Should Anti-Vax/Covid misinformation posts be deleted?

[SilverBirchWithout]

Twitter have announced they will be putting warnings on Covid misinformation tweets, and banning repeat offenders.

In recent days I’ve noticed a few anti-vax posts on Mumsnet containing long screeds obviously copied and pasted from dubious sources.
Mumsnet is a heavily moderated forum, and we are living through a public health crisis with vaccine hesitancy in some groups so is it in the public interest to delete extreme misinformation?
I’m in two minds myself. Open debate being important and it is pretty easy to debunk the majority of the rubbish, however some naive people are exposed to dangerous information that is designed to create unnecessary and unsubstantiated concerns.

'MN is not the place to find questions to genuine answers to questions about the vaccine you only need to sit back and watch the aggression and censorship of people who dare to ask.'

By posters who are brave enough and daring enough to point out at scientific evidence?

Anti-vaxx are now playing victims, claim that they are superior to the rest of us sheep, braver for 'daring to ask', smarter than world leading scientists. This is a known tactic used by conspiracy theorists, and I do think that MN should keep a very close eye on posters who put complete falsehoods out on the boards. It's false information, and will end up seriously hurting people.

Well, if someone is asking about the nonsense 5G and similar theories, they ought to be able to ask and to have some proper information in return.
If someone is using MN as a platform to try to influence others not to have the vaccination due to all sorts of conspiracy rubbish, yes, it should be taken down....and fast.

@loulouljh

No. It is censorship.

There is no such thing as free speech in the UK.

If you own a website or run a forum you have to censor it, otherwise you can fall foul of the law.

Anti-vaxxers don’t come out and say they’re anti-vaxxers, complete with a load of their buzzwords.

They have to do the “planting a seed of doubt” thing, through disingenuous questioning.

@AuntieStella what are the bot phrases do you think? I have a vague sense of when things feel disingenuous (to be polite) but I don't think my bot-radar is particularly good.

I've noticed a huge amount of anti AZ-Oxford posts. They start off with something like 'I'm so worried I've been offered the Oxford jab when it's obviously the rubbish one' or 'what are the terrible side effects of the AstraZeneca jab?'.

There don't seem to be similar ones about Pfizer (or Fizer as it's often spelt). Are the AZ ones deliberate misinformation or are more people genuinely worried about it?

I think a few of the AZ ones are political: anything that goes wrong for “us” is fantastic.

Some AZ ones are just about side effects - but why so many? Don’t people see that there are masses of threads about the side effects?

@reformedcharacters

The covid-deniers/conspiracy theorists believe there is a world-wide plot to hide science proving covid is harmless.......

And this is the narrative constantly used by those who attempt to suppress genuine discussion.

MN is not the place to find questions to genuine answers to questions about the vaccine you only need to sit back and watch the aggression and censorship of people who dare to ask.

But what do you define as genuine discussion? On most topics people usually post if they have a strong opinion one way or the other. I’m just concerned about a very small minority of people who are excessively vocal. I’m not even sure it’s valid to debate solely on opinion, on a topic where facts are of primary importance.

Yes exactly - so many about side effects which then creates its own momentum. When actually google it and you'll find that for the vast vast vast majority of people its either nothing or a mild reaction along the lines of achy arm and fluey feeling.

Yes it should.

@IrmaFayLear

Anti-vaxxers don’t come out and say they’re anti-vaxxers, complete with a load of their buzzwords.

They have to do the “planting a seed of doubt” thing, through disingenuous questioning.

Yes I see this a lot, and it prompted my original post.

[quote Valleyofthedollymix]@AuntieStella what are the bot phrases do you think? I have a vague sense of when things feel disingenuous (to be polite) but I don't think my bot-radar is particularly good.

I've noticed a huge amount of anti AZ-Oxford posts. They start off with something like 'I'm so worried I've been offered the Oxford jab when it's obviously the rubbish one' or 'what are the terrible side effects of the AstraZeneca jab?'.

There don't seem to be similar ones about Pfizer (or Fizer as it's often spelt). Are the AZ ones deliberate misinformation or are more people genuinely worried about it?[/quote]
I started seeing these type of posts a few weeks ago, and they seemed contrived in order to spread fears.