To stay on X or not? Will we ever see another election that is not poisoned by disinformation and misinformation?
These pressing and depressing questions are addressed by a variety of thought leaders this week.
The column also reports on health sector resistance to the New Zealand Government’s push to undermine Māori rights, and brings news from conferences near and far, as well as details of upcoming events.
The global health section puts a focus on money matters, and links to high-level discussions about cyberattacks on hospitals and health facilities.
The quotable?
As the climate crumbles and extreme weather increasingly devastates large-scale agriculture, a facility for people to grow food of their own will be critical.”
Disinformation reigns
The 2024 presidential election in the United States provides a powerful playbook for populist extremists everywhere, with strategies that include destabilising the online information system to radicalise people and build distrust of public figures, scientists, and the mainstream media, according to global health experts.
In an artlce in the BMJ, they described how Elon Musk used his enormous platform (X has 203 million followers) to endorse Trump, spread disinformation about voter fraud and deep fakes of Kamala Harris, and amplify conspiracy theories about everything from vaccines to race replacement theory to misogyny.
Professor Martin McKee, Professor Christina Pagel and Professor Kent Buse say the spread of disinformation by unaccountable, unregulated, social media platforms such as TikTok, Facebook, and X sends clear warning signs for democracies around the world.
“Firstly, governments must regulate social media companies more rigorously,” they write in an article titled Disinformation enabled Donald Trump’s second term and is a crisis for democracies everywhere.
“Beyond that, we must grapple with how to hold the world’s richest people to account when they directly interfere with national and international politics.”
Meanwhile, researchers writing at The Conversation say that Musk’s net worth is estimated to have skyrocketed by around US $70 billion since the election, to a total of more than US $300 billion.
Although there’s been an exodus from X, the platform remains much larger than BlueSky, Threads and Truth Social by a large margin, they say.
Writer and journalist George Monbiot recently weighed up the pros and cons of staying on X in the five points below:
1. Pro: We were here long before Musk took it over. We built this. Con: He has used our creation to help elect a far-right autocrat, and build his own grim political career.
2. Pro: We should never cede any space, real or virtual, to the far right. Fascist trolls are trying to drive us out. Don’t give them the satisfaction. Con: Our presence could be used to legitimise a far-right hellsite.
3. Pro: It remains, amid the viciousness, a good place to share information, ideas and opinions. Con: It is also an abysmal, dispiriting place to inhabit, the humour, lightness and kindness crushed by bots and trolls.
4. Pro: By staying, we support other dissenters who stay. Con: By staying, we impede Ex’s decline and replacement with other platforms.
5. In conclusion, I’m staying for now, using the #Xdissenter hashtag in my profile. I also have accounts on Threads and BlueSky. But if we’re going to leave, let’s do it together, and decide which platform to migrate to. Your views are welcome, as ever.
And for another point of view…
Solidarity with Māori
Health leaders in Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand are opposing the NZ Government’s attempt to undermine the rights of Māori through the Treaty Principles Bill, which seeks to remove rights recognised by te Tiriti o Waitangi/Treaty of Waitangi.
Read more in this statement by the Australasian Epidemiological Association warning that the bill “is not justified by robust policy analysis and will embolden racism”. Legal academics writing at The Conversation warn about the risks to social cohesion if the issue is put to a referendum.
Global health
https://x.com/IsabellaMWeber/status/1856332479679889503
Climate adaptation and impacts
“The new allotments will be strictly not-for-profit, affordable and run with an emphasis on improving biodiversity in the area, as well as providing healthy, locally grown food. The charity plans to work with grant-giving organisations and private donors to establish many other new allotment sites, particularly in urban food-growing deserts.”
Bicycles save lives: How bikes have been critical after Spain’s Valencia floods
Chris Marshall-Bell lives in Valencia, Spain, and he and tens of thousands of others have accessed the dozens of flooded villages by bike to help with the clean-up operation.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and wellbeing
This longitudinal case study describes the efforts and impacts of community‑controlled service organisations on the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands in Central Australia to tackle food security since the 1980s, with a focus on the last decade, particularly during a year of concerted action from mid‑2018. It describes the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. At all times assessed, healthy diets were unaffordable for welfare‑dependant households.
Public health
Health systems have struggled to prevent and treat obesity – in part because critical food systems reforms largely lay outside the mandate of health sectors and with government agencies for agriculture, industry, infrastructure, trade and investment, and finance. This article draws on lessons generated in the Pacific Islands Region where they have demonstrated remarkable commitment to obesity prevention through food system reforms, and the adoption of accountability systems that bring leaders to account on these.
https://caphia.com.au/2024-caphia-annual-report-now-available/
#AusPol
Media matters
Awards and appointments
Vale
Conference Watch
The Croakey Conference News Service is covering the Medicines Management conference – follow #MM2024AdPha on X.
Events upcoming
