Kai Kupferschmidt

New antibiotic for gonorrhea could help beat back drug-resistant infections Two treatments for the sexually transmitted disease are expected to become available soon

A double dose of good news on the infectious disease front:
There’s not just one but two new drugs coming for gonorrhea, one of the most worrying diseases when it comes to antibiotic resistance.
🧪 #IDsky

www.science.org/content/arti...

Mapping the online manipulation economy A market perspective on digital manipulation may help improve online trust and safety

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...

As political scientist Jake Shapiro told me tools like this that monitor the online environment are crucial:
“If 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.”

SMS Verification Statistics by platforms | COTSI Discover how the Cambridge Online Trust & Safety Index (COTSI) tracks SMS verifications of social media accounts, such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, WhatsApp, and Telegram; cloud infrastructure prov...

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....

Want to sway an election? Here’s how much fake online accounts cost Systematic price monitoring sheds light on economics of online manipulation

If you’re thinking of getting your loved ones an unusual gift this Christmas—subverting an election, say, or tarnishing a rival’s reputation—this 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 🧪 story:

“It’s not about free speech. It never was. It’s about securing freedom from accountability while wielding the power of both private platforms and state resources to crush anyone who tries to impose it.”

“This is the template now. Violate fairly modest regulations, claim it’s censorship, get your political allies to amplify the lie, use it to de-legitimize any attempt at platform accountability for actively misleading users.”
@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.

The Married Scientists Torn Apart by a Covid Bioweapon Theory

This entire story is just… 🤯

#giftarticle

www.nytimes.com/2025/12/07/u...

From the @wsj.com chief foreign correspondent

6 Republican Voters on U.S. Strikes on Boats Suspected of Smuggling Drugs

I 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 that…

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: ‘If you’re caught up in something that’s very detrimental to society, I think that you should die.’ 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

Meta's Chatbot Will Provide AI-Powered Live News via CNN, Fox News Meet your new news anchor, Meta AI.

New misinformation vector just dropped.

“I 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 children’s risk of contracting hepatitis B changed.
…this is the result of a deliberate strategy to sow fear and distrust among families.”

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, “Once 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 Europe’s own suffocating regulations.” Carr’s tweet includes a screenshot of the anxious headline “Elon Musk’s X hit with $140M fine from European Commission.”

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 hasn’t done that. And so it’s being fined.

Panel Votes to End Recommendation for Hepatitis B Shots for All Newborns

“Today is a defining moment for our country,” @mtosterholm.bsky.social, a public health expert at the University of Minnesota, said. “We can no longer trust federal health authorities when it comes to vaccines.”
🧪 #giftlink

www.nytimes.com/2025/12/05/h...

Meta and TikTok are obstructing researchers’ access to data, European Commission rules Data are needed to study how social media spreads misinformation and influences elections, scientists say

I wrote about the background to all this a little over a month ago here:

www.science.org/content/arti...

Elon Musk’s X fined €120m by EU in first clash under new digital laws Ruling could put European Commission on collision course with billionaire, and possibly Donald Trump

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.
🧪
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Top Democrat files complaint over '60 Minutes' interview with President Trump Jamie Raskin wrote to CBS's ombudsman, a role created in an agreement with FCC during Paramount merger to address 'media bias'.

@raskin.house.gov: "President Trump directed CBS to edit his own interview after suing the network for editing his opponent’s interview, and CBS complied with his requests and omitted its anchor’s questions about President Trump’s pardons." @poynterinstitute.bsky.social mailchi.mp/poynter/top-...

Reminder: 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.

Infectitious Disease Histories - CSMBR In this lecture, Monica Green explores how pathogen palaeogenetics, through ancient microbial genomes, is transforming our understanding of the evolution and global circulation of premodern infectious...

Registration is now open for my 13 Jan 2026 public lecture, "The Transformation of Infectious Disease Histories: Three Decades of Paleogenetics and Historians’ Responses," csmbr.fondazionecomel.org/events/onlin.... Sponsored by @csmbr-pisa.bsky.social. #histmed #aDNA #PandemicThinking

Expert review finds delaying the hepatitis B vaccine birth dose would increase chronic infections in kids Delaying the timing of vaccinating infants against hepatitis B — which ACIP could vote on later this week — would likely lead to more chronic infections in kids.

The 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 week’s #ACIP meeting shows. The committee has mused about delaying the birth dose. www.statnews.com/2025/12/02/c...

"Prosecutors said Mr. Hernández 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...

But 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.

I’m 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.

This 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 “refrain from publicly promoting World Aids Day through any communication channels”