YouTube expands vaccine misinfo crackdown, nukes anti-vax channels for good

YouTube says it will remove anti-vaccine videos from its service and has already blocked the channels operated by several widely viewed anti-vaccine advocates. "Vaccines in particular have been a source of fierce debate over the years, despite consistent guidance from health authorities about their effectiveness," the super- …

[redpawn]

I've been vaccinated

and now I attract spam, beware!

[Jamesit]

Re: I've been vaccinated

Me too, 2x mRNA no side effects either.

[JDPower666]

Re: I've been vaccinated

Me too. The tinned variety. The vaccine is clearly magnetic.

[jake]

About fucking time.

'nuff said.

[stiine]

Re: About fucking time.

What the hell am I supposed to watch for amusement now?

[Dan 55]

Re: About fucking time.

Flat earthers?

[Kevin Johnston]

Re: About fucking time.

Apparently they have followers all round the globe

[stiine]

Re: About fucking time.

They aren't very entertaining to me. well... except that one flat-earth rocketeer.

[jake]

Re: About fucking time.

The few remaining fanatic Trump supporters?

[My other car WAS an IAV Stryker]

Re: About fucking time.

Sadly, more (much more) than a "few".

[Howard Sway]

video giant said that content making false claims that approved vaccines are dangerous

so, are they going to return all the money they made from knowingly disseminating this garbage that kills people for many months to something like a fund for vaccinating people in less wealthy countries who would dearly love to get the vaccine?

Why's it taken nearly a year of all that lovely ad revenue to realise the harm it was causing?

[jake]

Re: video giant said that content making false claims that approved vaccines are dangerous

Of course alphagoo are not going to return it ... the advertisers got their money's worth, didn't they? In alphagoo's mind, they earned it fair and square ... it's the advertisers that paid for all the bullshit leading idiots down the garden path, so how can it be alphagoo's fault?.

They are money-grubbing capitalist pigs, answering to no one but the shareholders, and they can do what they like because nobody has done the one thing that'll stop them.

That would be leaving the entire system behind en-mass, if you were wondering. Won't happen, though, because people as a herd flock like sheep, with roughly the same IQ.

Next question?

[VicMortimer]

And I just spent 15 minutes reporting Mercola's Twitter posts for vaccine misinformation.

Feel free to do the same. These fools are killing people.

[Jamesit]

In my opinion Mercola is a quack and should lose his license if he has one. Is he a doctor> Wikipedia doesn't make it clear if he is or not,

[katrinab]

Most of these "doctors" are Doctors of Philosophy (phd), not Doctors of Medicine (md).

[Mobster]

Now Texas will sue YouTube under their new silly law demanding social media companies allow all content. This from the same republican legislators who always bark about free market, no regulation of business yada yada yada.

[DevOpsTimothyC]

Now Texas will sue YouTube under their new silly law demanding social media companies allow all content.

While I would have preferred that Texas taken the same position as Australia, I'm probably the odd one out here but I completely support both Australia & Texas's decisions to remove the ability for these companies to have their cake and eat it too.

Either a company is a common carrier who cannot and NEVER filters content, OR they have a duty to filter their content and run legal risks for failing in their duty to filter. They should not be allowed their current ability of claiming common carrier protections while still filtering content.

[Anonymous Coward]

Anti Vax protesters

The anti vax protesters here in Oz keep banging on about how they are being discriminated against. However, I have had a look at the relevant legislation and as far as I can tell (IANAL) at least here where I live, it isn't actually illegal to discriminate against morons.

[Anonymous Coward]

Any possibility of antivaxx crap being just 'satire' long since stopped being funny.

It's a grifting industry and both the antivaxxers and those that profit off it need a good slap. Looking at those making t-shirts, mugs hell, even newspapers are being printed now specifically to spread antivaxx crap.

We like to talk about censorship here. well, I can't use rude language on telly before 9PM (except every channel in the universe does it anyway), but I can willfully spread disinformation that IS killing people. If that isn't a system in need of reforms I don't know what is.

Good on United Airlines saying get vaccinated or get sacked. Some of us would like to use what limited time we have here to see the world rather than being perpetually stuck at home.

[jake]

"Good on United Airlines saying get vaccinated or get sacked."

