Truth decayAre Russian trolls saving measles from extinction?

By Ron Synovitz

Published 20 February 2019

Scientific researchers say Russian social-media trolls who spread discord before the 2016 U.S. presidential election may also contributed to the 2018 outbreak of measles in Europe that killed 72 people and infected more than 82,000 — mostly in Eastern and Southeastern European countries known to have been targeted by Russia-based disinformation campaigns. Experts in the United States and Europe are now working on ways to gauge the impact that Russian troll and bot campaigns have had on the spread of the disease by distributing medical misinformation and raising public doubts about vaccinations.

Scientific researchers say Russian social-media trolls who spread discord before the 2016 U.S. presidential election may also have played an unintended role in a developing global health crisis.

They say the trolls may have contributed to the 2018 outbreak of measles in Europe that killed 72 people and infected more than 82,000 — mostly in Eastern and Southeastern European countries known to have been targeted by Russia-based disinformation campaigns.

Experts in the United States and Europe are now working on ways to gauge the impact that Russian troll and bot campaigns have had on the spread of the disease by distributing medical misinformation and raising public doubts about vaccinations.

Studies have already documented how cybercampaigns by the Internet Research Agency — a St. Petersburg “troll farm” that has been accused of meddling in the U.S. 2016 presidential election — artificially bolstered debate on social media about vaccines since 2014 in a way that eroded public trust in vaccinations.

Now, the World Health Organization (WHO) is warning that “vaccination hesitancy” has become one of the top threats to global health.

It notes a 30 percent rise in measles globally and a resurgence of measles in countries that had once been close to eradicating the disease.

New efforts are now being launched by researchers in the United States and Europe to understand what they describe as “an incredibly complex” issue — people opting out of available vaccinations for themselves or their children.

At Duke University in North Carolina, a center for scientific health data called The Forge is working to understand and respond to medical misinformation on the Internet.

Forge director Robert Califf, a former commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, has said that medical misinformation may be “the issue of our times that demands top priority.”