A double dose of good news on the infectious disease front:
Thereβs not just one but two new drugs coming for gonorrhea, one of the most worrying diseases when it comes to antibiotic resistance.
π§ͺ #IDsky
www.science.org/content/arti...
@kakape.bsky.social
science journalist. author. molecular biologist. curious. interested in #microbes, #misinformation and all things #blue contributing correspondent at @science.org co-host of @pandemia.bsky.social 2024 KSJ fellow at MIT Signal: kakape.93
A double dose of good news on the infectious disease front:
Thereβs not just one but two new drugs coming for gonorrhea, one of the most worrying diseases when it comes to antibiotic resistance.
π§ͺ #IDsky
www.science.org/content/arti...
New paper out in @science.org! We unveil the online manipulation market with the Cambridge Online Trust & Safety Index (COTSI). We show in real time the cost of purchasing fake accounts across every social platform around the world - so they can be held accountable
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
I really believe that if people knew how cheap it is to verify thousands of fake accounts for a platform like X or TikTok and properly absorbed that knowledge, they would treat the online information environment very differently...
11.12.2025 19:47 β π 32 π 14 π¬ 1 π 0As political scientist Jake Shapiro told me tools like this that monitor the online environment are crucial:
βIf people are spending a substantial share of their waking hours in online environments, society should be investing in shared measurement infrastructure to see how they work.β
The researchers have created an online tool that tracks the cost of SMS verifications for hundreds of different sites, from X and Instagram, to Grindr, PayPal and Amazon.
Take a look here: cotsi.org/platforms?vi...
It's fascinating. A verification for X in Germany will set you back just $0.06....
If youβre thinking of getting your loved ones an unusual gift this Christmasβsubverting an election, say, or tarnishing a rivalβs reputationβthis research is a must-read ;)
A fascinating new paper in @science.org looks at the global costs of SMS verifications that fake accounts rely on.
My π§ͺ story:
βItβs not about free speech. It never was. Itβs about securing freedom from accountability while wielding the power of both private platforms and state resources to crush anyone who tries to impose it.β
08.12.2025 19:07 β π 35 π 8 π¬ 0 π 0βThis is the template now. Violate fairly modest regulations, claim itβs censorship, get your political allies to amplify the lie, use it to de-legitimize any attempt at platform accountability for actively misleading users.β
@mmasnick.bsky.social on the playbook Musk is following on the DSA fine
Don't let anyone tell you that the Commission's DSA enforcement against X is about speech or censorship.
That would, indeed, be interesting. But this is just the EU enforcing some normal, boring laws that would get bipartisan support in the U.S. (I bet similar bills *have* had that support.) 1/
This is what government censorship actually looks like: defunding entire fields, deporting researchers, and quite effectively chilling speech that helps people understand how our information systems are being exploited and calls out powerful people and platforms for their bullshit.
04.12.2025 17:27 β π 1431 π 701 π¬ 18 π 10This entire story is justβ¦ π€―
#giftarticle
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/07/u...
From the @wsj.com chief foreign correspondent
07.12.2025 09:43 β π 10590 π 3275 π¬ 169 π 162I mean give me some survey data on what people think about this, but more than a thousand words of mostly just vile, inhumane nonsense?! I mean I can go to X for thatβ¦
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/06/u...
A photo of a woman smiling next to a bouquet of yellow roses and above it a quote from her: βIf youβre caught up in something thatβs very detrimental to society, I think that you should die.β Naomi Villalba, 75, Dallas
There is something so deeply disturbing about this:
Just the NYTimes checking in with ordinary Americans about whether the government killing people it accuses of a crime with no trial is okay or not.
That combo of quote and photo alone is some straight-up dark @stephenking.bsky.social fantasy
βI want to reassure parents and clinicians that there is no new or concerning information about the hepatitis B vaccine that is prompting this change, nor has childrenβs risk of contracting hepatitis B changed.