Some cities here in California are doing this, too. The largest city that I am aware of which is going to be implementing it is San Jose. Naturally, some will quit over this mandate. Including some members of the city's police department ... not just "civilian" employees, but also sworn officers.

It occurs to me that the fucking morons refusing to get vaccinated probably contain the small subset of cops who play fast and loose with civil rights. Perhaps this pandemic will bring about at least a little bit of decent change.

It's an ill wind & all that.

[jmch]

Excellent!

This type of misinformation isn't some sort of harmless flat-earthism, it can have dangerous consequences.

What I DO really wish for though, is to stop the totalinariansim around vaccines and actually inform people in detail. So many mainstream media stop at 'vaccines are safe and effective' and leave it at that. Health authorities and media seem scared to say in clear plain language:

"Yes, there ARE cases when vaccines cause harm, in some cases permanently, and there are people who are going to die because of the vaccine, this is unfortunately inevitable when dangerous side-effects are one in many millions but we're giving this to a few billions. Even though there are risks with the vaccine, it's much less than the risks of covid, where the chances of illness, permanent damage, or death, are all X times more likely than with the vaccine, and that X can vary wildly between different groups of people. Here are the details, talk about it with your GP and decide for yourselves"

Branding people who are reluctant to get vaccinated as nutters isn't going to make them more likely to vaccinate. Denying that any injury/death to vaccinated people is related to the vaccination while refusing to acknowledge that many people died *with* covid not *of* covid is just stoking conspiracy theories, because if you do the numbers properly, vaccines are still considerably safer (for most groups). Insisting that children should be vaccinated when the cost-benefit in this age group is non-existant and currently FDA etc approved studies were adult-only is nuts.

[Martin an gof]

Re: Excellent!

Insisting that children should be vaccinated when the cost-benefit in this age group is non-existant.

It's small, but not non-existent. There are some direct benefits from children with certain underlying health conditions, but for healthy children the benefit is mostly indirect and it does seem to be far, far smaller than the benefit that would be gained by vaccinating all adults worldwide. What is most concerning to me is that we are using vaccines on children (with a small benefit) instead of sending them to countries which can't afford to vaccinate their adult populations. There was even a story last week about vaccines going out-of-date because we (in the UK) have stockpiled too many!

The benefits from vaccinating healthy children are "indirect" because they are nearly all to do with adults. At one step removed, although children rarely suffer badly from a CoViD infection, they can act as carriers. Vaccinating would reduce their efficacy as carriers and therefore their chances of infecting adults, who may not have had the vaccine, perhaps for a medical reason, or whose immune systems haven't responded well to the vaccine, or who are simply unlucky.

This kind of benefit is not just on health grounds - you might prevent a hospital admission or even a death - but also on economic grounds; an adult who tests positive has to self-isolate. In the UK this is for ten days either from last contact with the infected person or from the day following a positive test.

A child testing positive also has to isolate, and most children in the UK are testing (using Lateral Flow Tests) twice a week, so many (though by no means all) asymptomatic infections are caught. If a child is isolating then the adults in its life will probably have to take time off work in order to look after it at home and set up home schooling.

At two steps removed, even though UK guidance is now that a fully-vaccinated adult who tests negative after an encounter with someone testing positive does not have to isolate (but is encouraged to take daily LFTs), some sectors have slightly different rules. The NHS in Wales, for example, requires that if the positive case is within the same household, an NHS worker - even if they test negative - must be withdrawn from patient-facing roles.

These are all economic costs which would be reduced if children were vaccinated and therefore less likely to become infected, and if infected less likely to be infectious, but (and I haven't seen figures, but it just seems obvious) the health and economic benefits of vaccinating healthy children in "first world" countries surely pale into insignificance compared with the health and economic benefits of ensuring that all adults worldwide are vaccinated.

M.

[jmch]

Re: Excellent!

"It's small, but not non-existent."

Granted

"What is most concerning to me is that we are using vaccines on children (with a small benefit) instead of sending them to countries which can't afford to vaccinate their adult populations."

Absolutely this!

[Anonymous Coward]

Google v. Russia

the Russians are really hurt that their state-sponsored and controlled, totally impartial, bestest-clicked German-speaking yt channels are off yt. How dare they, those google lackeys of evil imperialism tell Mother Russia how to conduct information war, it's like, SO UNFAIR and we shall make them pay for this! (literally)

But, beside that popcorn-time level, it does look like putinism is batting down the hatches...

