can spread, or how long people are contagious for.

    You have wildly different infection curves between areas like Germany, Italy, and South Korea [twitter.com].

    So who is to say what is truly the best information to allow or disallow? Is it better to stoke fear and panic? Is it better to limit discussion to only rational discussion, which may lead people to being too dismissive?

    • They probably concentrate on loonies and snakeoil peddlers. No shortage of either currently.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by SirSlud ( 67381 )

      All information isn't equal, bub.

    • Easy enough : whatever makes Orange Man Bad. (Score:4, Funny)

      by RedK ( 112790 ) on Tuesday March 10, 2020 @12:14PM (#59815360)

      What other criteria did you think California Tech giants would use ?

    • You have various official medical sources saying different things about how the virus can spread, or how long people are contagious for.

      And those are all equally valid right now while we're still learning.

      What isn't is all of the people proposing ozone therapy, claiming that it's no worse than the annual flu, etc. There's a lot of blatant misinformation from people who have no credibility. This is completely different from legitimate disagreement between experts.

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • So who is to say what is truly the best information to allow or disallow? Is it better to stoke fear and panic?

      That's an easy answer. Google isn't playing doctor here or being the arbiter of what it deems correct. Simply let the official news through. Different infection curves in Italy, Germany and anywhere else are best managed through providing local relevant news as the primary search result, rather than some quack health site.

      People aren't turning to the news for detailed information about viral propagation and incubation periods. That should be provided by the CDC, NHS, RIVM, etc.

    • Big Brother Google will judge. And I, for one, am okay letting Google decide what I think. 'Cuz Big Brother Google loves us all. And Big Brother is oooooohhhh so smart!

      Three cheers for censorship! We're all too stupid to think for ourselves! Please Big Brother save us from our deplorable selves! Cybernetic totalitarianism forever!! Yippee!

    • Of course, one must add that Google is hard at work in helping to build a censored search engine for the Chinese Communist Party, which arrested a bunch of medical personnel who sounded off publicly about the existence of that coronavirus, as well as disappearing many Chinese reporters and citizen bloggers! Google is simply an agent for the CCP, until proven otherwise . .

  • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 )
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • 113000 cases. Nothing to sneeze at, but wuhan has 11 000 000 people.

      Puts it all a bit inperspective. We are not all going to die.

      We're definitely not all going to die. At most about 5% of us, mostly the elderly, may die. That's pretty bad, though. In my own case, there are two members of my family (living in my house) with compromised respiratory systems who would be highly likely to die if they were infected. Beyond that, I have plenty of elderly relatives, including my parents, who would be at high risk of death if infected. So I take this seriously.

      As for your comment about the number of cases vs the size of the population i

      • They aren't likely to go from total control to no control at all. (They are an authoritarian dictatorship afterall)
        They can slowly reopen places, encourage/force wearing of masks and social distancing. Restrict travel and enforce quarantine on newcomers. Apart from Hubei province, most(all) of the new cases are imported cases from outside China. To my knowledge there haven't been any new cases of person to person infections the last few days, and many places are reopening already.
        There is little indicatio
    • I am not at all confident that we should be combining the Chinese data with the rest. Granted SK has done an excellent job with the virus and it is possible that China also did as well but... how can we trust the numbers?

    • Exactly. It isn't global yet, and started in something less than first world conditions. That ratio (deaths : contracted) is going to increase as more first world regions get it and there are more survivors.
      What are the numbers in say, Italy, as an isolated case?

      It isn't the flu, but it is flu-like: high fever and chest congestion. This generally isn't killing healthy people, so the risk is being exaggerated by the media for several reasons, both traditional and more current. I haven't seen much quacker

    • Puts it all a bit inperspective

      The infection rate is following a lovely logarithmic curve with Wuhan either capping off due to complete shutdown and isolation of the city or due to Chinese government misreporting (queue the taco girl saying "why not both?"). 113000 cases today, was 110000 yesterday, was 108000 the day before. You're in no position to say if 6% of all of us are going to die yet as you have no basis on which to comment on how far the virus will spread.

