Transcripts For CSPAN2 Discussion On Disinformations Impact On Communities Of Color 20240712

White americans. Unfortunately, this information about distrust and medical systems like a significant role on these outcomes. Last monday, had the pleasure speaking with the doctor, an emergency physician visiting professor of health, policy and management and the George Washington University Institute school of Public Health. The doctor previously served as the Health Commissioner for the city of baltimore. She led the nations oldest operating Health Department to fight the Opioid Epidemic and print child health and treat racism as a Public Health issue. The doctor has been a leading voice call for policies and practices during this coronavirus pandemic. On monday we spoken with about the impact of covid19 on communities of color in the u. S. [silence]. I believe we have video to play here. Thank you doctor for joining us. I would like to start off by asking you but the current data but the disparities in the covid19 rates. In the outcomes people of of color around the United States. First of all, glad to join you and thank you for focusing on this really critical topic. Because we know that this disease, covid19 is not affecting people equally. That communities of color are bearing the brunt of this pandemic. In fact, this pandemic has unmatched any Underlying Health disparities that weve been dealing with a long time have existed. Literally being brought out in the wake of this pandemic. So we have seen africanamericans, native americans and latino americans in native highlanders are ready have so any other Health Disparities are experiencing and disproportionately rates of hospitalizations and tragically due to covid19. And when you look at the reasons as to why, several fold. First, is that we know that social distancing is a privilege and not everyone has. So people of color tend to be essential workers. From the very beginning of the outbreak have not had the opportunity to practice physical distancing. In addition we also know that people of color tend to live in a multi generational housing where even basic precautions like isolation and quarantine are difficult. And you also have who has already Underlying Health conditions that are then makes people more susceptible to outcomes from the covid19 read the look of the city here in baltimore where one in three africanamericans any food desert or two bites. Is it any surprise than that africanamericans also disproportionately have diabetes, Heart Disease and hope obesity in these conditions that they also predispose severe outcomes to the covid19. All of this is a reminder than that it is not the virus in this case. The stop doing the discriminating. It is our health systems, the social determinants of this conditions of People Living. We know that in the ways, but certainly the influence the Health Outcomes when it comes to covid19. Very tragically. Perhaps most tragically adulterated the same thing so we see in adults, they mirrored. Three quarters of all of the deaths that occurred among children are among the same populations. There in the black and brown children. Rebekah do you get the sense looking at the data in the trend on the ground, the mayor improving over time over the course of the pandemic itself. How theyre impacting the communities of color. How they are changing over the course of the last seven months. Are we simply watching them being restructured over time. This really good question when they dont have the instant. And thats because we have been missing data all along the pandemic. From the very beginning, newman big problem with data. Maybe in the beginning you can understand because you were just getting started. Who we are still missing keep data points when it comes to for example who is impacted. Who are the individuals who have increased rates of deaths and hospitalizations. Different states report the data different ways making it a difficult comparison also you have different groups that classified differently for example some states record on asian americans. Others with separate pacific islanders. So we have a big issue of Data Collection of our all. One hopes the disparities are improving over time based on limited data that we have, it does not look like were getting any better. Do you have a particular concern about how information and particularly misinformation ravens disinformation. About the virus itself are being received within the communities of color and ultimately impacting the communities. Dr another good question. I would say disinformation in general around the covid19 has been a big problem. Its manifest in different ways. So first, theres just like disinformation about how weve all heard these like covid19 is not real. Even the data around who his dying from covid19. There is a report that was put out looking at the conditions that are reported and even that information has been misinterpreted and 70 different ways. Somebody may be dying from covid19 but also has respiratory failure is a cause of the death. Or they have no underlying condition in addition to having covid19. They have Heart Disease and have covid19. But it doesnt mean that they didnt die because of coronavirus. Sky like saying the somebody who died from a car accident also had cancer. Somehow they didnt die from the car accident because it also had cancer. Even Something Like that is gotten misinterpreted 70 different ways. I think it really speaks to also what is going wrong in this response. And has been mixed messaging. Instead of having Public Health lead in this response, so often we see Public Health xers and scientists being pushed under the bus. At the message between the Public Health officials and elected officials adjustment different. That is led to a lot of confusion. Then i think you also have a different problem in this case as well. Patients that have baseline, you have communities that have had distressed and things like vaccines. There are for example, vaccines skeptics made the antiscience. Another top of that, because of various