[KittenHuffer]

I hate to be an idiom nazi .....

..... but the saying is to "batten down the hatches"!

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: I hate to be an idiom nazi .....

My personal favourite is 'butter', for the visual effect

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: I hate to be an idiom nazi .....

Batting down the hatches is much more fun and intrinsically violent!!!

[Peter D]

When does misinformation become information?

This is a laudable action but it could end in tears. What if a mother, say, felt her child had been adversely affected by a vaccine in a hitherto unreported way and wanted to bring attention to her concerns? Now, she could find no other parents came forward and her thesis would be rejected. Alternatively, a number of parents from around the world could report the same issue. In isolation these reports would have gone unnoticed by local regulators. However, Mavis through her YouTube channel had gathered evidence of a rare side effect. Of course, Mavis would never be able to do this now because she would be guilty of spreading misinformation. Wen does misinformation become information? Mavis needs to know.

[jake]

Re: When does misinformation become information?

Does Mavis have a doctor to talk to about her little one? You know, the people who have years and years of study designed exactly to put them in a position to be able to help people out in situations like this?

No, no, no, whatever was I thinking ... Obviously she must post it to YouTube, that way she'll get all of humanity responding to her, and she won't have any trouble whatsoever separating out fact from fiction. Especially all those facts the doctors, the WHO and the CDC are hiding from us law abiding citizens.

Honestly, the mind boggles ...

[Peter D]

Re: When does misinformation become information?

Mavis went to her doctor with her concerns and he told her that there had been no reports of this side effect and little Malcolm's symptoms were unrelated to the vaccine and remained idiopathic (that's medical speak for we haven't got a clue).

[jake]

Re: When does misinformation become information?

Get a second opinion, as allowed by law. And a third, if necessary. Make noise. But in useful places.

Posting to YouTube and the like will get you nothing but cranks. If you're lucky.

As a side note, how "little" is Malcolm? If he's all THAT young, he's in the experimental group and Mavis's doctor automatically has access to all the data available, most of which will not be found on You Tube as yet as it hasn't been published for the simple reason that it's still being compiled.

[Peter D]

Re: When does misinformation become information?

Mavis believes Malcolm is still little because of the particular vaccine he was given 4 years ago when he was 12.

[Dinanziame]

Re: When does misinformation become information?

Then Mavis should listen to her doctor telling her this is unrelated to the vaccine. She should most definitely not listen to whatever crap people trying to sell dodgy nutrients are spouting on the internet. There's one person like Mavis born every minute, but we should protect people like Mavis from those trying to take advantage of them.

[jake]

Re: When does misinformation become information?

So Mavis is posting a question (not a statement) about a vaccine, and the question has to do with something other than Covid to boot ... So what was your worry about YouTube removing incorrect info about Covid, again? You seem to have lost track of the plot.

[Martin an gof]

Re: When does misinformation become information?

But even so, Mavis's doctor reported the case via the mandatory "yellow card" system because as a professional he realises his knowledge is incomplete, where it met a similar report from another doctor and triggered further investigation.

Well, that's the theory...

M.

[anonanonanonanonanon]

Re: When does misinformation become information?

But you know what would happen, the video would be picked up and amplified with no context, and simply serve as fuel for the antivaxxers, any useful replies she might get would be buried

[Peter D]

Re: When does misinformation become information?

Mavis is not media savvy enough to understand these concerns but she does have legitimate concerns about her diminutive offspring. A few years ago he had dreams of being a professional basketball player and now he can't even watch a game because he can't see over the kid sitting in front of him.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: When does misinformation become information?

She does not have a legitimate concern. She's looking for somebody to blame for what goes wrong in her life. There are people who will lie to her in order to take advantage of her, and she would totally believe these people because they're telling her what she wants to hear, as opposed to the unwelcome truth that her kid is just small, like many other people, and she should deal with it.

[jake]

Re: When does misinformation become information?

And MeDearOldMum had dreams of me being an Astronaut. Sadly, I was pigeon-toed, cross-eyed and extremely near-sighted so I washed out of Air Force Pilot training before I even got there. Clearly, MeDearOldMum should have been blaming all those nasty vaccines I got as a child, not her own genetics.

[Outski]

Re: When does misinformation become information?