    • 113000 cases. Nothing to sneeze at, but wuhan has 11 000 000 people.

      Puts it all a bit inperspective. We are not all going to die.

      This seems to be a very common device. First create an absolutist strawman that nobody anywhere is seriously asserting and then compare events with it in order to support a pre-ordained conclusion.

      Meanwhile with less than only 10k confirmed infections the entire health system of Italy is overwhelmed.

      --
      I don't need to have the numbers double because of one ship.

  • Based on what? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Brett Buck ( 811747 ) on Tuesday March 10, 2020 @12:09PM (#59815348)

    This is the same as any censorship scheme - someone has to be the arbiter of "misinformation", and I don't recall asking them to do it. And I certainly don't trust a bunch of Silicon Valley computer nerds to be able to tell the difference between truth, opinion, and "misinformation" - far from it, based on what I see here, they are the worst possible choice. Generally ignorant, live in a monoculture bubble, but supremely assured they are the universal expert on any topic.

    • ...and I don't recall asking them to do it.

      They own the service, they don't need your permission or approval.

      Regardless of your feelings, google is not a government entity. You don't get a say in what they do or don't allow on their services, and since they are not a government agency, it is NOT violating anyone's free speech. (I realize you didn't mention "free speech" explicitly, but it feels like this is where you were ultimately heading)

      • I didn't say it was a crime or First Amendment issue, they are perfectly within their rights. It is, however, censorship, and virtually all censorship is a bad idea.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Binestar ( 28861 )

          I didn't say it was a crime or First Amendment issue, they are perfectly within their rights. It is, however, censorship, and virtually all censorship is a bad idea.

          Consider it "moderation" rather than censorship. Rhino Horn doesn't cure Covid-19 or give you super hard erections. Lets get rid of the videos saying it does.

          • Yay censorship! I'm so glad we have have SMART people like you thinking us what information we're allowed to read. Wow it must feel good to be so SMART!! I hope some day I can be smart enough to dictate what other people are allowed to think...

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by Binestar ( 28861 )

              Yay censorship! I'm so glad we have have SMART people like you thinking us what information we're allowed to read. Wow it must feel good to be so SMART!! I hope some day I can be smart enough to dictate what other people are allowed to think...

              Think what you want. Just don't lie and say it's fact. We don't need more stupid.

            • What happens to the people who are literally tool ignorant to parse out the truth for themselves? Tell them to go fuck themselves because they aren't as smart as you? Christ, I swear some of you people really seem like armchair psychopaths at times.

              • What happens to the people who are literally tool ignorant to parse out the truth for themselves? Tell them to go fuck themselves because they aren't as smart as you? Christ, I swear some of you people really seem like armchair psychopaths at times.

                I can't believe you don't see the irony in that statement.

                A person's dignity stems, in part, from their independence. Recognizing and respecting a person's autonomy and self-determination is not telling them to "go fuck themselves." But saying to them "I know what's best for you and I will consciously act to influence what you believe and who you listen to because you're 'too ignorant' to be in control of your own decisions and judgements" is.

                • Re: (Score:2)

                  by kqs ( 1038910 )

                  A person's dignity stems, in part, from their independence. Recognizing and respecting a person's autonomy and self-determination is not telling them to "go fuck themselves." But saying to them "I know what's best for you and I will consciously act to influence what you believe and who you listen to because you're 'too ignorant' to be in control of your own decisions and judgements" is.

                  I'm sure that the dead or permanently damaged people (whose parents were so gullible they believed the anti-vax and freebirth movements) feel very dignified. I'm sure that the immunocompromised folks who became ill (because enough nearby people had gullible parents that herd-immunity failed) feel very dignified.

                  You seem to care a lot about dignity, but don't care at all about the other effects of misinformation. I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that neither you nor anyone you directly care about has b

        • Is it censorship, though? Google is not preventing these people from speaking their piece, it's just preventing them from doing it on their platform. The offenders are free to publish these videos to their own website.

