Search Results (616)

Since the WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic, prominent social actors and institutions have warned about the threat of misinformation, calling for policy action to address it. However, neither the premises underlying expert claims nor the standards to separate truth from falsehood have been appraised. We conducted a scoping review of the medical and social scientific literature, informed by a critical policy analysis approach, examining what this literature means by misinformation. We searched academic databases and refereed publications, selecting a total of 68 articles for review. Two researchers independently charted the data. Our most salient finding was that verifiability relied largely on the claims of epistemic authorities, albeit only those vetted by the establishment, to the exclusion of independent evidentiary standards or heterodox perspectives. Further, “epistemic authority” did not depend necessarily on subject matter expertise, but largely on a new type of “expertise”: in misinformation itself. Finally, policy solutions to the alleged threat that misinformation poses to democracy and human rights called for suppressing unverified information and debate unmanaged by establishment approved experts, in the name of protecting democracy and rights, contrary to democratic practice and respect for human rights. Notably, we identified no pockets of resistance to these dominant meanings and uses. We assessed the implications of our findings for democratic public policy, and for fundamental rights and freedoms. Full article

Background: The number of people who access social networking sites continues to increase at an exponential rate. The use of technology is an essential skill for nursing professionals and its development represents a challenge in improving health education, promotion and care. The objective of this systematic review is to analyse the use of social networking sites by healthcare professionals as an intervention tool for evidence-based public health education. Methods: The protocol of this umbrella review was registered in the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (CRD42023407249). Searches were carried out in MEDLINE (PubMed), Web of Science, CINAHL, PsycINFO (EBSCOhost), and Cochrane Library of Systematic Reviews, in February 2023. A narrative synthesis of the results was conducted. Results: 1896 articles were found, of which 15 reviews fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Social networks broadened the profession; they were YouTube, X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, and Instagram. The target population was mainly young professionals, and they came across different topic areas that addressed health education. Conclusions: It is important to have information backed by scientific evidence to make health decisions. Health professionals active on social networking sites have a unique opportunity to educate the public about health by sharing scientific evidence in an accessible and clear way, which helps to combat misinformation. Full article

Introduction: Adolescence is a critical period for the development of affectivity and sexuality. Adolescents begin to explore their sexual identities, form intimate relationships, and learn to manage their emotions in new and complex contexts. This study aims to analyze the prevalence of habits and behaviors related to the affective–sexual health of adolescents in the fourth year of ESO, identifying risk factors, comparing their behaviors and risks, monitoring these behaviors, analyzing their pornography consumption, and evaluating the use of the internet as a source of sexual information. Method: Descriptive cross-sectional study using questionnaires. Participants are fourth-year ESO students from a school in the Baix Llobregat province (Catalonia), aged between 14 and 18 years. Descriptive and bivariate statistical analyses are conducted using the chi-square test and p-value calculations with the R Project software. Frequency and percentage analyses are also used to describe the health behaviors of the participants. Results: The study reveals that girls have better knowledge of the contraceptive pill and male condom than boys. Sexual initiation and condom use management vary between the genders, with girls being more capable of persuading their partners to use them. Pornography consumption also shows significant differences in terms of the age of initiation and frequency between boys and girls. Conclusions: This study on adolescent affectivity and sexuality reveals knowledge about contraceptives, early sexual initiation, and high pornography consumption, highlighting the need for early and diverse affective–sexual education, youth empowerment, and media misinformation management to promote safer and healthier behaviors within municipal public health. Full article

In an era where all information can be reached with one click and by using the internet, the risk has increased in a significant manner. Deepfakes are one of the main threats on the internet, and affect society by influencing and altering information, decisions, and actions. The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) has simplified the creation of deepfakes, allowing even novice users to generate false information in order to create propaganda. One of the most prevalent methods of falsification involves images, as they constitute the most impactful element with which a reader engages. The second most common method pertains to videos, which viewers often interact with. Two major events led to an increase in the number of deepfake images on the internet, namely the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia–Ukraine conflict. Together with the ongoing “revolution” in AI, deepfake information has expanded at the fastest rate, impacting each of us. In order to reduce the risk of misinformation, users must be aware of the deepfake phenomenon they are exposed to. This also means encouraging users to more thoroughly consider the sources from which they obtain information, leading to a culture of caution regarding any new information they receive. The purpose of the analysis is to extract the most relevant articles related to the deepfake domain. Using specific keywords, a database was extracted from Clarivate Analytics’ Web of Science Core Collection. Given the significant annual growth rate of 161.38% and the relatively brief period between 2018 and 2023, the research community demonstrated keen interest in the issue of deepfakes, positioning it as one of the most forward-looking subjects in technology. This analysis aims to identify key authors, examine collaborative efforts among them, explore the primary topics under scrutiny, and highlight major keywords, bigrams, or trigrams utilized. Additionally, this document outlines potential strategies to combat the proliferation of deepfakes in order to preserve information trust. Full article

