傳播假新聞的大軍

除了網路水軍和機器爬蟲，有影響力的大人物也可以幫助散佈假新聞。昨天總統先生和他兒子帶領眾人點擊一個網站，請大家看假消息，就是個例子：

A group that called itself “America’s Frontline Doctor’s” (AFD) took to the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court on July 27, 2020, in a self-described “White Coat Summit” to address a “massive disinformation campaign” regarding COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by SARS-CoV-2. (我們是第一線醫生，要出來揭露真相，因為有很多人搞陰謀，不想讓你知道新冠療法。)

A video recording of the 45-minute long event was promoted online as a “SCOTUS press conference” but had no clear affiliation with the high court other than being held on the footsteps of the Washington, D.C., courthouse. Less than 24 hours after being posted, the video was pulled from social media platforms for presenting misinformation lauding unproven treatments for COVID-19, and thousands of reader queries poured in at Snopes, asking about the legitimacy of the video and the personalities featured in it. (傳播時用標題"最高法院新聞發佈")

Snopes(傳聞核實網站） obtained an archived version of the video and a transcript and dug through medical records to answer the questions: Who are these doctors and how accurate is their information?

During the course of our investigation, we found a doctor who describes herself on Twitter as “God’s battle axe and weapon of war,” health care providers some of whose claimed credentials and affiliations could not be confirmed, and some questionable and outright dangerous claims regarding an unproven “cure” and preventative treatment for COVID-19. (那位聲稱氫氯奎能預防和治療新冠的醫生，她的學歷和行醫經驗/背景無法核實)

‘America’s Frontline Doctors’(AFD) appears to be a new group supported and promoted by the conservative political organization Tea Party Patriots Action (TPPatriots), which shared a link to the “summit” on its website.

Each doctor in the video is seen wearing a white coat featuring an “America’s Frontline Doctors” logo on the left side. (每位醫生仔細看，似乎並沒有治療護理新冠病人的經歷，詳情請看Snopes的調查報告。)

Snopes attempted to contact each of the individuals listed above but received no responses by the time of publication. Most notably, Dr. Stella Immanuel, a Texas-based primary care physician with a passion for religion, was indeed a provider. She attended medical school at the University of Calabar College of Medicine in Nigeria and reportedly specialized in malaria. The Texas Medical Board notes that it has not verified her medical license or education. (除了UCLA有位醫生後來表示他到場是為了表示支持，這些醫生大多沒回復)

Her Twitter profile described her as a “physician speaker, author, entrepreneur, deliverance minister,” as well as “God’s battle axe and weapon of war.” (兼職醫生？)

We found no evidence to suggest Immanuel has treated “hundreds” of COVID-19 patients — including herself, staff, and “many doctors” — nor that her alleged treatments were successful. Nor has she provided any evidence to support those claims that we are aware of. (即使這些醫生有執照，也未必真的在第一線用氯奎治好了多少多少人)

至於氯奎寧治療新冠的效益，已有多次多方嚴謹的人體試驗發現沒有用。有的試驗甚至發現它可能增加心臟和肝臟的問題因而提高了病患死亡率。

看看那個「新聞發佈會」的假消息，很容易製作：幾人到最高法院那裡的場地去（不需要通知媒體），趁無人注意錄製一段視頻，回去放在網上就說你開過新聞發佈會了，然後推廣一下...看來，你若不核實就盲目轉發聳人聽聞的標題，也會成為傳播假新聞大軍的一員。