The health secretary has made many inaccurate statements about vaccines. But the science is clear that vaccines have dramatically reduced childhood illness, disability and death.

There’s no solid evidence that thimerosal harms children. It was removed from almost all vaccines more than 20 years ago out of an abundance of caution, but RFK Jr.’s hand-picked vaccine advisory committee is looking into it.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices guides the CDC’s hand on vaccine policy, but some of its new members have voiced anti-vaccine views.

Vaccine hesitancy isn’t a moral failure – it’s a property of a system in which people must balance personal and collective interests.

Health influencers – perhaps including Health Secretary RFK Jr. – are promoting the chemical as an elixir that improves memory and focus. But evidence for these claims is thin.

Disinformation campaigns are using AI to tell false but compelling stories. AI tools are also helping counter the campaigns by detecting incongruities in usernames, cultural references and timelines.

Cheap, low-quality AI-generated content is still extremely attention-grabbing – and thus lucrative for both creators and platforms.

If the health content you see on social media sounds too good to be true, it’s very likely false – but there are ways to check it out before sharing.

Visual content, including manipulated images, is a staple of propaganda and political messaging. AI analysis shows that a surge of these memes can precede the outbreak of wide-scale violence.

A study of US state legislators found that posting misinformation online was a winning strategy for boosting a politician’s visibility – but not for Democrats.