HIV stigma has a negative influence on antiretroviral therapy (ART) initiation and persistence and viral suppression. Immediate access to ART (RAPID ART) has been shown to accelerate viral suppression (VS) that is sustained up to one year after HIV diagnosis. Little is known about the role of RAPID ART in reducing individual-level stigma. We explored how stigma manifests in RAPID ART encounters and whether RAPID ART interventions influence individual-level HIV stigma during and in the time immediately after the diagnosis experience. We conducted in-depth interviews with 58 RAPID ART patients from three health clinics in San Francisco, CA, and Chicago, IL. Interviews were transcribed, coded, and thematically analyzed. In the results, we discuss three main themes. First, Pre-Diagnosis HIV Beliefs, which included three sub-themes: HIV is “gross” and only happens to other people; HIV (Mis)education; and People are “living long and strong” with HIV. Second, Positive and Reassuring Messages During the RAPID Experience, which included two sub-themes: Correcting Misinformation and Early Interactions with People Living with HIV. Third, The RAPID ART Process Can Disrupt Stigma. RAPID ART encounters served as a potent mechanism to disrupt internalized stigma by providing accurate information and dispelling unhelpful myths through verbal and nonverbal messages. Reducing internalized stigma and misinformation about HIV at this early stage has the potential to reduce the effect of HIV stigma on ART initiation and adherence over time. Full article

Anthropomorphizing can misinform the making of inferences about animal mental experiences. This is a consideration when implementing the Five Domains Model for animal welfare assessment. An online survey run in 2021 captured horse sector participants’ perspectives about anthropomorphism and wellbeing in relation to horses. Most respondents, 82.9% (n = 431/520), believed that anthropomorphism could influence horse welfare and wellbeing. These respondents were then asked how, in their opinion, anthropomorphism might relate to horse welfare. A thematic analysis identified two themes: (1) ‘Anthropomorphism can influence how people relate to horses’ and (2) ‘Anthropomorphism can have consequences for horse welfare and wellbeing’. The results suggested that experienced respondents were aware of the complexities surrounding anthropomorphic attitudes and that anthropomorphism can have beneficial and detrimental consequences on horse welfare and wellbeing. Benefits include a sense of relatedness to a horse, while detriments include the potential to misinterpret horse behaviors. The authors propose that anthropomorphism has a place in horse welfare and wellbeing when used critically and with caution. This study recommends that there is a need to actively manage anthropomorphism when organizations update policies and practices and implement the Five Domains Model. More research is required to understand the effects of anthropomorphism on horse-related practices. Full article

Internet memes are a special type of digital content that is shared through social media. They have recently emerged as a popular new format of media communication. They are often multimodal, combining text with images and aim to express humor, irony, sarcasm, or sometimes convey hatred and misinformation. Automatically detecting memes is important since it enables tracking of social and cultural trends and issues related to the spread of harmful content. While memes can take various forms and belong to different categories, such as image macros, memes with labeled objects, screenshots, memes with text out of the image, and funny images, existing datasets do not account for the diversity of meme formats, styles and content. To bridge this gap, we present the PolyMeme dataset, which comprises approximately 27 K memes from four categories. This was collected from Reddit and a part of it was manually labelled into these categories. Using the manual labels, deep learning networks were trained to classify the unlabelled images with an estimated error rate of 7.35%. The introduced meme dataset in combination with existing datasets of regular images were used to train deep learning networks (ResNet, ViT) on meme detection, exhibiting very high accuracy levels (98% on the test set). In addition, no significant gains were identified from the use of regular images containing text. Full article

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a prevalent endocrine disorder impacting women’s health and quality of life. This scoping review explores the use of the Internet of Things (IoT) in PCOS management. Results were grouped into six domains of the IoT: mobile apps, social media, wearables, machine learning, websites, and phone-based. A further domain was created to capture participants’ perspectives on using the IoT in PCOS management. Mobile apps appear to be useful for menstrual cycle tracking, symptom recording, and education. Despite concerns regarding the quality and reliability of social media content, these platforms may play an important role in disseminating PCOS-related information. Wearables facilitate detailed symptom monitoring and improve communication with healthcare providers. Machine learning algorithms show promising results in PCOS diagnosis accuracy, risk prediction, and app development. Although abundant, PCOS-related content on websites may lack quality and cultural considerations. While patients express concerns about online misinformation, they consider online forums valuable for peer connection. Using text messages and phone calls to provide feedback and support to PCOS patients may help them improve lifestyle behaviors and self-management skills. Advancing evidence-based, culturally sensitive, and accessible IoT solutions can enhance their potential to transform PCOS care, address misinformation, and empower women to better manage their symptoms. Full article

