Social Media Content material Moderation Insurance policies and False Claims that COVID-19 Vaccines Trigger Most cancers — The Monitor

Social Media and AI Coverage Roundup

KFF periodically investigates regulatory actions and platform adjustments which will affect how well being info is shared on-line. Throughout September and October, social media platforms, states, and federal regulators have applied or proposed insurance policies that might have an effect on how social media content material and AI are regulated, impacting what individuals see on-line.

YouTube adjustments its moderation method and reinstates entry to previously banned customers

• YouTube announced in September that customers beforehand banned below the platform’s older COVID-19 or election misinformation insurance policies might create new accounts and doubtlessly re-upload content material that contributed to their termination if it doesn’t violate present guidelines, supplied they accomplished an appeals course of by November 9. The change displays latest shifts in YouTube’s moderation insurance policies towards what it characterizes as “free expression,” though the platform will proceed to prohibit content material that “contradicts native well being authority steerage about particular well being situations and substances.”
• The transfer follows Republican investigations into whether or not the Biden administration pressured tech corporations to take away content material, doubtlessly infringing on First Modification rights. In 2024, the Supreme Court docket reviewed these allegations in Murthy v. Missouri, however ruled that the plaintiffs lacked standing with out figuring out whether or not the content material removals in query violated free speech. Many social media platforms have since rolled again their moderation insurance policies, however KFF polling has discovered that 68% of adults say well being misinformation is an even bigger downside than “individuals being prevented from sharing various “viewpoints”  on social media (31%). 

New York’s new regulation mandating transparency associated to content material moderation insurance policies went into impact in October

• The Stop Hiding Hate Act went into impact in New York in October, requiring social media corporations working within the state with greater than $100 million in income to publicly report their content material moderation insurance policies and supply customers with a strategy to report violations. These corporations should additionally submit biannual studies to the state Legal professional Basic detailing the variety of posts flagged, posts acted upon, and actions taken.

Proposed federal AI laws goals to forestall future regulation

• Two payments launched in Congress purpose to set nationwide guidelines for the way synthetic intelligence (AI) is regulated, changing the combo of state and native legal guidelines that presently exist. Sen. Ted Cruz’s “SANDBOX Act” would give AI corporations two-year exemptions from present federal guidelines, permitting them to experiment whereas policymakers assess what new guidelines are wanted. A second bill, from Rep. Michael Baumgartner, would forestall most states and cities from creating their very own AI guidelines for 5 years with a view to preserve laws constant throughout the nation whereas Congress develops a unified federal method.  The proposals observe a failed try earlier this 12 months to ascertain a ten-year moratorium that the Senate struck from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

• These payments could present regulatory readability, however they could additionally go away gaps in shopper protections by shielding these corporations from legal responsibility if their merchandise share dangerous well being info. States together with Tennessee and California have already handed some AI laws defending towards unauthorized use of voice, picture, and likeness, and requiring security frameworks and transparency studies. These state legal guidelines may very well be curbed or eradicated below the proposed federal laws, leaving individuals susceptible to false AI-generated health information online.

New Analysis Finds COVID-19 Vaccines Could Have Anti-Most cancers Results, However Some Flow into Contradictory Research

What’s the latest analysis?

• A study printed in Nature in late October discovered that mRNA COVID-19 vaccines might delay the lives of individuals with most cancers receiving immunotherapy. The analysis builds on decades of labor exploring mRNA’s potential cancer-fighting properties. Based mostly on their findings, the researchers theorized that the mRNA within the vaccine helped activate immune cells all through the physique, making them extra prone to acknowledge and assault tumors. The research has been coated broadly in mainstream media, and researchers plan to launch a Part 3 scientific trial to substantiate the outcomes.
• Whereas mainstream information protection has centered on these potential protecting results, a separate study inspecting medical health insurance information for greater than 8 million individuals reported associations between COVID-19 vaccination and elevated most cancers dangers.  Epidemiologists say the research comprises methodological flaws, together with failing to account for variations in healthcare-seeking behaviors between vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals. The journal has since added a discover acknowledging issues.

What’s occurring in on-line dialog?

• Most dialogue about COVID-19 vaccines and most cancers facilities on analysis suggesting the vaccines might lengthen most cancers sufferers’ lives. A smaller group, nevertheless, cites the research that reported a constructive affiliation to assert the vaccines trigger most cancers. Whereas these claims come from fewer sources, a number of of these selling them maintain positions that might affect vaccine coverage. For instance, Kids’s Well being Protection, based by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., posted an article claiming the research confirmed that “All COVID Vaccines Improve Most cancers Danger.” A number of members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) additionally shared the research on their social media accounts. Different distinguished accounts, together with one X account with practically 2 million followers, shared outcomes of the research and mentioned that it confirmed a statistically important larger threat of most cancers amongst those that had been vaccinated.
• A number of news and fact-checking organizations printed detailed analyses figuring out issues with the analysis strategies. Nevertheless, the research additionally acquired uncritical media consideration, a few of which was later corrected. The Day by day Mail initially printed an article concerning the research that claimed researchers mentioned they’d discovered “proof” that COVID-19 vaccines induced most cancers, however later clarified that they’d solely discovered an affiliation. One political commentator with practically 5 million YouTube subscribers additionally featured a visitor who mentioned the research on his present.

What does the proof say?

There isn’t any credible proof that COVID-19 vaccines trigger most cancers. Most cancers usually take several years to develop, however the research that reported a correlation between vaccination and most cancers solely adopted individuals for one 12 months after vaccination, making it extremely unlikely that any cancers noticed had been brought on by the vaccines. The International Vaccine Knowledge Community has said there isn’t any credible mechanism by way of which COVID-19 vaccines may trigger most cancers. As famous above, the Nature research, which builds on many years of analysis, exhibits that mRNA vaccines might assist immune cells acknowledge tumors.

Why This Issues

False claims that COVID-19 vaccines trigger most cancers persist past social media. Throughout ACIP’s September meeting, the committee invited audio system to current on potential correlations between COVID-19 vaccines and most cancers, giving these issues an official platform regardless of the dearth of scientific help. The Nature research advised potential protecting advantages of COVID-19 vaccines towards most cancers, however contradictory claims supported by flawed peer-reviewed analysis and amplified by federal well being officers might proceed to unfold and acquire unwarranted credibility.