      • That ship has sailed. It is only a matter of time until the major platforms that choose to curate and editorialize are regulated.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by kqs ( 1038910 )

          All major platforms curate and editorialize. Otherwise they are taken down or sued due to some content (like child porn) which is illegal in the location where they are housed. At that point, "we're just haggling over price".

          And if you think that people who want to regulate those companies care about whether or not they've done some curation in the past, I'd have to say that you don't really understand people.

    • This is the same as any censorship scheme

      Good. In times of crisis the official sources should be prioritised to ensure a consistent message is given to the population, otherwise any attempt at a useful response becomes meaningless. Frankly no one gives a shit what you asked them to do or not. Having less quacks crapping on about COVID is a good thing.

      I mean sure you can always join the braindead idiots who are panic buying toilet paper because presumably they read that simply having 100 rolls of the stuff at home will protect you, but the rest of

      • What's it like to have blind trust in authority?

        • That's a nice strawman ya got there, would be a real shame if something happened to it...maybe light it on fire...

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by kqs ( 1038910 )

          If you (or someone you care about) needs to have a gallbladder removed, you can go to Stan at the local butcher counter (he's handy with a knife and is sure he knows what he's doing) or you can go to the doctor trained at that elite ivory tower school. And I'm gonna guess that you'll go to the doctor every time, because while you'll whine and moan about all those sheeple who blindly trust authority, when you feel that your life (or the life of someone you care about) is on the line you'll make the best cho

          • So what you're saying is, you personally wouldn't be able to figure out on your own whether the local butcher is a competent surgeon? And therefore you want Big Brother to censor everyone else's speech, to protect your poor credulous self from scaaaaaaaaary ideas?

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by kqs ( 1038910 )

              I'm pretty convinced that the local butcher is a poor surgeon. But, since I have no expertise in medicine and no interest in spending a few years becoming an expert, I may have a harder time telling which of Doctor Nick or Doctor Hibbert are competent and which of their conflicting advice is (more) correct.

              I'm glad that you are such a competent doctor that you can spot frauds from miles away. And that you are also such a competent plumber, electrician, car repairman, airplane repairman, food inspector, re

              • I'm happy for you that you have trust in certain credentialed "experts". That's certainly your decision to make. I also trust certain experts - experts of my own selection, that is.

                But how do we come from the personal decision to trust certain (personally selected) experts, to the mandate that Big Brother select his own "experts" (for every subject) and ruthlessly censor anyone who disagrees with them?

                Big Brother's "experts" must be very knowledgeable indeed, if even the slightest suggestion of intellectual

      • Good. In times of crisis the official sources should be prioritised to ensure a consistent message is given to the population, otherwise any attempt at a useful response becomes meaningless. Frankly no one gives a shit what you asked them to do or not. Having less quacks crapping on about COVID is a good thing.

        Governments lie often and repeatedly for self serving reasons especially during "times of crisis". The ASSumption government has your best interests at heart and therefore provides truthful information is undermined by long history of provably false demonstrations of the exact opposite.

        Within the last year the leaders of the US government made up a fake storm prediction with magic markers, dispersed provable lies to justify acts of war and directly countermanded the advice of domain experts on public messa

        • What if the spread of false information starts to look like it is going to ruin your free society? Do you just sit back and say "C'est la vie." Maybe fiddle while Rome burns?

          • What if the spread of false information starts to look like it is going to ruin your free society? Do you just sit back and say "C'est la vie." Maybe fiddle while Rome burns?

            Just like any marketplace you either compete or go out of business. Nobody deserves cheat codes granting them an advantage nobody else has. Such power only creates feedback loops ending in increasing corruption caused by increasingly aggregated power. When you never die you don't bother to dodge incoming fire. When you never run out of ammo you never bother to learn to shoot straight. Cheating never produces a better player.

            Nobody is inherently good or righteous or any more entitled to having their ide

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by kqs ( 1038910 )

          Within the last year the leaders of the US government made up a fake storm prediction with magic markers,

          The really fully part of this story is that the "US government" made the storm prediction map which was rather accurate and useful, and helped save lives and resources. Then one particular person in the government said stupid things and his lackeys "proved" that he was correct with a magic marker.