political interference in fears of political pressure. That also has interfered with Peoples Trust in science. Know you have a whole group of people were distrusting the process of Regulatory Approval not because the distrust science because they are political pressure and manipulation. And you have a third group that has historical distrust in the scientific and medical communities for good reasons. Because these are the groups were talking about black americans native americans, and other groups that have had legacies of being experimented on and of unethical and illegal extermination. Never asking the same people also be involved in a vaccine trials. We want to include everyone in the vaccine trials. I think it really is important for us to Public Outreach and education. In addition to also make sure that when these things are repeated the vaccines come out, that the distribution is such that the same communities that are the most impacted by covid19 also receive these vaccines and therapeutics first. Because otherwise we will perpetuate this concept and somehow we are experimenting on black and brown bodies. Benefits of whites and privileged individuals. So this is such a complicated multi faceted issue but we have to be attentive to it and recognize that this information is rampant. Any communities already have underlying distrust that we have to do our best to make sure that science leads the process number overcoming the mixed messaging is been hindering our response all along. Rebekah i would like to talk more about the potential solutions. He just described very complex problem here. Extraordinary circumstances. These Health Departments are already resource limited. They are fighting disinformation every day. They are doing so much with extremely few resources while also trying to do everything else. House departments are also the safe net for their Community Also think about food access and asked individuals the looking at homelessness for their the Opioid Epidemic and other factors will theyre doing this too bring their doing as well as i can under these conditions. But if i may reframe your question is what can we all do what is the role of congress . What is the role of our elected officials to answer the charge . Theres simple tangible solutions. First of the issue of data. Lets make the data known on these demographic breakdowns when it comes to hospitalizations, to death from covid 19, but also to testing. One really specific characteristic that we should be measuring is the test positivity. We know that the test positivity should be below 5 predicates above 5 we are not testing nearly enough. We should be making test positivity rates available across demographics and through specific zip codes in communitywide level. You may have a test level in a state 5 or even 3 its the right direction. We also have tests on for like the latino group is that 20 , we know that we need much more specific targeting to this particular group. We know a particular zip code is testing at 20 or 30 , on the rest of the site looks fine but this zip code need specific resources. Mimicking target testing like having bubble testing or partner with churches and Community Groups so that we are targeting the resources to those communities that needed the mos most. Not as a dressy population as a whole. Thats a key principle of equit equity. In addition Worker Protections. They tend to be people of color individuals working in nursing home not have the right amount of ppe. I developed who are home workers or in meat packing plants. As a drink strict Worker Protections on the federal level from the state and local level enforcement on these levels is going to be really important for reducing the disproportionate impact on committees of color as well. We also need to look at these other social determinants. We know housing for example is also something that very much influences health and Food Insecurity very much. We are telling our patients too isolate if they are ill or quarantine if they are exposed. But somebody lives in a house where they are literally unable to do that, what can we as society provide them the resources to do so. Our people are afraid of losing their jobs if they test positive or are exposed, what kind of protections, he also put in place to help with that. Finally want to touch upon the issue of the edge of occasional side. The educational disparities we are seeing at this time her to such a complex issue to think about opening schools. I know many schools have reopened, potentially in a way that may contribute to outbreaks among the students, the staff, teachers, the families of the communities around them. The same timing of keeping schools close is going to further that educational divide and contribute to the covid slide we are seeing all across the country with our most vulnerable children. They key here is for us as society too reduce the level of Community Spread as much as we can. Too invest resources into our schools. Not just wealthy private school schools, but to all schools in particular schools that are already lack the resources so we can, as a society prioritize schools is the most essential to help our children who are most in need. Doctor could you tell me a bit more about some of your experiences talking to people on the ground . Whether it is healthcare workers, patients, members of the communities themselves are being affected. What have you been hearing from people on the ground . How are they reacting . And what would you say they need to hear from us Going Forward . Cnet well, i am hearing from patients, from Community Member members, that they want to do the right thing. I think people are recognizing in the areas where i live at least, and the communities that i speak to, that they absolutely understand that cove 19 is a pandemic. It is something that is affecting each of us. And i think theres a great deal of frustration of quarantine fatigue is something that is very real. I think there is a great deal of frustration that people can be doing all of the right things. But then