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707 points patd | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0.206s | source
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exabrial ◴[] No.23323163[source]
I once got a strike on social media for posting an article about a German doctor that recommended whiskey to cure covid19. It was a joke, and any reasonable adult would know this is false.

It's hard for me to feel sorry for companies that go down the fact checking route with algorithms; It always ends up causing more damage than value.

12 years ago we didn't have this problem, and I think that's mostly related to the fact there was some UX resistance to hitting the "reahare" button.

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ojnabieoot ◴[] No.23323823[source]
Literally hundreds of people, including children, have died drinking bootleg alcohol being hawked as a COVID-19 cure. It is simply not the case that “any reasonable adult” knows your joke is a joke - that may be the case in developed countries where people have reliable access to actual doctors. But in developing countries this has been a serious problem.

Misinformation kills innocent people. A harsh no-tolerance policy is acceptable given this is the worst global health crisis in 100 years.

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1. thamer ◴[] No.23328456[source]
Wow. I was going to ask for a source since your mention of hundreds of deaths sounded so unbelievable, but it was very easy to find: > Iran: Over 700 dead after drinking alcohol to cure coronavirus https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/04/iran-700-dead-drinkin...

Crazy what people will do due to misinformation.

There were some news reports after Trump's suggestions to use disinfectant as a COVID-19 cure that hundreds of people had called health services to ask if it was indeed a legitimate way to get rid of coronavirus. Now I'm wondering how many didn't call and just went ahead with the "treatment".