Whereas my mum was delighted when I became short-sighted and developed hay fever in childhood, as it meant that there was close to bugger all chance of me following in her father's footsteps and joining the RAF as a pilot or navigator (he didn't come back from a raid over northern France in '44).

[naive]

Re: When does misinformation become information?

“And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed—if all records told the same tale—then the lie passed into history and became truth. ‘Who controls the past’ ran the Party slogan, ‘controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.'”

(George Orwell 1984)

Hail to our overlords Marc, Sundar, Larry, Satya and Sergey for keeping us healthy.

[Peter D]

Re: When does misinformation become information?

I should point out that I'm most definitely pro-vax. What worries me is the idea that companies like Google consider themselves to be legitimate arbiters of what constitutes misinformation. On one hand they benefit from being considered not a publisher but on the other they behave exactly like one. What qualifies Google to have their cake and also to eat it?

[Androgynous Cupboard]

Re: When does misinformation become information?

The fact that they have taken two years to come off the fence shows that they have thought about this point too. For far too long, in my opinion.

In common with many wringing their hands in doubt over vaccines, you appear to be worrying about the splinter and ignoring the log. There are no risk free options. Yes, there is a non-zero risk from a vaccine, just as there is a non-zero risk that real information will be caught in Google dragnet. However this must be weighed against the risk of not being vaccinated, or the risk that Youtube would otherwise be peddling misinformation directly leading to peoples deaths.

You don't get to avoid this choice, and you have to make it with uncertain knowledge. Life's unfair like that, I know. Google have made a choice, it's the right one, and it would have been the right one 18 months ago. It seems they were wringing their hands too.

[stiine]

Re: When does misinformation become information?

Seriously? I think they finally got a wakeup call because their advertisers started to complain about advertising to people who think the government could afford to manufacture enough injectable microchips to implant into the 7 billion people on the planet if they could only convince everyone to get a shot...

[jake]

Re: When does misinformation become information?

Exactly. Follow the money. The bad publicity was affecting their bottom line, so they have started pulling the obvious bullshit.

One wonders if profits actually increased in some measurable way when they pulled posting rights from a certain ex-president ... if so, it would explain why the various multi-billion dollar advertising companies are now more prone to jerk the platform out from under the bullshit artists.

And about fucking time, too.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: When does misinformation become information?

How is Google any different to other news outlets in this regard. There are widely read rags full of not only terrible journalism but downright lies that routinely influence the outcome of elections and referenda.

The level of misreporting regarding the industry I work in is staggering. Many people all over the world vehemently deny the reality upon us. Partly fuelled by certain papers spreading FUD about the changes that the world and economy HAS to go through. Secondly fuelled by the economic reality that making that change is going to be painful.

Google is doing the right thing here. Eventually. Nobody is forcing them to remove content.

I hope setting an example is a prompt for others to follow.

One way or the other, the species will be dragged kicking and screaming and survive somehow; or it will destroy itself. Fighting for the former is a worthwhile cause.

[stiine]

Re: When does misinformation become information?

You presume that the government didn't send them an NSL that said 'boot all of the channels you consider to be anti-vax'

Yes, that would be stupid, but this is the U.S. government we're talking about.

[jake]

Re: When does misinformation become information?

Yes, the US Government is stupid (all large governments are, almost by definition). But there was no NSL. Not this time. No need.

Ol' Bill of Occam sez follow the money.

[jake]

Re: When does misinformation become information?

"What worries me is the idea that companies like Google consider themselves to be legitimate arbiters of what constitutes misinformation."

What worries me is that people as a herd consider the bullshit they read online to be TRVTH. As I've been saying for decades, Critical Thinking 101 should be mandatory for high school graduation.

"On one hand they benefit from being considered not a publisher but on the other they behave exactly like one."

Oh, horseshit. They allow you to publish any old bullshit, to your heart's content ... UNTIL you start to affect their company (and shareholders) negatively. At that point, you get slapped on the hand, the offending content gets removed, and you get told not to do it again.

It is NOT the stuff that they are publishing that gets pulled, it is the stuff that you are publishing that gets pulled. The freedom of the press belongs to he who owns one.

[Cybersaber]

Re: When does misinformation become information?

Medical professionals have systems to document and catch these kinds of reports for researchers to research. More concerning is the chilling effect of politicizing science like what happened to the investigation into the origins of COVID-19 as per the recent US congressional hearing.

