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Research shows U.S. adversaries like Russia are pedaling fake health propaganda on sites like Twitter and Facebook.

By Julian Cardillo 14Nov. 3, 2020

Disinformation about vaccines is on the rise on social media and leading to decreases in vaccination rates over time, according to a new study co-authored by Brandeis politics professor Steven Wilson. Now, hes calling on countries like the U.S. to step up the fight against bogus health-related propaganda showing up online.

The study, titled Social media and vaccine hesitancy, which Wilson compiled with global health professor Charles Wiysonge of Stellenbosch University in South Africa, says much of the vaccine talk on sites like Twitter and Facebook consists of fake information pedaled by bots and promulgated by foreign adversaries like Russia.

The situation is leading to an increase in vaccine hesitancy, which the study notes is not only on the World Health Organizations list of top 10 threats to global health overall, but also promises to be a major factor as governments roll out a COVID-19 vaccine.

Wilson, an expert on Russia and digital politics, said his involvement in this research project began in February after the WHO started bringing together scholars to study connections between health and democracy.

We were honestly surprised at what we found, Wilson said. Normally, with findings this statistically significant, we start to wonder if there were variables we forgot to control forresults are never this cut and dry.

Wilson and Wiysonge surveyed social media data and vaccination rates globally. Next, they tabulated their findings on a five-point scale.

Their findings show that mean vaccination rates drop 12 percent per decade with every one-point upward shift on the disinformation scale.

They also modeled the connection between foreign disinformation and negative social media activity about vaccinations. Wilson and Wiysonges surveys showed a 15 percent increase in negative vaccine tweets for the median country based on the substantive effect of foreign disinformation.

Wilson said the study sheds light on foreign disinformation about vaccines generally, and does not exclusively blame Russia. However, the study cites other research that states Russian bots and troll farms are pushing anti-vaccination messages on a large scale on Western social media in conjunction with Russias foreign broadcast network.

Someone needs to be doing something about Russia, Wilson said. There is ample research that Russia is pushing anti-vaccinationpropaganda in various places around the world, and that disinformation is affecting health outcomes consistently.

Another approach to stopping the anti-vaccination talk online is for governments to hold social media companies accountable by mandating them to remove false anti-vaccination content, regardless of whether its from genuine domestic actors or a foreign propaganda operation.

Though he doesnt agree with the argument, Wilson acknowledges there may not be the political will to take that step out of fear of infringing on freedom of speech.

Its not censorship if what youre doing is removing lies, Wilson said. Its not censorship when youre not allowing people to yell FIRE! in a crowded theater.

Youre perfectly free to make a health decision even when its to your detriment, but its not always about you, he added. If a significant population is making the wrong choices, its not so cut and dry. You want people making these determinations with correct information in the first place.

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Social media is feeding the anti-vaccination movement | BrandeisNOW - Brandeis University

US Presidential Election results 2020: Joseph R Biden Jr has won the US Presidential race by beating incumbent Donald Trump. Biden will be the 46th US President. The projections by the US media -- NYT, CNN, BBC and FOX News -- came after Biden took an unassailable lead in Pennsylvania, a key state with 20 electoral votes. Now, Biden looks set to win 306 electoral votes, exactly as many as Trump had won in 2016 and way more than the 270 required for US Presidency. Prior to the projection, Trump tweeted that he'd won the polls by a big margin. A few hours ago, Biden, in an address to the nation, reached out to the Republicans and said, "We may be opponents, but we're not enemies.""We have to remember the purpose of our politics isnt totally unrelenting warfare," he added. His statement comes in stark contrast with that of the incumbent President Donald Trump who has been warning Biden not to claim presidency 'wrongfully' and has accused him of 'stealing election'.

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US election results LIVE: Election far from over, warns Trump on Biden win - Business Standard

Donald Trump has taken to Twitter to declare the Republican Party will easily win the race to the White House. Once again he claimed illegal votes were being counted, without any evidence it was occurring. He also hit out at the social media site for being "out of control" after a number of his Tweets were hidden from view and branded "misleading about the election" by the site's moderators.

