Kennedy urges anti-vaccine groups to take down fake CDC pages

National Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Saturday instructed leaders of the nonprofit organization he founded to mimic the design of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention site, but to remove web pages that mimic cases where the vaccine causes autism.

The page was published on a site that is clearly registered in the Child Health Defense of the nonprofit Anti-Vaccination Group. Kennedy’s actions came after the New York Times asked about the page and then it bouncing off all over social media.

The page was taken offline on a Saturday night.

“Committee Kennedy has directed the Advisory Bureau to send formal demand to children’s health defenses requesting the removal of their website,” the Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement.

“At HHS, we are dedicated to restoring the institutions to a tradition that supports science based on gold standard evidence,” the statement said.

It was not clear why the anti-vaccine group released a page mimicking the CDC. The organization did not respond to requests for comment, and Kennedy said it cut ties with the presidential election in 2023.

The fake vaccine safety page was virtually indistinguishable from what is available on CDC’s own site. The layout, typeface and logo were the same, and probably violated federal copyright laws.

The CDC’s own website refutes the relationship between vaccines and autism, but fraudsters leave the possibility of existence open. The bottom included a link to video testimony from parents who believed their child was harmed by the vaccine.

The page was first published Reported on Substack by E. Rosalie LiFounder of Information Epidemiology Lab. The nonprofit did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

For many years, Kennedy has argued that there is a link between vaccines and autism. He held that stance during the Senate confirmation hearing despite extensive research exposing the theory.

Under his direction, the CDC recently announced plans to review the evidence. This is a waste of money from Senator Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican and chairman of the Senate Health Committee.

Online at Mock Web Pages is the familiar blue banner from CDC above, featuring the agency’s blue and white logo and the term “vaccine safety.” The headline read “Vaccinations and autism.”

The text supported the link between vaccines and autism, laid out both the exposed research, but left it announced the possibility that it had been countered by scientists.

This included citations to research by Brian S. Hooker, chief science officer for child health defense, as well as other studies critical of vaccination.

“This is a mix of legally peer-reviewed and fake,” said Dr. Bruce Guerin, who oversaw HHS’ vaccine programs for the Bush and Obama administrations.

“Footnotes give the impression that it’s a legitimate scientific work,” he added.

The series of testimonies at the bottom of the page featured videos with titles such as “Mother of 3: I Will Will Will Wild Again” and “We Signed His Life.”

This is in stark contrast to CDC officials. Autism and Vaccine Websitewhich is primarily devoted to exposing connection ideas, clearly saying, “study shows no links.”

Recently, Children’s Health Defense has faced the outbreak of measles in West Texas.

The organization’s CHD.TV channel posted an on-camera interview with the parents of a six-year-old girl who was declared dead from measles by the state health department.

The child was not vaccinated and had no underlying medical conditions. According to the health organization. However, they claimed that children’s health defenses had obtained hospital records that conflict with the cause of death.

The organization also handled the girl’s siblings and interviewed Dr. Ben Edwards, one of two Texas doctors.

In response to the video, Covenant Children’s Hospital in Lubbock, Texas issued a statement this week that “recent videos are circulating online and contain misleading inaccurate claims,” ​​saying the confidentiality law does not prevent hospitals from providing information specifically relating to cases.

Source: www.nytimes.com

Meta removes over 9,000 fraudulent Facebook pages costing Australians $43.4 million in celebrity deepfake scams

After Meta launched a new platform for sharing fraud information with banks, celebrities and others were taken away in handcuffs. The platform blocked 8,000 pages and 9,000 celebrity scams, reducing the likelihood of Australians seeing deepfake images promoting fraudulent crypto investments on Facebook. This occurred in the first 6 months following the launch.

Between January and August 2024, Australians reported $43.4 million in losses to social media scams through Scamwatch, with almost $30 million related to fake investment scams.

Meta has been dealing with scams using deepfake images of celebrities like David Koch, Gina Reinhart, Anthony Albanese, Larry Emdur, and Guy Sebastian. Politicians and regulators have pressured the company to address these scams, especially those facilitating investment fraud.

Mining tycoon Andrew Forrest is suing Meta for failing to address fraudulent activity using his image.

Meta has partnered with the Australian Financial Crime Exchange (AFCX) to launch the Fraud Information Exchange (Fire). This channel allows banks to report known fraud to Meta, enabling Meta to notify all banks involved in fraud discovered on its platform.

Seven banks, including ANZ, Bendigo Bank, CBA, HSBC, Macquarie, NAB, and Westpac, are participating in the Fire program. Another program involving AFCX’s Intel Loop information sharing service includes banks like Optus, Pivotel, Telstra, TPG, and the National Anti Scams Center.

Since the pilot launch in April, Meta has removed over 9,000 fraudulent pages and 8,000 AI-generated celebrity investment scams on Facebook and Instagram based on 102 reports received.

While the early results are promising, the number of fire reports is low compared to the losses reported to Scamwatch, with 1,600 reported losses in social media scams in August alone.

Meta reported removing 1.2 billion fake accounts worldwide in the last quarter, with 99.7% removed before user reports.

AFCX’s Rhonda Lau mentioned that the program aims to make Australia a less attractive target for fraudsters.

Meta’s David Agranovich stated that the system will help detect fraud outside the platform, connecting the dots between fraudulent activities on Facebook and Instagram.

Meta provides the list of blocked domains to partners and will grant access to the Fire platform to its threat exchange system to detect criminal activity like covert influence operations and child abuse on the platform.

Mr. Agranovich acknowledged the frustration Australians may face in reporting fraud to Meta and mentioned plans for improvement.

Both the Commonwealth Bank and ANZ welcomed the collaboration with Meta. Deputy Treasurer Stephen Jones introduced a draft bill to combat fraud and provide a proper dispute resolution process for fraud victims, with consultations ending on 4th October.

Source: www.theguardian.com