The misinformation virus
Angela Saini investigates the lethal spread of alternative facts and discovers that the very architecture of the web amplifies dangerous pseudoscience online
In this online age, the internet is a global megaphone, billions of messages amplified and shared, even when they're false. Fake science spreads faster than the truth ever could, unhindered by national boundaries. Mainstream scientists are struggling to respond.
The science journalist and writer, Angela Saini, is fascinated by how bad ideas spread and in this programme she investigates the very real impact of online scientific misinformation. From the dangerous anti-vaccination campaigns to those who deny the reality of climate change, she assesses the scale and extent of the threat we face.
And she discovers the sinister world of deliberate disinformation where an army of bots and trolls work to sow dissent and confusion in the online space.
Producer: Fiona Hill
Last on
More episodes
Previous
Next
Broadcasts
- Mon 13 Jan 2020 20:32GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service Australasia, Online, Americas and the Caribbean, UK DAB/Freeview & Europe and the Middle East only
- Mon 13 Jan 2020 21:32GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service News Internet & East Asia only
- Tue 14 Jan 2020 05:32GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service Online, UK DAB/Freeview, News Internet & Europe and the Middle East only
- Tue 14 Jan 2020 06:32GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service Australasia, Americas and the Caribbean & South Asia only
- Tue 14 Jan 2020 07:32GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service East and Southern Africa & East Asia only
- Tue 14 Jan 2020 11:32GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service West and Central Africa
- Tue 14 Jan 2020 14:32GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service Australasia
- Tue 14 Jan 2020 18:32GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service East and Southern Africa, South Asia & West and Central Africa only
- Mon 20 Jan 2020 00:32GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service except South Asia
Space
The eclipses, spacecraft and astronauts changing our view of the Universe
The Curious Cases of Rutherford and Fry
Podcast
-
Discovery
Explorations in the world of science.