          So the US government in general has pretty a pretty good track record. Certain people in the US government have a terrible track record. But blaming the whole government for the actions of a few leaders seems po

          • I'm curious, if you need your gallbladder removed, will you trust someone who only reads web forums and never went to med school (aka "Stan at the local butchers"), or will you trust someone who follows the "centralized control over information" which is med school, double-blind experiments, and peer-reviewed papers (aka a "medical doctor")?

            This analogy is so butchered I can't understand how it is at all applicable to the topic at hand. Politics follow very different rules from hard sciences. Doctors are not prevented from obtaining information from unblessed sources. Neither does the establishment of standards have anything to do with my commentary.

            Yet to answer your question I'd trust whoever has the best record of health outcomes I can afford. If that happens to be Stan at the local butchers so be it. Outcomes are more important to me

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by kqs ( 1038910 )

              Yet to answer your question I'd trust whoever has the best record of health outcomes I can afford. If that happens to be Stan at the local butchers so be it. Outcomes are more important to me than protecting ivory towers.

              Seems fair. Official government records say that the doctor has a 1% rate of secondary issues. Stan says he has had hundreds of successes and no failures or problems, and that the official government records are lies. And since we cannot trust any central sources of information or ivory towers...

              • Seems fair. Official government records say that the doctor has a 1% rate of secondary issues. Stan says he has had hundreds of successes and no failures or problems, and that the official government records are lies. And since we cannot trust any central sources of information or ivory towers...

                Neither is acceptable to me for the exact same reason. Nobody should have to find themselves in a position where their only option is asking a known or unknown liar if they are being honest.

                What is obviously necessary is better governance. Increased division of labor where task of measuring outcomes is isolated; never allowed to be vertically integrated under the same administrative realm as those doing the work.

                To circle back to the actual issue at hand not this poorly fitting analogy when the government

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      Wait, you think the nerds at Google are deciding themselves? In the past they have always deferred to experts, so why wouldn't they this time?

      I have no problem with expert advice on this. Like vaccines, there are scammers out there putting lives in danger and we need experts to protect us from that. Yes, even us geniuses, because our superior intelligence won't stop is getting infected by the gullible.

    • Shut the fuck up. How this garbage post got a +5 is beyond me.

      This is no different than the kind of person who bitches when the government spends money to prepare for sicknesses like this and screams bloody murder when they don't spend the money and bad shit happens.
      You're being insanely counterproductive and we're all dumber for having read this post. You think it sounds smart but it's just completely and utterly sub sophomoric.

    • Experts are the arbiter, not politician, not pundits, not commentators. Experts like, the WHO, the CDC, Doctors, virologists, public health experts and biomedical researchers.

    • https://youtu.be/E3URhJx0NSw [youtu.be]

      Rogan is never 'trending' because marxists cunts hate the truth but even this video?

      Finally someone talking sense...

  • Google is now the chief propagandist (Score:3, Insightful)

    by gillbates ( 106458 ) on Tuesday March 10, 2020 @12:14PM (#59815366) Homepage Journal

    It's telling that Google believes its users are so stupid they need to be shielded from stupid ideas.

    Growing up during the cold war, we were all warned about communist propaganda. We were taught "critical thinking" in school. We were taught to be suspicious of people trying to hide information from us - because that's what the communists did.

    It just goes to show how stupid Google believes people really are. Quite frankly, I have a hobby of "collecting" conspiracy theories - it's a great pasttime. Yet, somewhere at Google, there's someone who just knows(tm) that if I view wrongthink that the world will end.

    I would like to believe that my thoughts had the power to end the world, but frankly, I'm not that arrogant. Or that stupid. Grow up, Google.

    And for all the apocalyptic liberal types: whose backs will be against the wall when it is discovered that Google hid information that could have prevented the spread of infection?

    • It's telling that Google believes its users are so stupid they need to be shielded from stupid ideas.

      People really are that stupid. You've Dunning-Krugered yourself right out of touch with reality.

      • Remember Devito's second maxim:

        "Anyone who unironically accuses another of being deluded by the Dunning-Kruger effect, is likely himself deluded by the Dunning-Kruger effect."