there is a mixed messaging, this confused at messaging from our elected leaders. That making the sacrifices people are making every day. That is very difficult for people to hear and to conceptualize. Because people are giving up so much. People are not seeing their grandchildren, they are older adults on are not safely able too gather in Senior Centers that have been there a lifeline. Kids have not been able to go to school. Individuals have lost their livelihoods because of this pandemic. I am hearing that we gave up so much. And we had this opportunity early on to contain this pandemic and we havent. We are continuing to sacrifice so much and lives continue to be lost. That is one theme. Another theme is of quarantine fatigue which is that we cant be isolated for the foreseeable future. And it is important for us to figure out which risks we are willing too continue to take on. And which are the risks we need to cut down on right understanding that we need to figure out one of the what trends were seeing as many new infections are not so much due to how that its settings or to formal settings but to informal settings that people are getting infected through gatherings with their loved ones through extended family and friends. One message its really important for all of us to keep on distributing is the need for continuing to be on our guard. At the 50 of the spread is from individuals who dont have symptoms. And there is a level of magical thinking that many of us have their loved ones do not have coronavirus. Because we know them. We love our loved ones. But that somehow changes caring for this. Thats truly critical for us to keep in mind that if we are doing all of these things, if kids physically distance at school they are wearing masks. Theyre only going to be coming together for play dates or birthday celebrations after words. Its not going to be abiding by these restrictions that we still will have outbreaks. And in fact these outbreaks will lead to schools being closed for longer. By the same token, we do everything we can at Grocery Stores and it works, but were still getting people together for dinner parties indoors, that is also going to be eliminating all of the good work we are doing. Remember to use an abundance of caution. Think about all the things that are most important to you. And remember that mask wearing , gathering outdoors rather than indoors. Eliminating or avoiding crowds. These are all the things that we can do in order to protect our self and our loved ones. It also allows us too get as much back to normal and to not be isolated as we can. Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us today. Thank you for all the work you are doing. And please be safe and be well. Thank you very much. Joining us now to continue our discussion, we have doctor amanda kissed del who was tenured professor in the department of epidemiology and George Washington university. Doctor casale is a physician and cdc trained epidemiologist who focuses on hiv and related Infectious Diseases. She has worked domestically and internationally on hivaids surveillance, frenchman, care and treatment. Since the start of Covenant Team pandemic, she has been providing help to local Health Departments in serving as part of the Public Health team during the reopening efforts. Thank you so much for joining us. Good morning and thank you for having me. So i would like too begin our conversation by asking you about one of the doctors remarks. She noticed that africanamerican, native american and other communities of color, often feel significant distrust towards medical and Public Health institutions. Largely because of the history of illegal and unethical experimentation. Could you tell us a bit more about this . And about how this history might be shaping coronavirus outcomes in the u. S. Now . Certainly, certainly. The doctor said we have seen histories of these types of research and experimentation among communities of color. Everything back to the native americans, really started with the colonization of the United States, bringing Infectious Diseases that these populations have never seen before. Systematically stripping native americans their rights, their lands, their heritage. Uneven in the 19 90s we have seen a research that is been done, there is a Diabetes Project that was done among the native american tribe where these individuals agreed to share information and to actually donate blood for Research Study that was supposed to be focus on diabetes. Only to then find out that the information and their blood was being used for other purposes. And so, examples such as these are unfortunate pervasive throughout our culture. In the average American Community the experiment is still the back of many peoples minds. This is a study that took place for decades with africanamerican men and are being followed for syphilis infections. Even though in the late 1940s, treatment was available. These men were not able to access this treatment. The study went on until 1972. All of these are examples where because of the way these communities have been treated, they are certainly understandably skepticism, missed trust, people are scared in these communities. And unfortunately kobe did not create the situation. Covid has reminded us on this unhealed wound. And how yet another pandemic, another situation could really impact these communities. As the doctor mentioned, we have seen that because of these laws, historical inequities, racism, the communities of color are more at risk. They have a higher prevalence. They live in crowded housing, they constitute the majority of essential workers. Weve seen now from the data of the worst outcomes. Thats what were seeing these high rates of mortality among these communities of color. So unfortunately this is not something new to those of us living in these communities. It is just continued to show how much inequity there is really. That is really revealing. The longstanding historical, but not very clear contemporary inequities bring them much more to light it seems. I would like to