Anti-science content is thriving on Facebook right now

[Andy Meek]

• The coronavirus pandemic is continuing to worsen around the US, with several states posting record daily increases in new cases this week, while many also debate imposing mandatory face mask requirements.
• Along those lines, a new study has found that anti-face mask content is thriving on Facebook right now.
• The study was performed by Media Matters, looking at a months' worth of content on Facebook.

The news about the coronavirus pandemic's impact in the US has been pretty depressing this week, no two ways about it, and seems to be setting the country up for a tough July. On Wednesday, for example, the US surpassed 50,000 daily coronavirus infections for the first time since the pandemic began. States like Florida and Nevada are continuing to set records for new reported cases as well as a high rate of transmission, and, since the start of the pandemic, the US has now reported more than 2.7 million confirmed cases of the COVID-19 virus, as well as more than 128,000 deaths, according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University.

Actor Tom Hanks (who contracted and quickly recovered from the coronavirus a few months ago) took some time amid promoting his new WWII-era movie for Apple TV+ to talk a little about coronavirus, and specifically to insist that people wear a face mask to protect themselves and everyone around them. He decided to offer that as a kind of PSA because of the prevalence of so much anti-science and anti-face mask posturing -- a lot of which is happening in a regrettably predictable sphere.

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Anti-science content is thriving on Facebook right now originally appeared on BGR.com on Fri, 3 Jul 2020 at 15:57:28 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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