Contemporary biopolitical discourse around fundamental rights and societal representations has increasingly weaponized moral-based attitudes and personal feelings, eschewing informed, factual opinions grounded in observation, data analysis, and scientific research. This trend is evident in the treatment of the queer community—used here as an umbrella term for non-cisgender, non-heterosexual individuals. Over recent years, the group has become the primary target of negationist critiques aimed at undermining the very existence of the community and challenging its rights. This article argues that the rise of depersonalized interactions and individualism, particularly through social media (where superficial and sensationalist content thrives, often at the expense of nuanced, data-driven discourse), the cult of the self and power (which prioritizes individual success, sidelining the collective struggles and rights of marginalized groups), and misinformation, is strategically employed by those in power and reverberated through the general public. These elements serve as a translucent veil, enabling the conscious choice to avoid engaging in structured, complex, and informed discussions about queer people’s rights and their existence. Consequently, the strategic deployment of these tactics, with the aim of shaping public opinion based on falsehoods and emotional appeals, undermines the capacity for informed dialog and perpetuates the marginalization of the queer community. Full article

In an era where misinformation and fake news undermine social well-being, this work provides a complete approach to multi-domain fake news detection. Multi-domain news refers to handling diverse content across various subject areas such as politics, health, research, crime, and social concerns. Recognizing the lack of systematic research in multi-domain fake news detection, we present a fundamental structure by combining datasets from several news domains. Our two-tiered detection approach, BERTGuard, starts with domain classification, which uses a BERT-based model trained on a combined multi-domain dataset to determine the domain of a given news piece. Following that, domain-specific BERT models evaluate the correctness of news inside each designated domain, assuring precision and reliability tailored to each domain’s unique characteristics. Rigorous testing on previously encountered datasets from critical life areas such as politics, health, research, crime, and society proves the system’s performance and generalizability. For addressing the class imbalance challenges inherent when combining datasets, our study rigorously evaluates the impact on detection accuracy and explores handling alternatives—random oversampling, random upsampling, and class weight adjustment. These criteria provide baselines for comparison, fortifying the detection system against the complexities of imbalanced datasets. Full article

This paper conducts a systematic review and interdisciplinary analysis of the ethical challenges of generative AI technologies (N = 37), highlighting significant concerns such as privacy, data protection, copyright infringement, misinformation, biases, and societal inequalities. The ability of generative AI to produce convincing deepfakes and synthetic media, which threaten the foundations of truth, trust, and democratic values, exacerbates these problems. The paper combines perspectives from various disciplines, including education, media, and healthcare, underscoring the need for AI systems that promote equity and do not perpetuate social inequalities. It advocates for a proactive approach to the ethical development of AI, emphasizing the necessity of establishing policies, guidelines, and frameworks that prioritize human rights, fairness, and transparency. The paper calls for a multidisciplinary dialogue among policymakers, technologists, and researchers to ensure responsible AI development that conforms to societal values and ethical standards. It stresses the urgency of addressing these ethical concerns and advocates for the development of generative AI in a socially beneficial and ethically sound manner, contributing significantly to the discourse on managing AI’s ethical implications in the modern digital era. The study highlights the theoretical and practical implications of these challenges and suggests a number of future research directions. Full article

The proliferation of fake news poses a significant challenge in today’s information landscape, spanning diverse domains and topics and undermining traditional detection methods confined to specific domains. In response, there is a growing interest in strategies for detecting cross-domain misinformation. However, traditional machine learning (ML) approaches often struggle with the nuanced contextual understanding required for accurate news classification. To address these challenges, we propose a novel contextualized cross-domain prompt-based zero-shot approach utilizing a pre-trained Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT) model for fake news detection (FND). In contrast to conventional fine-tuning methods reliant on extensive labeled datasets, our approach places particular emphasis on refining prompt integration and classification logic within the model’s framework. This refinement enhances the model’s ability to accurately classify fake news across diverse domains. Additionally, the adaptability of our approach allows for customization across diverse tasks by modifying prompt placeholders. Our research significantly advances zero-shot learning by demonstrating the efficacy of prompt-based methodologies in text classification, particularly in scenarios with limited training data. Through extensive experimentation, we illustrate that our method effectively captures domain-specific features and generalizes well to other domains, surpassing existing models in terms of performance. These findings contribute significantly to the ongoing efforts to combat fake news dissemination, particularly in environments with severely limited training data, such as online platforms. Full article

