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Trump's Disinfectant Talk Trips Up Sites' Vows Against Misinformation (nytimes.com) 332

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's chief executive, said in March that promoting bleach as a cure for the coronavirus was "misinformation that has imminent risk of danger" and that such messages would immediately be removed from the social network. President Trump has now put Mr. Zuckerberg's comments to the test. From a report: At a White House briefing last week, Mr. Trump suggested that disinfectants and ultraviolet light were possible treatments for the virus. His remarks immediately found their way onto Facebook, Instagram and other social media sites, and people rushed to defend the president's statements as well as mock them. But Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have declined to remove Mr. Trump's statements posted online in video clips and transcriptions of the briefing, saying he did not specifically direct people to pursue the unproven treatments. That has led to a mushrooming of other posts, videos and comments about false virus cures with UV lights and disinfectants that the companies have largely left up.

A New York Times analysis found 780 Facebook groups, 290 Facebook pages, nine Instagram accounts and thousands of tweets pushing UV light therapies that were posted after Mr. Trump's comments and that remained on the sites as of Thursday. More than 5,000 other posts, videos and comments promoting disinfectants as a virus cure were also on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube this week. Only a few of the posts have been taken down. The social media companies have always trod delicately when it comes to President Trump. Yet their inaction on posts echoing his remarks on UV lights and disinfectants stands out because the companies have said for weeks that they would not permit false information about the coronavirus to proliferate.

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Trump's Disinfectant Talk Trips Up Sites' Vows Against Misinformation

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  • by SuperKendall ( 25149 ) on Thursday April 30, 2020 @02:43PM (#60008440)

    Hey UV light is in fact a real medical treatment that can be done on blood.

    So why are you lumping that in with disinfectant, which is not used in treatment of humans?

    Not sure I want people deleting anything who just jump to assumptions about what is real and what is not.

    • by pl5 ( 6811716 ) on Thursday April 30, 2020 @02:47PM (#60008456)
      Trump brought up the UV treatment because there was already a test underway [washingtontimes.com] with Cedars-Sinai Hospital whereby a UV source is inserted into the lungs. It isn't that far-fetched of an idea if lung tissue isn't completely opaque to whatever lambda they are trying.
      • by OrangeTide ( 124937 ) on Thursday April 30, 2020 @02:57PM (#60008508) Homepage Journal

        "A stupid man's report of what a clever man says can never be accurate, because he unconsciously translates what he hears into something he can understand."

          Bertrand Russell

        • by balbeir ( 557475 ) on Thursday April 30, 2020 @03:44PM (#60008716)
          Hah. brilliant post. Will be modded up by people who think Trump is the stupid man and will also be modded up by people who think Trump is the clever man.

          Well played.

        • Like a pointy haired boss? The one that had a bunch of waiters show up to the meeting because he though we were short of servers?

      • by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Thursday April 30, 2020 @03:30PM (#60008656)
        since his comments indicate he did not. But Trump did know (or should have) that there are large numbers of quacks selling fake cures as well as a sizable (around 2% if polls are to be believed) number of folks who don't fully understand you shouldn't drink household chemicals, meaning the comments were at best dangerous and irresponsible and at worst an attempt to downplay the challenge of developing treatment so that he can force the country to re-open before it's safe....

        Sorry, but you've got some serious TDS going on. He said something dumb and irresponsible. You'd be better off just owing up to that. At this point the obsession with defending him is just a Streisand effect on the whole thing.
      • Trump brought up the UV treatment because there was already a test underway [washingtontimes.com] with Cedars-Sinai Hospital whereby a UV source is inserted into the lungs. It isn't that far-fetched of an idea if lung tissue isn't completely opaque to whatever lambda they are trying.

