⚠️BOTS DRIVING HERD TOPIC ON TWITTER—Scott Atlas promoting Trump’s herd immunity for #COVID19 on Russia Today TV maybe not an accident. Our team as FAS found striking evidence **HALF** of all pro-herd accounts are likely bots part of disinfo campaign. 🧵fas.org/blogs/fas/2020… 
2) Approximately half of the profiles pushing the case for herd immunity are artificial accounts. These bot or bot-like accounts are generally characterized as engaging in abnormally high levels of retweets and low content diversity.
3) The high level of bot-like behavior attributed to support for the Great Barrington Declaration on social media indicates the conversation is manipulated and inorganic in comparison to the scientific consensus-based conversation opposing herd immunity theories.
4) A consequence of high frequency of inorganic (bot) activity is the **creation of a majority illusion** (when certain members within a social network give the appearance that an idea or opinion is more popular than it is).
5) “Online debate surrounding herd immunity shows one-sided automation
For months, debates about so-called herd immunity have occurred internationally. The idea behind this herd strategy is to shield vulnerable populations while allowing #COVID19 transmission to go uncontrolled”
For months, debates about so-called herd immunity have occurred internationally. The idea behind this herd strategy is to shield vulnerable populations while allowing #COVID19 transmission to go uncontrolled”
6) “This strategy has been dismissed by many scientists for several ethical and practical reasons, such as the large size of vulnerable populations in countries like the US, and a lack of full understanding of longer-term impacts of SARS-CoV-2 on lower-risk groups.”
7) “However, the conversation has increased in support, partially due to the embrace of the concept by senior advisor to Trump, Scott Atlas, who has called for the US to attempt the strategy. Support for herd has been outlined by a small group in the Great Barrington Declaration.
8) “On the other side of the debate, prominent scientists like Dr. Fauci have called herd immunity through natural infection “dangerous” and “nonsense”. Infectious disease experts speculate this strategy could result in two million unnecessary deaths.”
10) Interestingly, of all the leading key words and people opposing herd immunity... this popped up... lol. (HT @AliNouriPhD).
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