This would cause those systems to document the *potential* rare corner-cases from being investigated by those researchers because they're told they shouldn't research it. (nobody has done that re: COVID vaccines, but it was chilling when it was done to origin studies.)

So in summary, as long as actual _scientists_ (i.e. not cranks on social media) aren't told they're not allowed to research, Mavis's problem already has a solution i.e. there already are researchers who do this kind of research for really rare medication side-effects long before 2020 and COVID.

[DrXym]

Re: When does misinformation become information?

If the mother thinks her child is harmed she should talk to her doctor. The doctor will report an adverse reaction and analysts will determine if there is an actual risk associated with the vaccine. It also means the child will see a doctor to be treated for harm.

Or mommy could go on social media and spread her uninformed opinion about her child's "vaccine injury" where it will be picked up by antivaxxers, embellished and amplified. Eventually enough people are scared out of vaccinating their kids that outbreaks occur and people die or suffer harm for real.

So yeah, social media needs to snuff this bullshit out as soon as it happens and unleash the ban hammer on channels & users that spread misinfo.

[big_D]

5G chip...

It also includes claims that vaccines facilitate the remote tracking of recipients, which is evidently a thing among the tin-foil hat crowd.

Yes, it is that damned 5G chip they slip in... It was a little "extra" provided by Bill Gates. It also makes you want to buy Microsoft products. Although, I have a feeling that my chip might be damaged. Since I got my vaccination, I've bought an iPad and I've installed Linux on my main PC, replacing Windows 10...

Can I get my money back?

:-D

[jake]

Re: 5G chip...

"Can I get my money back?"

You can have every penny you paid for the jab returned to you. Make sure you have your receipt(s) with you when you make your claim in order to expedite processing. Thank you.

[stiine]

Re: 5G chip...

Are you counting tax money paid? Surely you don't think all of these shots are free... that would just be stupid.

[jake]

Re: 5G chip...

::sighs::

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: 5G chip...

Apparently, Bill decided against putting chips in the vaccines and put them in the horse worming tablets instead.

[Jellied Eel]

Re: 5G chip...

Actually, the statement is correct. Although it's not the vaccines per se, it's the track & trace apps that get installed alongside them, Or just being told to flash your 'vaccine passport' so you can be tracked there.

There's also some truth in 'particles' in the vaccine. Like in Japan, where some vaccines had been contaminated during manufacturing. So context is important, and differentiating between self-assembling nanotech 5G radios, and other possible contamination.

[jake]

Re: 5G chip...

What are these "apps" you speak of?

[mark l 2]

While removing these antivax nutters from YT is a good thing, the cynical part of me thinks that Google are not going this for the good of the community but because they have decided that because most advertisers don't want their ads running along side these sort of videos. So they decided it actually worth nuking the channels for the positive PR since they were probably not attracting any big brands that were willing to pay top prices for the ad slots on those videos anyway.

[Tired and grumpy]

Yes, let's suppress all dissent. Doing that made the USSR such a lovely place and look how well it's working in China. Does no one on the left recognise the slipperiness of the slope, or are you all just happy to avoid any challenge to your consensus?

El Reg itself might considering worrying about when the culture warriors will start coming after snark. The general tone of the organ, when not virtue-signalling, has no shortage of micro-aggressions. But, as Pastor Niemuller said, there will be no one left to speak up for you.

[Anonymous Coward]

Its not dissent. It is provably and proven not just to be inaccurate but to be positively harmful. It took a long time, but eventually most places went from doctors recommending certain brands of cigarettes to complete advertising bans and in some places plain packaging with "using this product will kill you and the people you love" messaging. Nobody sensible is claiming the free speech right to encourage people to take up smoking because it is good for your health any more and many countries are clamping down on secondhand smoke too because although they havent yet banned smoking altogether they are very keen to reduce the harm caused by smokers to other people.

Vaccine conspiracy theories are similar. Yes, CoViD is a thing. Yes, many people have died as a direct result of catching the disease. No, the cure is most definitely not worse than the disease. Saying otherwise is actively positively harmful and frankly in the cases of the worst offenders I hope there is someone out there looking very seriously at whether it is possible to charge them with attempted manslaughter or a similar charge in the same way you would go after a drug dealer knowingly handing out drugs cut with rat poisin.