Given the convenience with which information can now be acquired, it is crucial to analyze cases of potential misinformation and disinformation in postsecondary education. Instructor credibility judgments were measured using descriptive survey research, and the main objective was to investigate trends related to misinformation, credibility, trust, bias, and others in graduate students and on a graduate program basis. Participants were surveyed from a land grant institution in the southeast United States where 186 graduate students completed an electronic survey on the detection of misinformation and similar experiences. Graduate students were divided based on graduate program into STEM (sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics) and non-STEM groups. Quantitative methodologies included validated questionnaires developed by researchers containing Likert-type scale questions. Chi-square tests of independence and frequencies served as primary analyses. Participants in both STEM and non-STEM groups detected the following: misinformation, bias, challenges, intimidation, risk of measurable consequences, pressure to conform, and skepticism from post-secondary instructors. There were significant differences between the type of student for trust in claims (p < 0.05), while the perception of potential consequences tended to be different between the types of graduate students (0.05 < p < 0.10). Participants in both STEM and non-STEM groups reported perception bias in science material presentation, with STEM students reporting less bias. Qualitative methodologies included optional open response boxes to provide supporting details or narratives. Reliable and validated thematic coding following served as the primary analysis. Students disciplined in STEM and non-STEM faced misinformation, bias, challenges, intimidation, risk of measurable consequences, pressure to conform, and skepticism from post-secondary instructors. Graduate students reported consistent instances of misinformation and bias about science and agriculture topics in both science and non-science-focused classrooms. Full article

Research on COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and misinformation endorsement among Spanish-speaking Americans is limited. This cross-sectional study used a Spanish-language survey from May–August 2021 among 483 Spanish speakers living in the US and Puerto Rico. We applied multivariable Poisson regression with robust error variances to assess the association between independent variables and binary outcomes for vaccine acceptance versus hesitance, as well as misinformation endorsement. Vaccine acceptance was associated with COVID-19 risk perception score (PR = 1.7 high vs. low perceived risk), opinion of government transparency (PR = 2.2 very transparent vs. not transparent), and trust in vaccine information (PR = 1.8 high vs. low). There was also an interaction between time spent on social media and social media as a main source of COVID-19 information (p = 0.0484). Misinformation endorsement was associated with opinion about government transparency (PR = 0.5 moderately vs. not transparent), trust in vaccine information (PR = 0.5 high vs. low trust), social media impact on vaccine confidence (PR = 2.1 decreased vs. increased confidence), distrust vaccines (PR = 1.9 distrust vs. trust), using vaccine information from Facebook (PR = 1.4 yes vs. no), and time spent on social media by those using social media as main source of COVID-19 vaccine information (p = 0.0120). Vaccine acceptance in respondents with high misinformation endorsement scores was 0.7 times those with low scores. These findings highlight the importance of effective information dissemination, the positive role of social media, and government transparency in boosting vaccine uptake among Spanish speakers in the US. Full article

The COVID-19 pandemic, with over 775 million cases and 7 million deaths by May 2024, has drastically impacted global public health and exacerbated existing healthcare inequalities. The swift development and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines have been critical in combating the virus, yet disparities in access to and administration of the vaccine have highlighted deep-seated inequities at global, regional, and national levels. Wealthier nations have benefited from early access to vaccines, while low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) have faced persistent shortages. Initiatives such as COVAX aimed to address these disparities, but challenges persist. Socioeconomic factors, education, ethnic identity, and the healthcare infrastructure play crucial roles in vaccine equity. For example, lower-income individuals often face barriers such as poor access to healthcare, misinformation, and logistical challenges, particularly in rural areas. Addressing these inequities requires a multifaceted approach, integrating national policies with local strategies to enhance vaccines’ accessibility, counter misinformation, and ensure equitable distribution. Collaborative efforts at all levels are essential to promote vaccine equity and effectively control the pandemic, ensuring that all populations have fair access to life-saving vaccines. This review explores these complex issues, offering insights into the barriers and facilitators of vaccine equity and providing recommendations to promote more equitable and effective vaccination programs. With a focus on the different levels at which vaccination policies are planned and implemented, the text provides guidelines to steer vaccination strategies, emphasizing the role of international cooperation and local policy frameworks as keys to achieving equitable vaccination coverage. Full article