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Tablizer ( 95088 )

        People really are that stupid.

        I'm still highly dismayed so many voted for the orange guy. He is highly unprofessional, conspiratorial, and downright rude. Perhaps they see him as an "agent of change" the same may mass mutations are. Maybe 10,000 years down the road the mutations pay off, but the current generation has 3 limbs, one with an eye. It's either a really long-term view, or mass delusion.

        • The same can be said about being dismayed that so many voted for Clinton, one of the most patently unfit people to be in politics. But I guess being a thief, a liar, a cheat, a corrupt politician, a wifebeater, or a murderer is OK as long as you have (D) after your name.

          • Re: (Score:1)

            by Tablizer ( 95088 )

            People who worked for H were impressed by her intelligence and professionalism. She fouled up IT issues, but so have many politicians, including the orange guy and his family. Give them a dedicated IT helper.

          • Re: (Score:1)

            by Tablizer ( 95088 )

            a murderer

            Guilty until proven innocent? I expect STEM people to have some critical thinking skills.

            • Kennedy left a girl to die in his car in a lake. A lot of us would call that murder. I wasn't talking just about Hillary.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by skids ( 119237 )

      I have a hobby of "collecting" conspiracy theories - it's a great pasttime.

      I guess... but these days isn't the wife starting to complain about the four storage pods full of them sitting on your front lawn?

      People will believe the silliest things. Even some relatively smart people will. Modern capitalism relies on that, since it's progressed away from productive development onto the more profitable business of theft.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Ogive17 ( 691899 )
      I think you can find your critical thinkers on this chart [pewresearch.org]

    • Name how much communist propaganda was available to make it through the journalism filters in the media of the day? Was it in the NY Times? The Washington Post? The Morton Downy Jr show? The news was safely filtered by the large media companies. The misinformation world was largely relegated to radio and maybe Art Bell. Today is different. If you want misinformation to make it through, maybe use yahoo, or Bing or something else that you feel trusts you.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by deKernel ( 65640 )

      One of the best quotes of all time is by Tommy Lee Jones from the movie Men In Black: A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it.

    • It's telling that Google believes its users are so stupid they need to be shielded from stupid ideas.

      It's more telling that you think users are not that stupid. If people have shown one thing only it's that en mass they are fucking dumb when it comes to handling a crisis. Now excuse me but I need to go out and buy more toilet paper, because that's a thing that people do when corona virus hits, presumably because we're so clever.

      It's not even that people should be shielded from stupid ideas, but rather people should first and foremost get the same coordinated message from an official source before they atte

      • It's not even that people should be shielded from stupid ideas, but rather people should first and foremost get the same coordinated message from an official source before they attempt to go and de-educate themselves.

        Done properly, it's called leadership - to give everyone a justified reason for following your plan. Ronald Reagan liked to level with the American people and explain his actions, as if he was accountable to them... but that era of statesmanship seems long dead.

        I trust the President to

    • Have you been paying any attention over the last few years? Flat Earther numbers are going UP. Measles outbreaks are coming back. Anti-vaxxers are a bloc that people actually pay attention to and have to fight against when trying to get legislation passed.

      People are ABSOLUTELY that stupid. Anti-vaxxers in particular are *proof* that good ideas don't always beat bad ideas. Even after retracting his lying paper and having his medical license revoked, people still think Andrew Wakefield is a credible source.

      For most things, I feel like there should be a lot of latitude when interpreting free speech rights—today's rabble-rouser is history's human-rights icon—but we're talking about a potential public-health crisis. Sites saying that you can keep yourself safe by DRINKING BLEACH (https://bgr.com/2020/01/29/coronavirus-infection-treatment-dont-ingest-mms-bleach-to-cure-it/) are an absolute hazard and I don't know why we shouldn't be scrubbing those sites or putting warnings next to them saying that they are not suitable sources for medical information.