turn out to her next panelist. And bring shay into our conversation. Shay is the founder and executive director of glitch. A charity dedicated to ending online abuse and citizenship. Glitch was founded very shortly after, [inaudible] based her run this online abuse. She travels the globe now developing Practical Solutions too protect our Online Public spaces from hate and abuse. And to inform people how best to be digital citizens but shes in Amnesty International human rights defender. In 2016 she was named the digital leader of the year. Were also very pleased too announce that shay is joining idp as this years night fellow. We are delighted to have you here. And happy to welcome you to the family pay now i can officially tell people. Ive been quiet for too long. When you cant tell people if theyve won or not during the finals. We are really, really happy to have you join us. I would like to for the first question put to focus a little bit on the theme of today. Our conferences really premised on the notion that covid19 has forced our lives, including our political lives like never before. Yet as was noted in the table he rolled at the beginning, this very shift itself is a privilege. And it is a privilege not afforded to people of color. They have seen ways thats not the same as white people. As the same time as your own personal experience illustrates, when people of color do engage in politics online they face abuse and harassment. Really to disproportionate levels. Could you tells a little bit more about this in your work in this area . Great im really excited to be part of this panel. That name of this panel means you can cut straight to the solution so im excited about i it. You are right to set context up. Before covid19 there is already an issue on mount hout disproportionate women, we already knew before covid that black women and the uk in different parts of europe rick 84 more likely to be mentioned in abusive tweets than white women. We knew that hate crime online was going to the rupert we knew the lgbtq alt facing harassment online too. And then we had locked down. At that happen in the uk around late march. And then he saw the infinite regulator come internet moderators said that amount of time or not. That rang alarm bells about how they increase the market at the very community to be disproportionate. At the same time we have a message in education around efficacy, around what to do when theyre facing abuse online. You have that pretty heavy covid19, youve already abuse online. What you saw was basically an explosion where women who contingent in the and the pandemic online, 46 of women said they receive some form of online abuse or harassment. Then you have people of color. That women has people, not one of the 50 . So this was just a small uk territory trying to find some insight to show this is compounding basically a volcano repping a that were not listening to. This is also then dovetailed with black lives matter. Researching online. That being the main way they express their opinions is online. They have horrific organized trolling. The kind of dog piling, cross harassment, the wrecking of hashtags, the people are trying too seek out people who are trying too see the rates for this intentional backlash happening. There are ways theyre engaging in politics it meant a lot to them as well. You have a lot of this happening over the summer. There is no conversation about another lockdown firm we have known how we are going too learn from this. However going to have some sort of education train work. How are we going to however going to be really clear that not everybody can access online the same way. That will divide and expose with gender or race. Haven when youre online spaces and platforms on people or are you just set up to be more harm. I remember when ha my display picture on twitter from having my straight weve are my straight hair cant remember to embracing my afro hair and that stocked abuse for it was not me tweeting anything it was not provocative, it was just me being with my afro hair that i think talk about digital citizenship. We want to make progress on equality, human rights in our politics, we wont make any progress until we tackle this. That is a really powerful personal anecdote you shared with this. Really showing two in extreme and much larger problem for many people. I like the three of us to talk together a little bit about similar kind of recent history lets say. Doctor reflected for us on kind of longterm perspective within the u. S. And feelings of distrust in the community of color for the medical community. I wonder if we might look to even more recent trends. For example to the hivaids pandemic. This is your primary area of research. Are you seeing major differences between the way communities of color are going to be impacted . Particularly within the social media is so prevalent now and the experience of a covid19 pandemic compared to the 80s and 90s when the hiv pandemic was at its height . Civic you know its a great question. Unfortunately what i am seeing as many similarities. Many of us worked in hiv have reflected on this. This is a new virus. We did not necessarily know how is being transmitted. We did not know the origins were we did not know who is at risk. All of these things are things we grappled with. Testing, a huge issue, how do we get testing to people who were perhaps exposed to hiv paired we are seeing the same thing here with covid19 it is frustrating weve seen with hiv and longstanding history of misinformation and disinformation. We had people domestically eight lighter is one of the first hiv denial is spreadsheet herself was infected with the virus. She had some tests over positive somewhere negative but the learning curve when it came to the hiv pandemic. She was very vocal and actually worked with access which is a very wellknown grassroots communitybased organization that early on in the pandemic was a part of this denial kind of propagation of misinformation. And now of course its wanted that leading organizations organizations too