Fighting “Credible Misinformation” Like Dr. Risch’s Newsweek Op-Ed
Only rhetorical analysis and social media “friction” can combat “credible” misinformation
What Is “Credible Misinformation”?
Yale epidemiologist Dr. Harvey Risch recently proved that we cannot fight disinformation, misinformation, deep fakes, and other forms of fake news without doing two things: developing rhetorical analysis skills and creating “friction” in sharing information on social media.
On July 23, 2020, Risch published a Newsweek op-ed that championed the widely discredited COVID drug hydroxychloroquine. He relied entirely on older, shoddy studies suggesting benefits for COVID patients while ignoring more recent, rigorous studies showing zero benefit and significant potential for harm.
Risch also ignored his obvious logical fallacies, such as disregarding confounding variables (adding azithromycin, doxycycline, and zinc as treatments) and conflating correlation with causation (the “natural experiments” of countries using or not using hydroxycloroquine). His own colleagues published a stinging rebuke of his argument.
To support his claims, Risch not only traded on his profession and his position at Yale but also trumpeted his 300…
