Irresponsible Big Tech a plague on science and sanity

US Vice President Mike Pence receives the vaccine in Washington. Picture: AFP

There is nothing inherent in the properties of either HIV or coronavirus that made their spread around the world inevitable or unstoppable.

In the US, largely as a result of the political decisions made by two administrations, both viruses morphed from serious but manageable public health challenges into public health catastrophes.

Both the Reagan and Trump administrations, to varying degrees, initially rejected the concept of scientific truth as the basis for creating sensible containment policies in the critical early months following detection of the new viruses.

When HIV emerged in the early 1980s, swift preventive action to change sexual and other risky behaviours would have almost certainly brought down HIV transmission rates rapidly and sustainably. Yet year after year, the Reagan administration ignored the science and played the politics of blame and shame.

In the first year of coronavirus the Trump administration chose politics when swift, science-based action was required. Republicans rejected mask wearing, flouted social distancing requirements and claimed coronavirus was both a hoax and a Chinese conspiracy. This was devastating for the US population.

However, there was a difference. The potency of Trump’s lack of leadership was multiplied by the immense reach of the social media corporations — especially Twitter and Facebook.

Public health scientists and clinicians became largely ignored, analogue dinosaurs in a predatory digital world. In the US, pandemic policy was set through social media, with catastrophic results.

Traditional media is by no means a perfectly objective messenger, but it does follow certain editorial standards. Editors are responsible to owners, shareholders and the public for the content of publications. They play a vital role in fact checking and balancing robust debate. Traditional media is also regulated by external bodies and their peers. While there is only one Facebook, Instagram, YouTube or Twitter, there is competition for audiences among broadcasters and publishers. One way or another, facts are reported and public policy is better informed.

Unregulated and without any meaningful competition for audiences, social media platforms have supercharged the spread of misinformation. Over 2020, social media has had considerable impacts in Australia’s response to the pandemic. Some Australians protested social distancing measures, claiming the pandemic is a government hoax. Unfounded fears that 5G is linked to the spread of coronavirus meant Telstra undertook an advertising campaign to allay concerns.

A recent survey found growing vaccine hesitancy among those who subscribe to populist views — the kind social media algorithms naturally amplify to keep users engaged and online.

No single meme or erroneous post will nullify well-constructed public health campaigns. But a constant drip of conspiratorial and false information, targeted at our own particular prejudices, will over time erode trust.

While we can see the effect of misinformation, we have no real sense of the scale of the problem, nor can we truly anticipate the problems it might bring. During 2021, the danger is social media’s misinformation machine will undermine the vaccine rollout.

The public has very little data on who is being targeted with misinformation or what other confusing and false messages might also be gathering steam online. The only people with a bird’s-eye view on the spread of COVID-19 misinformation are the Big Tech giants. We need Big Tech platforms to share their vital perspective on misinformation with us all.

Reset Australia, an affiliate of the global initiative to counter digital threats to society, proposes a “live’’ list. With independent oversight, platforms would be compelled to reveal the most popular COVID-related material being shared on social media, in real time. We should compel the platforms to do this with independent oversight. Such a live list would help the Australian people and public health professionals identify misinformation and engage the community swiftly.

The greatest lesson of the HIV epidemic was that people need to be empowered with the truth. Only then could they take the steps that brought the pandemic under control.

In 2020, the poisoning of trust in scientific truth, amplified by social media algorithms, means millions go to their hospital beds, if not their graves, rejecting masks, social distancing and lockdowns.

The American people elected Joe Biden to restore sanity and science to America’s pandemic policy making. If he is to prevail, his administration, and the world, will have to also bring to account the social media corporations.

Their exercise of power without responsibility and indifference to the truth helped create and sustain the pandemic.

Bill Bowtell is a strategic health policy adviser, Adjunct Professor at UNSW and an architect of Australia’s response to HIV/AIDS.