        Ohhh was that it? Trump was aware of the treatment - for the lungs - but thought that the treatment would be performed through the skin instead of using a catheter to introduce it into the lungs from the trachea? That makes total sense

        - No One

      • by rastos1 ( 601318 )
        And you seriously think that this is what Trump knew about and had in mind at that press meeting?
      • He brought it up because someone mentioned that UV killed the virus, NOT because UV killed the virus in actual people. It is highly doubtful that Trump knew anything about treatments underway as he is notorious for ignoring details in briefings (ie, he felt the daily security briefings were too long with too much data). He only mentioned the UV and disenfectant because someone had mentioned just a few minutes earlier. In short, he was RAMBLING, he was not exhibiting signs of genius. That's the only reas

      • by Opportunist ( 166417 ) on Thursday April 30, 2020 @05:35PM (#60009092)

        The problem is that Trump obviously didn't understand what he was told, repeated it with heavy distortion and the whole shit is gobbled up by the media, and that his followers will add more distortion in a misguided attempt to cure themselves. That is the core problem here.

        It's the same shit as with many other "miracle" cures. Take bleach. It's great for killing germs. And you can use it to disinfect water and surfaces. You should of course not drink it. But if you omit that last bit, people will only get "it kills germs" and maybe consider it a sensible drug for curing a disease. And while it will probably kill the disease, it will also do the same to the person carrying aforementioned disease.

        So yes, these things are tried and there are clinical tests underway that may actually use these things. But don't tell it to a dunce like Trump who'll listen with half an ear, mix it with half baked bullshit that's already festering in his brain and spout it at a press conference for everyone to hear.

        I honestly wish I could have seen the face of the person who told Trump about this test. The facepalm must have been epic.

    • But there are the correct levels needed. Not too much and not too little.

      If taking the advice some people may just sleep with a black light on and figure they are going to wake up clean.
      There are others who may take apart their Water UV cleaner, or something more powerful and give them cancer.

      America is about "Get er Done" and a lot of people would happily build some crazy dangerous contraction just so they feel like they are being productive.

      There are also people think Crystals have healing powers as well

    • by Aereus ( 1042228 ) on Thursday April 30, 2020 @03:09PM (#60008572)

      The issue is Trump isn't a doctor nor a scientist, and Whitehouse briefings aren't the time to be armchair musing about the latest pseudoscience or highly experimental testing being done. He doesn't have some secret sources, he's just reading random shit some bumblefuck on Fox and Friends or Twitter retweet he saw earlier that day said. It's irresponsible and inappropriate on multiple levels. Especially given he has a personal cult that hangs on his every word and is constantly "interpreting the word".

    • There is also an endoscopic solution (Healight) being created and clinically tested at Cedars Sinai by a company Aytu Bioscience that introduces UV light into the bronchial passages of the lungs. But FB and YT and Twitter decided this device information is dangerous so the company's videos and postings have been deep sixed on all the major social media.

      Also, President Trump never once said to drink bleach, that was the journolists who made up that lie just like every other lie they make up

      I shouldn't be su

  • by cyberspittle ( 519754 ) on Thursday April 30, 2020 @02:48PM (#60008458) Homepage
    Disinfectant = alcohol UV = sunlight. Basically, he is saying to go outside and drink. Stupid liberals take shit to literal and don't understand doublespeak.
    • Disinfectant = alcohol

      UV = sunlight.

      Basically, he is saying to go outside and drink.

      You are the neighbor I'm looking for. Let's take down a fence panel and put out some chairs. Six feet or more apart, of course, and you stay on your side of the property line. I'll bring a pitcher of rye sours. You gotta bring your own glass.

      Stupid liberals take shit to literal and don't understand doublespeak.

      I'm gonna talk shit about "stupid conservatives" and their doublespeak about how "LIBERATE" and "FREEDOM" really means "Get the fuck back to work for my company, and no one cares if you die.", but I think we're gonna get along great. ;)

      • FASCISM is being asked to wear a mask and avoid social contact. FREEDOM is forcing your employees to go back to work when many of their coworkers have died in a virus ridden meat processing plant.

  • by jellomizer ( 103300 ) on Thursday April 30, 2020 @02:51PM (#60008482)

    When talking to the general public about 1/2 of the population is going to have below average intelligence.
    There will be a set of people who will blindly follow the leader without thinking.

    So as president it is your jobs to have the facts straight, and especially in time of strife, you need to Mean what you Say and Say What you mean. Jokes, Sarcasm, Abstract train of thought is not productive.

