I was content to describe what has been happening as disinformation.
But now, I find myself in complete agreement with Dr Peter Hotez on the subject.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02981-z
Misinformation makes it sound like it’s random junk that appears out of nowhere on the Internet. It’s not: it’s an organized, well-financed, politically motivated campaign that’s meant to tear down the fabric of science. And we have to frame it in that way.
Now, it’s fully embraced by a major political party in the United States, and by authoritarian regimes in other countries such as Hungary and, previously, Brazil. It’s sanctioned by elected leaders in the US Congress. It’s reached a new level of organization and aggression — it’s starting to resemble the 1930s, when Joseph Stalin’s regime in the Soviet Union portrayed scientists as enemies of the state.
Some 200,000 Americans died because of anti-science aggression. They were victims of this coordinated campaign. That’s why we need to care about it. It’s horrifying. I want to honour the legacy of those victims.