understand hiv in certain communities. We sought leadership that doubted the role between hiv and aids for the former president of south africa was famous for saying at the aids conference hiv was not the virus that causes aids. We had thousands of researchers and scientists said we have to dispel this myth. This is not true. Self propaganda conspiracy theories, russian kgb operation denver that actually try to say that hiv and aids were part of cia warfare. We have seen this before. This is not new to those of us in the hiv field unfortunately. I think with distinguished League Difference in the 1980s. And here we are on the 21st century were social media is pervasive. And we have never experienced an epidemic or pandemic where there is such a high prevalence and so much access. Which is good in some ways. But can be a challenge in others. For those of us in the scientific field, even open acts of publishing this flood of information who process whats right and whats not and hay make sense of something thats new is very challenging for us for it gets put out there in social media having to filter through what is true and whats not becomes even more complicated and with increased social distancing as well with social distancing being a recommendation people are not they rely more on the media and social media too get their information. Weve done research in the africanAmerican Community 70 of africanamericans with tech to young kids 13 to 24 yearolds. 30 say they rely on social media for health information. We really need to make sure that information thats out there is accurate and understandable. And not complicated by outside influence. And that as the doctor said really the sciences leading the information that gets out there get shared individuals. You spent quite a bit of time really on the ground talking to people working directly with committees all around the world on these issues. Theyre a bit of a shoe leather epidemiologist. Your work was focused more on hiv and aids. How do you compare your hearing from people, working in that field, working in that area on the ground to what you are hearing from people now . Where theyre getting their information . And how it potentially impacting the reactions to that . Yeah. During the covid response, i said i was trained at cdc ive done outbreak investigation before. When the pandemic started i really jumped in and volunteered my time and my expertise to helping with local Health Department response. I say i was fortunate enough to actually help with dozens if not hundreds of case investigations. People getting infected with covered with unfortunately very similar to People Living with hiv and talking to them as well. When you say you are calling from the Health Department, they want verification. Are you really calling from the government . Or is this a hoax . Given the political environment we are living in and the disproportionate impact of people of color there are often questions about how is this information going to be used . People are reticent too speak to us they were potential immigrants they are undocumented and worried how this information might affect that status. We have to reassure them that it wouldnt. People initially i would say were really open to speaking with us. We were learning from their experiences. And they also had lots of questions for us. I give very similar to the hiv epidemic. We are seven months into this pandemic. Im not doing this investigations myself as much. But i do recall feeling like at the end of the summer months that people are tired. They were skeptical. They did not necessarily what to share as openly the information about covid, about their contacts, email, they were worried about their jobs. These are real issues that we saw. And i personally have observed in speaking to people about covid. This is very challenging. We really need to make sure when we do have information too dispel and correct myths and misunderstandings that we do that. Its also a challenge for us to be able to say you know what, this is a new virus and we actually dont have all the answers. And to hopefully help people understand that as soon as we do have those answers we would share them with the general public. And its definitely been a challenge dispelling the hoaxes around this is a virus that was started through 5g. Certain populations have immunity to the virus. We know this is not true. And also telling some of the racism and xenophobia around the virus has been really, really important bird speaking of racism and xenophobia around the virus, i wonder if you could your perspective from your own experiences about how the notion of disinformation has sort of changed over time. And how it is being applied to different communities. I remember speaking with the director couple of years ago. Human Rights Council panel. This is the first time we heard the word fake news. Having the conversation she is a black brit. Lives in america. Having a conversation about why it was in quotation marks, but in the conversation we both felt the reason why fake news reflected or explains our situation what were feeling. Was because it was a term that was essentially created and used too exclude everybody but white people. It was too explain the issues that liberals, hillary clinton, the president of the United States, and also through politicians in the uk. But for so long, communities such as black communities in the uk and particularly african communities in the uk were subjected to fakeness or disinformation. But then it was called scapegoating, and it felt like this terminology was not to try and have the experience and behavior. Is trying too disprove itself. So what happens to his trooper what happens to us is more impactful. Only disinformation disinformation has imported African Americans engaged in politics. From answering the phones has shaped so many communities that will represent for four years. The likelihood of getting elected because of fake power players and numbers here and businesses that we start to care about it. We are truly going too get