    This a Crisis Management 101. There are people grasping at straws for direction, you need to offer the best advice for them, not what they want to hear, or even try to make them feel better at the moment.

    • by Nexion ( 1064 )

      "as president it is your jobs to have the facts straight"

      While I don't really care much for the guy overall I think you are being a bit harsh here. At the time he was asking a question to people who knew more on the subject than he did. Are you saying that he should just automatically know the correct answers or could it be that asking questions the the best way to eventually get those facts straight?

  • People are spinning Trumps words into something he did not say. Trump never said people should try it, or that it works. He said it was interesting and they were going to investigate. Never believe the media spin , always watch the FULL clips for yourself.
    • Judge for yourself (Score:3, Informative)

      by rsilvergun ( 571051 )
      Here are the words:

      Supposing we hit the body with a tremendous, whether it's ultraviolet or just very powerful light, and I think you said that hasn't been checked but you're going to test it.

      And then I said, supposing you brought the light inside the body, which you can do either through the skin or in some other way, and I think you said you're going to test that too. Sounds interesting

      And then I see the disinfectant where it knocks it out in a minute, one minute, and is there a way we can do someth

      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        by JBMcB ( 73720 )

        Supposing we hit the body with a tremendous, whether it's ultraviolet or just very powerful light, and I think you said that hasn't been checked but you're going to test it.

        And then I said, supposing you brought the light inside the body, which you can do either through the skin or in some other way, and I think you said you're going to test that too. Sounds interesting

        And then I see the disinfectant where it knocks it out in a minute, one minute, and is there a way we can do something like that? Like injection inside or almost a cleaning because, you see, it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number in the lungs, so it'd be interesting to check that

        Emphasis added by me. The context of everything was stuff that was going to be tested. Yeah he has no idea what he's talking about, but he most certainly isn't telling the general public to try it themselves.

        https://www.politifact.com/art... [politifact.com]

      • by Jarwulf ( 530523 )
        That's not 'inject yourself with disinfectant' thats asking whether a therapy can be developed. Not worded the best way but its not THAT unreasonable a thing for a nonexpert to wonder about when you really think about. Who, knows...maybe someday in the far future some sort of chemical treatment that attacks infections internally could be developed.
      • Say the three words before your bold text. Come one say them with me.

        Something like that.

        The word "that" being disinfectant. Something like disinfectant. Like disinfectant. Not disinfectant.

    • by jittles ( 1613415 ) on Thursday April 30, 2020 @03:45PM (#60008720)

      People are spinning Trumps words into something he did not say. Trump never said people should try it, or that it works. He said it was interesting and they were going to investigate. Never believe the media spin , always watch the FULL clips for yourself.

      Everybody watched the clip and agree that that is what he is theoretically saying. However, everyone who is complaining about it realizes that when a leader says something like that in that specific setting that people are going to think that he is actually throwing out useful treatment and not just wondering things that most 5th graders already know is generally unsafe.

      Trump has 24/7 access to some of the best infectious disease experts in the world. Why does he need to spitball these things during a press conference? Do you see any other world leader, CEO, etc., doing this sort of thing? Not typically. These events are designed for very controlled release of information to the world. It's okay to say that you don't know things. It's okay to say that you're looking into experimental treatments. But to make specific research recommendations that make him sound uneducated and ill-informed? That is not a sign of good leadership.

      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        by Jarwulf ( 530523 )
        If Trump was a Dem This whole thing wouldn't have gotten any attention outside of maybe the small rightwing community and youtube and twitter would have quickly deleted every video and post about it (try to find biden gaffe videos on youtube). The whole reason this 'dangerous recommendation' to 'inject yourself with lysol' is spreading is because of the opposition which invented something trump never said and is popularizing it. If somebody does inject themselves with a household cleaner why don't you blame
  • Leave it up... (Score:2, Insightful)

    by bblb ( 5508872 )

    Leave the comments up... Honestly, anyone who thinks Trump suggested drinking bleach or injecting Lysol should be encouraged to do so, the world desperately needs that level of natural selection these days.