The incumbent President said: "Twitter is out of control, made possible through the government gift of Section 230!"

Trump wrote several other Tweets this morning, where he repeated his claim that he was winning the election.

He said: "I easily WIN the Presidency of the United States with LEGAL VOTES CAST.

"The OBSERVERS were not allowed, in any way, shape, or form, to do their job and therefore, votes accepted during this period must be determined to be ILLEGAL VOTES. US Supreme Court should decide!"

A third Tweet read: "So now the Democrats are working to gain control of the US Senate through their actions on John James, David Perdue, and more. Would End the Filibuster, Life, 2A, and would Pack and Rotate the Court. Presidency becomes even more important. We will win!"

Trump led a press conference last night, where he repeatedly claimed, without evidence, that according to a count of "legal votes" he would be this election's presumptive winner.

There is no basis for this claim.

The votes are still being counted in a number of states and these are legitimate mail-in ballots, not illegal votes, as Trump has suggested.

JUST IN:Nigel Farage blasts Joe Biden with brutal dead voter conspiracy theory

They are being counted last because that is standard procedure in several states.

Over the course of the Presidential campaign Trump encouraged his supporters to vote in person and avoid mail-in ballots.

Biden by contrast, urged voters to mail-in their ballots, which is why the Democrat candidate is seeing a surge in votes in states still counting ballots.

The difference in voting behaviour for the two parties does not come as a surprise, as political insiders have expected for months that Democrats would vote disproportionately by mail, while Republicans would vote disproportionately in person.

In response to Trump's press conference, Biden tweeted: "No one is going to take our democracy away from us. Not now, not ever.

"America has come too far, fought too many battles, and endured too much to let that happen."

Speaking at the Queen Theater in Wilmington, Delaware, earlier on Thursday, the Democratic nominee urged calm and said: In America, the vote is sacred. Each ballot must be counted."

In the meantime, I ask everyone to stay calm.

The winner of the US Presidential election is yet to be announced, but Biden is currently leading with six states still to declare their results.

To win the race a candidate needs to reach 270 electoral college votes, Biden currently stands on 253 while Trump trails on 214.

The key states yet to announce their results includePennsylvania, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada.

It is not yet clear a final result will be in as the millions of postal votes are delaying the counts.

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Trump says Twitter 'out of control' after tweets claiming he's won election removed - Daily Express

HELENA Youve heard it before and you're hearing it again Bozeman High School is back in the State AA football semifinals.

It was a 35-28 victory over Helena High at Vigilante Stadium on Friday evening that pushed the Hawks back into this year's round of four, their third consecutive trip, and theyre now one win away from going back to the state championship game.

For years fans and media have talked about key Bozeman players in the positions of quarterback, running back, receivers, safeties and defensive backs, but what about the boys in the trenches? The forgottens. Thats been a lot of the success according to head coach Levi Wesche, who knows a thing or two about the position.

I think its safe to say that the two strengths of our teams are the lines. Were great on the offensive line, I feel like, and were great on the defensive line," said Wesche. "In the games weve won, we have been able to control the line of scrimmage. Thats huge. You cant say enough about it. Thats how we build our program, we want to control the line of scrimmage any way we can.

Frontier Conference football fans will remember Wesche from his all-conference offensive lineman days at MSU-Northern. Its a position he heavily values, and this year, one he returned to mentoring.

Im back coaching the offensive line for the first time since I took over as head coach, so its been four years, but Im back now. I have to admit, thats been the highlight of my year is going back and coaching those big guys because they just have a different work ethic," Wesche said. "It takes a different attitude to play in that area. Its been really fun for me to see how far theyve progressed.

My brother actually had Wesche as his (offensive line) coach when he played, and with him they won the state championship in 2013," said senior offensive lineman Jacob Keim, referencing his older brother, Brandon Keim. "I love Wesche ... I think he really pushes us.

