A technology company using advertisements to divert people from viewing online extremism is trialling the same technique to combat anti-vaccination conspiracy theories.
London-based social enterprise Moonshot CVE invented the “Redirect Method”, which targets Google and social media users searching for certain extremism-linked keywords by showing them a range of advertisements countering the narrative. The advertisements are provided by trusted figures, citizen journalists and defectors from the searched group on YouTube playlists and other sites.
Moonshot’s latest initiative is part of a global fightback against anti-vaccination activists using social media to spread harmful untruths.
So-called “anti-vaxxers” have drawn false links to vaccines, which prevent diseases such as measles, and autism.
In the United States and the European Union, access to vaccines is widespread, however, the number of measles cases reported has surged in the past year.
The measles virus in the US was declared eliminated in 2000 but since the beginning of 2018, more than 1,120 cases were reported in the worst outbreak since 1992, according to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. Health experts have blamed the rise of the highly-infectious disease on parents of school-age children, who declined to give them the measles mumps rubella vaccine.
While in Europe, measles is also on the rise. The number of people infected with the virus in 2018 was the highest this decade, with three times the total reported in 2017, according to data from the World Health Organisation.
The WHO has described the anti-vaccination movement as one of the biggest global health threats of 2019.
The UAE is bucking the trend, however, with a significant reduction in measles cases reported in the first three months in 2019 in comparison with the same period last year.
At the moment Moonshot is still at the information-gathering stage, which is internally funded, but the firm is feeling confident. Once it has finished its development phase, the social enterprise will sell its service to governments, charities and social media companies globally, as it did with its counter-extremism software.
"We've been using the Redirect Method since 2016 to deliver alternative, positive content to individuals searching for violent extremist material online. Now we're adapting the methodology to focus on other potentially destructive online communities," Clark Hogan-Taylor, manager at Moonshot CVE, told The National.
“Anti-vax is an entirely different social problem - we're not conflating it with violent extremism in any way - but that doesn't mean our underlying methodology can't be re-purposed to help those at-risk of, in this case, believing in a conspiracy theory that poses a serious threat to life.”
Water waste
In the UAE’s arid climate, small shrubs, bushes and flower beds usually require about six litres of water per square metre, daily. That increases to 12 litres per square metre a day for small trees, and 300 litres for palm trees.
Horticulturists suggest the best time for watering is before 8am or after 6pm, when water won't be dried up by the sun.
A global report published by the Water Resources Institute in August, ranked the UAE 10th out of 164 nations where water supplies are most stretched.
The Emirates is the world’s third largest per capita water consumer after the US and Canada.
Who is Allegra Stratton?
- Previously worked at The Guardian, BBC’s Newsnight programme and ITV News
- Took up a public relations role for Chancellor Rishi Sunak in April 2020
- In October 2020 she was hired to lead No 10’s planned daily televised press briefings
- The idea was later scrapped and she was appointed spokeswoman for Cop26
- Ms Stratton, 41, is married to James Forsyth, the political editor of The Spectator
- She has strong connections to the Conservative establishment
- Mr Sunak served as best man at her 2011 wedding to Mr Forsyth
Civil%20War
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The five pillars of Islam
Fund-raising tips for start-ups
Develop an innovative business concept
Have the ability to differentiate yourself from competitors
Put in place a business continuity plan after Covid-19
Prepare for the worst-case scenario (further lockdowns, long wait for a vaccine, etc.)
Have enough cash to stay afloat for the next 12 to 18 months
Be creative and innovative to reduce expenses
Be prepared to use Covid-19 as an opportunity for your business
* Tips from Jassim Al Marzooqi and Walid Hanna
The years Ramadan fell in May
World ranking (at month’s end)
Jan - 257
Feb - 198
Mar - 159
Apr - 161
May - 159
Jun – 162
Currently: 88
Year-end rank since turning pro
2016 - 279
2015 - 185
2014 - 143
2013 - 63
2012 - 384
2011 - 883
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Company%20profile
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Sav%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202021%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounder%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Purvi%20Munot%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20FinTech%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunding%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%24750%2C000%20as%20of%20March%202023%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Angel%20investors%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Know your Camel lingo
The bairaq is a competition for the best herd of 50 camels, named for the banner its winner takes home
Namoos - a word of congratulations reserved for falconry competitions, camel races and camel pageants. It best translates as 'the pride of victory' - and for competitors, it is priceless
Asayel camels - sleek, short-haired hound-like racers
Majahim - chocolate-brown camels that can grow to weigh two tonnes. They were only valued for milk until camel pageantry took off in the 1990s
Millions Street - the thoroughfare where camels are led and where white 4x4s throng throughout the festival