[Anonymous Coward]

No, the cure is most definitely not worse than the disease.

With all due respect you, nor anyone else, can say that for certain for every demographic. Vaccine side effects can take several years to manifest themselves, especially if they trigger immune conditions.

Please bear in mind that 80% of people that contract COVID are asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic.

[jake]

"El Reg itself might considering worrying about when the culture warriors will start coming after snark."

They keep trying, but us Loyal Commentards keep beating them off with a stick.

Funny, isn't it, how we fight like cats & dogs over many things, but are united in keeping the general tone of this august organ as it is.

Personally, I think that useful info flows far more freely with an element of snark to lubricate it. That's what made the good points of Usenet take off as fast as it did. I could point to many FOSS projects that wouldn't be what they are without it, too. And many proprietary projects that withered on the vine without it,

Beers all around.

[Anonymous Coward]

And some are going 'old school'

Went to pick up my usual Metro on the way to work the other day and discovered I'd picked up a copy of 'The Light' by mistake, a 'truthpaper' declaring"1400 dead and 1m affected by the vaccine" on the front page

(https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/nov/27/truthpaper-the-anti-lockdown-newspaper-bypassing-online-fact-checkers)

[Jellied Eel]

Went to pick up my usual Metro on the way to work the other day and discovered I'd picked up a copy of 'The Light' by mistake, a 'truthpaper' declaring"1400 dead and 1m affected by the vaccine" on the front page

Sounds plausiible*

So a covid death was anyone who died within 28days** of a positive covid test.

A covid 'case' was anyone who tested positive.

So by the same standards, anyone who dies within 28days of being vaccinated could be a vaccine related death***

Anyone hospitalised (for any reason) could become a vaccine 'case'.

*This post contains traces of sarcasm and cynicism.

** Or did they? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbwlGv9SWfY

*** There are lies, damn lies and....?

[Anonymous Coward]

Well known mechanic about to fall foul?

A youtuber I have followed for years and respect, well known for his mechanical revival has started on the anti vax/ivermectin rubbish. Just little things dropped in the main videos of fixing old stuff. I really hope he doesn't end up as collateral damage from this :(

[Santa from Exeter]

Re: Well known mechanic about to fall foul?

That would not be collateral damage.

He is, if anything, worse than the rabid anti-vaxxers as many can see them for the single issue nutters they are.

If he is slipping in 'gentle homilies' amongst the useful stuff he is subverting people subtly, and therefore harder to spot.

Just treat it as 'Oh Well, he used to be a decent guy' and find another fixit channel.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Well known mechanic about to fall foul?

Give us a clue, please!

[Anonymous Coward]

https://newsthump.com/2021/09/30/pro-vaxxer-who-caught-covid-found-alive-and-well/

[_LC_]

Remember the laptop of Biden's son?

Can you recall when news about another “lost” laptop of Biden's son came out and it was dismissed as Russian propaganda? YouTube deleted videos about it. Twitter deleted posts...

Months later, it turns out that the story was 100% true. The Russians didn't have anything to do with it, of course.

When do you realize that this is 1984?

[stiine]

Re: Remember the laptop of Biden's son?

a long time ago when i was in 10th grade, back in 1984.

[DrXym]

Good

Medical misinfo kills people and YouTube seems to be one of the good guys in stamping it out. Certainly better than Facebook or Twitter which are doing next to nothing.

Facebook has a way to report misinfo but barely enforces it.

Twitter claims to operate a 5 strikes rule but has no way to report misinfo. It seems they only respond when the media shames them into responding. I could point to the likes of Ivor Cummins, Gillian McKeith and others who spread lies day in day out with zero repercussions. If Twitter were serious about their own rules these people would have been banned within weeks of the policy coming into effect.

[stiine]

Re: Good

If you get your medical (mis)info from rando youtube channels, then you deserve to die by whatever method they convince you to try.

I just hope the CDC channel is nuked because of their 'masks don't work' statements/lies from early in 2020. That would just be poignant.

[_LC_]

Re: Good

To be true, we knew that masks didn't work decades ago. This has long been studied. Now all those researchers are being declared idiots, because we just found the miracle cloth against virus.

[sharpwolverine]

Public health experts wonder what took so long

The amount of money they were loosing because of the COVID deniers finally got to high and was starting to eat into profits.