    • Big Tech HAS turned this country into China. We are not allowed to think for ourself, all information is filtered to ensure we are sheep. Where are we going with this. How can Google review all these comments and determine what's true, they cannot. The truth is that anything other than a toxic vaccine is the only valid solution from Big TECH. A vaccine available in 12 months will be worthless, because the majority of us will already have the Corona antibodies and the virus will have mutated. Big Pharma has

  • I take that to include the origin of the virus itself, and how China handled its quarantine.

    Nothing but official narratives here, folks.

  • Now that Jim Bakker was told to stop selling colloidal silver where else am I supposed to learn about crackpot ideas?

  • Once upon a time I thought that democracy was great. Then we got Brexit, Trump, BoatyMcBoatFace. I'm sure if there were a vote people would vote for paying no tax; people can't see beyond their cash in their eWallet (or credit card more likely).

    Sadly the internet hasn't empowered people as I'd hoped it would rather it has created super highways for misinformation.

    Well today I'd say that Google "Did no Evil"; and I'm one that really wanted no information filters. The giant high speed backward steps that t

    • Damn straight, brah! Down with democracy! Those fucking deplorable plebs are too STUPID to govern themselves. Good thing they have SMART people like you and me to tell them what to think. And if they don't like it, I say, stomp their dissent with the iron boot!!

    • The point of democracy isn't to create the best government possible. The point of democracy is to make it harder for bad people to take control of and manipulate the government to subjugate and repress the people. From a management perspective, there are lots of better ways to create a functional government. I'm a fan of merit-based oligarchies myself (appoint the best experts in each field to the appropriate government office). But I'm realistic enough to know that this will just end up with people man

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by aevan ( 903814 )

      Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time

      ~Churchill

  • "The coronavirus has killed more than 3,900 people out of 113,000 confirmed cases. "

    So lets see, 113,000 cases out of 7.7 billion == 0.00014675324675324675 % Seems pretty fucking low to me
    And it has killed 0.000005064935064935065%

    Seems that simply going outside and crossing the street has a higher death rate.

  • The Mayor of New York was out saying the virus dies within minutes on surfaces - contradicting all the scientists.

    Google goes with his nonsense over science. That's what you call Propaganda, folks.

  • In order to stop the spread of the novel Coronavirus, the host animal must be killed. Killing host animals before they become infected will completely prevents the spread of the Coronavirus.

    In an effort to curtail the spread of the virus Your Government has set up Eradication Stations in every neighbourhood. If you are not presently infected with the Coronavirus please report immediately to the nearest Eradication Station for termination. Only you can prevent the spread of the Coronavirus.

  • Is it okay that our president is both a sociopath and a psychopath with no working inhibit circuit is allowed to lie to keep Wall Street's reality from ruining his re-election efforts?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by leonbev ( 111395 )

      I guess that depends on which news source you were reading. CNN's CoronaFilter(TM) would probably probably moderate that comment +2, while the Fox News version would moderate it -2.

  • Oh so NOW Google has a problem with snake oil dealers, compulsive liars, scammers, and homeopaths, and reiki practitioners, and crystal healers, an- oh wait just anyone who doesn't know the facts about the chink flu.

  • Myths I've read in the last few weeks across the internet:
    Somebody did it on purpose; (what it is varies)
    The Russians did it on purpose
    The Chinese did it on purpose
    The CIA did it on purpose
    Big Pharma did it on purpose
    It was genetic engineered
    It is genetic engineered HIV
    It was deliberately released
    It was (is) spread by a doomsday cult

  • The bad information will get out and then uses the "persecution" they getting as evidence that they are telling the truth. The only way to fight bad information is with good information and the CDC and WHO are just not putting it out well or consistently so people are looking for something. When google sink holes flat earther, their numbers increase. When google sink holes anti-vax data, their numbers increase. Why isn't google learning that hiding the data doesn't work? They need to stop this and switch to

  • Today I learned from Google and YouTube that the coronavirus can be avoided by using lavender essential oils, colloidal silver, and hyper doses of vitamin D. I also learned that the government did not want me to know any of these things.

  • Yesterday [slashdot.org] the top voted trolls dismissed the CDC & WHO advice as disinformation and whinged about google censorship. What will they make of this?

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