this information we have to care that information for everybody. We are still seeing a hierarchy of misinformation. What comes to the covid crisis of misinformation we are seeing what impacts are certain communities. When this information is being spread by some black leaders in the uk no one called them out. No one made any interventions there is no countering campaign. Then they found a couple months later that black communities were four times more likely to die from covid. Prior to that, disinformation was being spread by some online black leaders. Some by influences that than idea that it was a manmade disease. All the things im sure amanda has heard before but other outbreaks. No one seems to want to grapple this but we are four times more likely to die. This is something we were seeing online. And because everyone was online, more so now during lockdown, people were not believing it. Yet north of england and other communities with the start stopping the disinformation. The likes of jack dossey only care about misinformation when it became an issue around covid. Would it affected women in politics, when it was a threat it took the president of the United States to them to release a statement too clarify its rules around wishing people death. But when it was happening black people, africanamerican, these lgbtq communities who are attracting less and file it offline were they were packed carried along offline. It is such a disparity in how we talk about disinformation. Who really needs whore we centering who do we really care about . You mentioned your experience as a counselor in east london. Of course, todays panel, todays conference is really framed around the 2020 u. S. Election. But, giving your political experience in the uk, and really around the world, your work is Truly International bird i wonder if you could share with their audience some thoughts about the u. S. Experience as an observer of the u. S. Really compares to what you experience in the uk and elsewhere . Parts of me are jealous. The professions in the academia world is amazing. Im like 80 sure that does not exist here. And if it does it is so underfunded. It was a study that came out last year about how academia as a whole makes up like ten of them. Sometimes i get really jealous , things that americans are able too investigate and look at and apply social work seems to attack an ai. And yet we have the Oxford Institute also what its like with oxbridge part of me is he has to fund raise but there is that too understand which is really missing here. Second thing is Community Organizing. Its really clear when it comes when its literally a matter of life or death, the structure and the accountability i really, really admired and appreciated. Something here in the uk we need. And then thirdly, but we do not have a enough of his cross Party Support for candidates in both office. So youve got like really amazing organizations really up from proving women prayed we have that in the uk but is it a very small pockets. In severely underfunded. There is still a kind of lag and the importance of gender representation. In the Community Organizing to get leaders ready to take up the official officers if they want to go. Thinking about Community Organizing and potential for actual change, i wonder what the two of you think leads to what you would like too see moving forward in terms of broadbased solutions . Doctor maybe started with you, thinking about this rePublic Health perspective. Yes, absolutely. We are now seven months into this pandemic prayed we are seeing already the second way. Certainly seeing it in europe. There are new lockdowns occurring. Theres also appearing for vaccines. And the role of vaccines. We know these communities of color are already skeptical about vaccines. Theres vaccine hesitancy. This low rates of fox nation at least in the United States, pretty much across the board. Sook couple that with all the missed trust that disinformation the politicalization of the pandemic, that is going to be a huge hurdle to overcome. I think its really important that we start thinking about the strategies that we can use to keep people safe. Keep them think about the preventative measures we need to take to get us to the pandemic. But thinking about vaccine. Couple things come to mind first and foremost newsy it to the root cause of this. We need to dismantle this whole notion of institutionalized racism structural inequities. Thats obviously a large initiative after that has to take place. Its going to take years to do that. I would echo what the doctor said about the data. We absolutely need to be evidencebased in our approaches here to figure out where we really need to focus our resources and have an impact on the communities that are most in need. That includes making sure that we get vaccines to those individuals who are most vulnerable and most at risk. Community engagement is really the foundation of all of this, right . So whether its grassroots, nokia doors, increasing Health Literacy about covid or having individuals at the table, but the Drug Companies and think about Vaccine Distribution and how to do that in an equitable manner. That is over need to have that community engagement. As a researcher, for me, there are ways you can do based research. Taking the time to understand the cultural context with which youre going to be working with communities. What are the challenges and barriers. What is the baseline understanding or fear of the communities in which are going to be working is really important. But making sure those individuals are at the table from the beginning to the end. And then another last point which i want to highlight that is worked really wellin the hiv response is the Key Opinion Leaders. So if you can figure out who is a leader in that particular community, where do people go further information, now in social media we call them influencers right . Figuring out who those influencers are that can get real information and real data out to communities. I think will also help to kind of mitigate the spread of