  • If you believe that Trump suggested that you should inject bleach or disinfectant you clearly didn't listen to what he actually said but instead got your information from some other source. And if you then decided to follow the advice you think you received, you are in fact, that stupid.

    And no, I don't think I need to bother posting links to the video that is so easily found by a simple search.

    Good god damn, you idiots. 90% of the shit that man says is a mumbled bowl of nonsense but at least have enough res

    • by MikeKD ( 549924 )

      If you believe that Trump suggested that you should inject bleach or disinfectant you clearly didn't listen to what he actually said but instead got your information from some other source. And if you then decided to follow the advice you think you received, you are in fact, that stupid.

      How about you double check your memory and stop trying to gaslight people [wikipedia.org] (#2, #3, & #7):

      And I think you said you’re going to test that too. Sounds interesting, right? And then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in a minute, one minute. And is there a way we can do something like that by injection inside or almost a cleaning, because you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs.

      Source of quote [factcheck.org] (there's also a video)

    • He's no stable genius, but I honestly don't think Trump is an idiot. He is a loudmouth wondering out loud about something he is very ignorant about.

  • I've wondered about UV light myself for years. Turns out it was being used and with success in the 1940's. Then antibiotics showed up.

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6122858/

    Interesting.

  • by mark-t ( 151149 ) <{moc.talfdren} {ta} {tkram}> on Thursday April 30, 2020 @03:36PM (#60008684) Journal

    ...he did not specifically direct people to pursue the unproven treatments.

    This is true.... but a live television feed is not the place to be musing out loud about unproven medical treatments, especially not for someone who, despite any claims he might try and make about "I'm not a doctor" or whatnot, there are plenty of other people who are not medical experts are still watching, and there are those that *will* tend to take him very seriously simply by virtue of the title of his position.

    Worse, when he later remarked that he was being sarcastic, he claimed that he just said it to the reporters "to see what would happen".

    This is about on par with somebody yelling "fire" in a crowded theater when there is no fire "just to see what would happen".

    • This is about on par with somebody yelling "fire" in a crowded theater when there is no fire "just to see what would happen".

      No, that is what the politicos are doing, the ones claiming that Trump thinks people should gargle bleach. It is exact same strategy that has been in play for the past four years Trump has been on the political stage. Fling shit and see what sticks.

      Hasn't worked too well with the Teflon Don, but what else are they going to do for ratings, likes and retweets? Actual policy ideas or constructive criticism?

  • It's not that Trump saying "can't we do something like [inject disinfectant]?" is suggesting that people should, as much as it's unclear rambling about the topic.
    It's fine when you're yapping around the water cooler, but not when you're supposed to be communicating a message.

    A president should be clear and decisive, not vague and divisive.

    • A president should be clear and decisive, not vague and divisive.

      As it should be for those whose job is to report on what the president says, and to inform us.

      Yet for some reason, they get a pass. It seems illogical to expect one, but not the other.

  • Look, I hate Trump. He's a low-IQ stooge and an absolute embarrassment.

    But I keep seeing twitter scum (and articles like this) pretending "Trump told people to inject Lysol!!!". He absolutely did not, that is a lie. For all the "fact checking" wariness, it's funny nobody fact checks this claim itself.

    He did no such fucking thing, and you aren't fooling anyone by pretending he did. What he did is muse, idiotically I might add, about whether such things might work or be avenues of investigation. So yes, he's

  • They often cited Aytu BioScience, a pharmaceutical company that posted a video last Friday depicting an experimental UV technology designed to be inserted via a catheter into a patient to kill the coronavirus. That video has been mentioned across the internet and TV more than 17.1 million times since the Thursday briefing, according to Zignal Labs. YouTube removed the video after The Times contacted the company about it; a spokeswoman said the video promoted an unsubstantiated medical treatment. Aytu BioSc

  • The best thing is to avoid Facebook and other social media nonsense all together. I've never gone to Facebook (blocked it in my /etc/hosts over a decade ago) and am quite happy to ignore that cesspool. It's a great way to increase happiness.

Nobody said computers were going to be polite.

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