False vaccine claims spread online by bots, trolls: top public-health doc
OTTAWA — Canada’s chief public health officer says the fight against vaccine-related misinformation on social media is being further complicated by the emergence of online bots designed to sow mistrust.
Dr. Theresa Tam said Friday in Ottawa that bots have been spreading false claims about vaccinations and increasing tensions on the issue. The misinformation on social media, she added, is at least partly to blame for the 300-per-cent global increase this year in measles.
“They are at play, for sure,” Tam said of bots after taking part in a panel discussion about the spread of false information on social-media platforms.
“Some of them can be very divisive in terms of increasing mistrust, trying to … amplify the fact that there is an actual debate when there is no debate.”