Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Facebook 'Froze' In Face Of Anti-Vax Comment Storm, Failed To Stop Racism
AP: Facebook Froze As Anti-Vaccine Comments Swarmed Users
In March, as claims about the dangers and ineffectiveness of coronavirus vaccines spun across social media and undermined attempts to stop the spread of the virus, some Facebook employees thought they had found a way to help. By subtly altering how posts about vaccines are ranked in people’s newsfeeds, researchers at the company realized they could curtail the misleading information individuals saw about COVID-19 vaccines and offer users posts from legitimate sources like the World Health Organization. “Given these results, I’m assuming we’re hoping to launch ASAP,” one Facebook employee wrote in March, responding to the internal memo about the study. Instead, Facebook shelved some suggestions from the study. Other changes weren’t made until April. (Klepper and Seitz, 10/26)
USA Today: Facebook Says It’s Stopping Hate And Violence Against Black Americans. Its Own Research Shows Otherwise
Even as civil rights leaders and the Black community registered complaint after complaint about Facebook, internal documents reviewed by USA TODAY show that the company continued to combat a relentless wave of racially motivated hate speech with automated moderation tools that are not sophisticated enough to catch most harmful content and are prone to making mistakes. One Facebook employee estimated that 1 out of every 1,000 pieces of content on the platform are hate speech. With all of the company's enforcement efforts combined, less than 5% of all the hate speech posted to Facebook is deleted, the person said. (Guynn, 10/25)
AP: People Or Profit? Facebook Papers Show Deep Conflict Within
Facebook the company is losing control of Facebook the product — not to mention the last shreds of its carefully crafted, decade-old image as a benevolent company just wanting to connect the world. Thousands of pages of internal documents provided to Congress by a former employee depict an internally conflicted company where data on the harms it causes is abundant, but solutions, much less the will to act on them, are halting at best. The crisis exposed by the documents shows how Facebook, despite its regularly avowed good intentions, appears to have slow-walked or sidelined efforts to address real harms the social network has magnified and sometimes created. They reveal numerous instances where researchers and rank-and-file workers uncovered deep-seated problems that the company then overlooked or ignored. (Ortutay, 10/25)
On teen use of cannabis —
NPR: Cannabis Vaping Among Teens Has Grown Sharply In Recent Years
Teen vaping of marijuana doubled between 2013 and 2020, indicating that young people may be swapping out joints, pipes or bongs for vape pens, according to a new study. Researchers also found that adolescents who say they vaped cannabis within the last 30 days increased 7-fold — from 1.6% to 8.4% — during the same period. The report was published in JAMA Pediatrics on Monday by researchers who analyzed 17 studies involving nearly 200,000 adolescents in the U.S. and Canada. Overall, they say, the cumulative data points to what may be a shift in preference from dried herb to cannabis oil products, which is how marijuana is ingested via vaping. (Romo, 10/25)
Also —
CIDRAP: New Multistate Salmonella Outbreak Linked To Salami Sticks
The CDC announced over the weekend a new Salmonella outbreak linked to salami sticks sold at Trader Joe's grocery stores. So far 20 people have been sickened in 8 states, including 3 who needed hospitalization. No deaths have been reported. Patients range in age from 2 to 75 years, with a median age of 11. Eight of nine people interviewed by the CDC as part of the outbreak investigation said they ate Citterio brand Premium Italian-Style Salame Sticks, which are sold at Trader Joe's and other grocery stores. (10/25)
The New York Times: What You Should Know About The Flu
We’ve had two light years in a row, which some experts worry could mean we’ll be in for a rough few months. (Wenner Moyer, 10/25)