β¦this is the result of a deliberate strategy to sow fear and distrust among families.β
As others have repeatedly said - the most common harm of AI-generated images/videos isn't misinformation or political interference - it's nonconsensual porn and direct harms to women and girls
Great update on the current state of AI nudifiers and upcoming regulations and technical solutions
I am begging us in media to stop mealy-mouthed avoidance of bias with phrases like "in a controversial move."
When what we actually mean is "in a move antithetical to every scientific finding and medical recommendation." "A move that will cause both illness and death."
Musk retweet of Brendan Carr, who writes, βOnce again, Europe is fining a successful U.S. tech company for being a successful U.S. tech company. Europe is taxing Americans to subsidize a continent held back by Europeβs own suffocating regulations.β Carrβs tweet includes a screenshot of the anxious headline βElon Muskβs X hit with $140M fine from European Commission.β
What an absurd claim.
This is not a tax on Americans.
The EU creates laws to protect its citizens, in this case from fraud and deception. X operates in the EU market and must therefore follow its laws, including by reducing fraud and deception. X hasnβt done that. And so itβs being fined.
βToday is a defining moment for our country,β @mtosterholm.bsky.social, a public health expert at the University of Minnesota, said. βWe can no longer trust federal health authorities when it comes to vaccines.β
π§ͺ #giftlink
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/05/h...
I wrote about the background to all this a little over a month ago here:
www.science.org/content/arti...
Today the European Commission finally announced a first outcome of its investigation into X for breaches of the digital services act: A fine of 120 million Euros that includes 40 million Euros for not making data available to researchers studying the platform.
π§ͺ
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
@raskin.house.gov: "President Trump directed CBS to edit his own interview after suing the network for editing his opponentβs interview, and CBS complied with his requests and omitted its anchorβs questions about President Trumpβs pardons." @poynterinstitute.bsky.social mailchi.mp/poynter/top-...
04.12.2025 12:57 β π 723 π 268 π¬ 20 π 21Reminder: arms races never end. Status is a positional good. How long until universities realize that they will be driven to ruin trying to keep up? The sooner that the Power 4 schools spin out professional sports franchises that license the university names and set coherent rules, the better.
03.12.2025 13:55 β π 111 π 21 π¬ 6 π 1Registration is now open for my 13 Jan 2026 public lecture, "The Transformation of Infectious Disease Histories: Three Decades of Paleogenetics and Historiansβ Responses," csmbr.fondazionecomel.org/events/onlin.... Sponsored by @csmbr-pisa.bsky.social. #histmed #aDNA #PandemicThinking
03.12.2025 12:45 β π 43 π 23 π¬ 0 π 2The science surrounding giving babies their 1st dose of #hepatitisB vaccine at birth is clear. The practice is safe and saves lives, a report released before this weekβs #ACIP meeting shows. The committee has mused about delaying the birth dose. www.statnews.com/2025/12/02/c...
02.12.2025 14:08 β π 115 π 50 π¬ 0 π 2"Prosecutors said Mr. HernΓ‘ndez was key to a scheme that lasted more than 20 years and brought more than 500 tons of cocaine into the United States." www.nytimes.com/2025/11/29/n...
02.12.2025 14:06 β π 79 π 50 π¬ 6 π 4But the US government deciding to officially restrict its employees and grantees from commemorating World AIDS Day is maybe the best evidence yet that this day is actually important.
01.12.2025 18:01 β π 58 π 9 π¬ 1 π 0Iβm personally pretty conflicted about these kinds of commemoration days. I worry it plays into the fight for attention between different diseases. And honestly, given the sheer amount of suffering it causes, every day should be World Aids Day. And World Malaria Day. And World Tuberculosis Day.
01.12.2025 17:52 β π 44 π 6 π¬ 2 π 0This time last year, I was on the South Lawn of the White House helping to lay out the AIDS Memorial Quilt.
This year the White House did nothing and the State Department instructed empoyees and grant recipients to βrefrain from publicly promoting World Aids Day through any communication channelsβ