the disinformation and the misinformation. For me personally, as soon as i see anything that does not sound right, i think we have to think about how we stop that from propagating. How we stop that information sharing that is wrong in its tracks. And correct it with factual information and evidence so you can write that wrong. And you social media for its good. Do not let it be the detriment of society and think about how this pandemic can play out. You have any thoughts about the last points in particular that the doctors talking about . The last sentence i went to echo so making sure the online unities are safe, clean, and not inequality prayed they are not being hijacked and westernize against the very health increase the playing field. And to do that its understanding that we all have a role to play being an active bystander and being digital citizens prayed what that looks like, reporting what was seen in the platform. It looks like sharing information, but it also what i would really like too see more of in question more directly is the accountability. Really seeing a quick, everyday users they can hold with Mark Zuckerberg paid all of these Tech Companies that they used where they hold them to account. You dont have to wait for something so bad or significant or young person awful diet pill or particular and then shutting for example the zoom that is been in the community for years hallies the Security Sector on the platform were not up to scratch. I want us to start seeing the online space of the community. [inaudible] we also have a right for longterm systematic change. We have to have our john lawmakers too ask. They do have attack with all the users. Really of touched on quite a bit here. For todays conference you do a great deal of training to teach them to be better citizens. You focus on the communities themselves. You have created a number of steps and guides that people can follow. Obviously today we cannot each go to the specific training. I wonder if you might take a few minutes to give the members of our audience an abbreviated version of this . To share some of the tips and tricks that you recommend to people either when they are experiencing online abuse and harassment himself or when they are witnessing it. How they might support other people. Thank you, they launch the new series of workshops today. Also it is free you can come along for one of those for my topic if youre someone facing these for harassment, first is let someone know. The whole part of violence is too isolate you. Its make you feel really foldable. Thats with the whole thing kicks offered let somebody know. When they let you know try to articulate what you need from them. If you time off you are letting your wrens over because city to support you online. For be really clear about what you need from them. The second thing is to document it. This important to documenting is so important. Because actually it might help paint a picture. It melt help start finding some patterns, experience before the abuse happened to me when the video went viral i was actually hacked. But he never put the two together and till i started seeing and exit all they did try to get me before so documenting is really important. Particularly if youre someone in politics or working for an organization or institution and you released a report. You might find actually 21 troll, truly the women in the department. Her all the people of color in the department. Have document abuse on her website. My third pick would be selfcare particular for women who have been conditioned and grown up to put themselves at last. Come up with themselves last is not built able to have agency and set boundaries online. Always feel guilty around blocking or muting or filtering and actually its so important. As we go to a leather locked out that looks like muting keywords vertex also dont too see for example online abuse on the weekend i just would be unsocial immediately looking, i mute the words online abuser. The hacker can see that online they respond and be at work on sunday. Something i hope to explore looking at ways we can increase the Center Agency online. If you are seeing someone facing online and youre not sure suit number one reach out. To make it to the abuse here isolated. Actually affirming to them this violence is really helpful. Sometimes women ourselves we play it down and say everyones exaggerated im sensitive. Actually people saying i see what happens soon its not okay. Its not okay area [inaudible] help reported. Sometimes official citizenship about ending online abuse. That happens going too get along online everest going to love each other in it along. Its not what its about its how we quickly engage in abuse think its a show we can all role model. I know its a but maybe think, thank you ways we can model civil disagreements. Weve lost the art of online debate. Were going to have more conversations vertically here in the uk and europe with brexit and gender recognition expert always with the election coming up against healing time. Going to be having much bigger start understanding how we can respectfully disagree online. Some doctors a lot of what was just described they sit fairly well i wonder if you have any thoughts about how we might think about under online cells in Public Health perspective. Think about the context of the pandemic, what is everyones role . Whether you are a student and you are trying to help other students understand what is happening with the pandemic. Whether you are a community leader, whether you are a politician. Whether you are an everyday citizen. My take on this response of the pandemic as everyone is played a role. Even just staying at home and reinforcing that look, everyone i am posting on facebook im learning how to cook. Or am doing selfcare by exercising in my backyard or my basement or wherever it may be. All of the things are really important they are reinforcing a message. Youre saying playing a part in this response by doing whats being asked of me which is too remain at home. But still, thinking about your own