Wesche, hes always on the guys to be perfect every single day. Theyre watching film every single day, whether its in class or on Zoom, hes always demanding perfection from those guys," said senior defensive end Luke Fedyk. "Over the season its showed. Since that first game we lost to Billings Senior, we struggled a little bit, but to see those guys grow and how much theyve progressed throughout the year, thats been impressive. Im super proud of those guys.

Bozemans offensive line understands Wesche holds higher expectations of them because hes played and coached the position. Their response? Often getting better as the game goes on.

Our guys fight hard. They play snap to whistle every down. Do they get beat sometimes? Yeah. But they dont give up, either," said Wesche. "They come back with just as much intensity, fire and physicality. Theyre going to keep grinding on you, grinding on you and grinding on you.

Thats why we play the game. We love the physicality," said Keim. "Im just excited to play one more week.

I think its awesome. I think thats the way we like it," echoed Fedyk. "Obviously our defensive line, we get after it, but our offensive line, as well. Theyre a bunch of dogs. We like to be physical. Were physical in practice every day and we like to get after it. (We) definitely like these games where we can really put our hand in the dirt and get after it.

Fedyk and Kenneth Eiden IV certainly draw their share of praise on the defensive line, but senior Camren Spencer and junior Jaden Perkins make their own noise in the backfield.

Big Cam Spence, hes always, every single day, hes grinding. Hes trying to get better, trying to be the best he can be," Fedyk praised his teammate. "Big Perk, hes stepping up. Hes obviously a junior this year, so hes going to have a great year next year, but hes stepped up for us this year, so thats awesome.

The Hawks offensive line, meanwhile, may not have the name recognition, but teammates know where the credit belongs.

The running backs and QB, Jordan (Jones), they always give us love. They always know were the bread and butter. Its awesome they give us credit, but its pretty cool to get an interview from you guys one time, admitted Keim.

Dont worry young fella, the physical play isnt going unnoticed.

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The forgotten: Bozeman High's football success starts in the trenches - MontanaSports

Democrat Joe Biden will reportedly "assert control" and immediately begin forming a new government as president-elect if news organizations declare him the winner on election night.

Even if President Donald Trump challenges the results, Biden will address the nation Tuesday night as the winner if news organizations declare him the "mathematical president-elect," Biden campaign advisers told Axios.

In such a case, Biden will immediately begin "looking presidential," and to stifle Trump's challenges, Biden "may begin transition announcements quickly, starting with senior staff appointments," according to Axios.

In fact, Biden's team "has blueprints for staffing every single agency," in addition to plans for executive orders to reverse those issued by Trump.

Biden's team will make a quick push to assert power because of what happened in 2000 between George W. Bush and Al Gore, when Bush declared himself the winner of the contested election and began to act as the president-elect. Gore, on the other hand, did not assert himself and he was eventually declared the loser.

"We're not really concerned about what Donald Trump says," Biden's campaign manager Jen O'Malley Dillon said Monday. "We're going to use our data, our understanding of where this is headed, and make sure that the vice president is addressing the American people."

On the other hand, Trump said Tuesday that he will declare victory "only when there's victory. There's no reason to play games."

There is a low probability that Americans will know the outcome of the presidential race by the end of the night.

While votes aren't certified for weeks after the election, news organizations and election experts are able to call elections by analyzing provable, time-tested metrics.

But that will be more difficult this year due to the prevalence of mail-in ballots and record early voting turnout.

In critical states like Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Ohio three states the eventual winner of the election will most likely also have won mail-in ballots are being accepted for three days after the election in Pennsylvania, nine days after the election in North Carolina, and 10 days after the election in Ohio.

Still, Americans should have a good indication of where the election is headed by the night's end.

If states that look solidly in the bag for Biden, like Wisconsin, for example, are unable to be declared tonight, that may serve as an indication that Trump is performing better than polls indicated he would and the election is much closer. But if states that Trump should have a good control of, like Georgia or even Texas, look like they're headed Biden's way, that would be a clear indication that Biden is on track to win.

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Report: Biden will 'assert control,' begin forming new government if media declare him the winner - TheBlaze