emotional wellbeing, your own physical wellbeing. Again i think it just shows its about help and the negative disinformation, the bullying that happens online print that is all healthrelated, right . And so it is really important that we think about these as Public Health issues that need to be addressed more broadly. Then just focusing on that poor individual, that one person was cyber bullied for example. That something that response that has to happen at a community level. I like too put you talk at least in general terms about the role of the platforms themselve themselves. You reference jacks joystick, the head of twitter and Mark Zuckerberg the head of facebook. If you could turn to them, if you had these two Corporate Leaders as well as others from the social Media Companies sitting in front of you right now, socially distance of course. Hitting in front of you right now, what would you say to them . What would you ask for them to do or focus on . You are asking a tough question there. Right now, what i would like for them to do is allocate some money. Allocate some monday and give up profit. In Million Dollar company. Give up some money to work around the health perspective. Pay some groups that are basically working for free or not enough to the hope to make their platform safer and they can keep their Profit Margins healthy. But that money be used for proper education but lots of times in our workshops goes to use the platform safely. Thats what they should be paying for. We need them to part with money to care about how their monies being spent in the return on investment. That seems to be the only way that Companies Understand or care. I think when you have a good chunk of money and resources, then you can push for longterm systematic change. Something we agree with doctor amanda as these missile are very important but these little micro repercussions of the platform are being dealt with. We are being peace gets to be high profile heard what we are not seeing is systematic longterm change. We are not seeing policy changes, transparency and refor reform. That allocation of budget something we push for longterm change. So i would say yes. So after putting on the hot seat first. Im going to turn to doctor casale for a final word. What in particular would you like too see the platforms, these companies themselves doing to help . Be on the ground Public Health workers. I would like to take those coins that day was talking about. I would take those coins and to really develop a committee or a task force. A covey of Public Health task force that is made up of experts and Community Members right, not just the scientists but Community Members and of course a broad range of individuals in terms of age, race, ethnicity. Native English Speakers may be nonnative English Speakers. I would want to create a very comprehensive task force at the different opinions. And they different perspective to try to really be proactive instead of reactive. Too think about what are the positive messages that can come out . Maybe thats work with individuals from local and state Health Departments. Maybe its working with individuals from the cdc. Maybe its working with researchers from academic institutions. But really thinking about how we can best message information so that people get Accurate Information and that we can try to prevent right these issues that we are facing now . So whether it is around the response to covid maybe they have a dr. Fauci their leading people that they engage, he has been obviously a solid and reliable voice during this pandemic. But finding those individuals as i mentioned before this Key Opinion Leaders that can really help us get information out in the best way. Its going to be received well by a variety of is most important. I want to say thank you. I am so grateful to both of you for joining us today. Enter doctor lena win for joining us earlier in the week too engage in discussion on such an important timely topic. I also do think those in the audience who have joined us. In a few minutes were going to turn to another incredibly timely discussion on the living threat of postelection violence in house being organized online for the exits we have gathered are going to share their perspectives, their insights about a variety of groups and plans are currently taking shape as we speak online. So stay with us for that conversations a few thoughts about todays event statement hello im steven living simple festive meeting Public Affairs and the director of the institute for politics. Welcome to this conference and call the 19th digital politic politics. Would leicester become idp, i was motivated by two core concerns. First, under the threat to democracy opposed by malicious actors on social media platforms were too big and too complex for any single discipline to tackle on their own social science to area specials, data scientists, all needed to Work Together as a team. I also knew with different vocabulary, different methods and professional expectations, cross disciplinary work will be hard. Yet with time i also knew that we would have so much too learn from one another. Secondly i believe these colors must share their work with the public. Our research must not remain silent in academic papers and discussion amongst a handful. In short i wanted to bring together bright people in common cause to benefit others. Im very proud to say that todays form reflects these convictions. So far weve learned about the challenges associated with Fact Checking Online Campaign and events. We also learned about the impact of pandemic information marginalized communities. Of potential postelection violence in the pandemics influence on political discours discourse. More please you decided too join us. We are sure you will find the next two panels interesting andthis is just over thanks for joining us today. Y name is jane hu future tense is a collaboration between Arizona State university, new america, and slate that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society. I will be monitoring our conversation,