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 ===== Mercury Project =====
+The three-year Mercury Project was launched in November 2021 with USD 7.5 million in seed funding from The [[:Rockefeller Foundation]] and additional support from the [[:Robert Wood Johnson Foundation]], [[:Craig Newmark Philanthropies]], and the [[:Alfred P. Sloan Foundation]], **applies the principles of large-scale, team-based science to the problem of vaccination demand**.
+==== About Us ====
+The Mercury Project is a global consortium of researchers dedicated to combating the impacts of mis- and disinformation on public health and to finding interventions that support the spread and uptake of accurate health information.
+Together, we can build a healthier information environment
+{{ ::mercury_project.png?600|}}
+The information networks that carry public health guidance into communities are among the most essential elements in a disease outbreak response. However, in today’s information ecosystem, accurate information is not getting through to everyone, everywhere. The viral spread of mis- and disinformation has been widely acknowledged in the global health space as a major and growing threat to public safety and to effective pandemic response.
+The Mercury Project, which alludes to the ancient Roman god Mercury of messages and communication, will fund researchers to discover new, evidence-based, data-driven tools, methods, and interventions to counter mis- and disinformation and to support the spread and uptake of accurate health information. **These solutions will be an essential resource for social media and technology companies and for global policymakers as they build an information ecosystem** that supports the sharing of accurate and effective health information.
+The Mercury Project will provide research grants over a three-year period to researchers and organizations for the purpose of:
+a) estimating the causal impacts of mis- and disinformation on online and offline outcomes in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, including health, economic, and/or social outcomes, differential impacts across socio-demographic groups, and quantifying the global costs of those impacts;
+b) estimating the causal impacts of online or offline interventions in the United States, Africa, South Asia, and Latin America to increase uptake of Covid-19 vaccines and other recommended public health measures by countering mis- and disinformation, including interventions that target the producers or the consumers of mis- and disinformation, or that increase confidence in reliable information.
+The Mercury Project will also provide a suite of research sharing and policy development activities for grantees and other invited organizations to enable more effective policy and regulatory responses to current and future public health emergencies. The work of the consortium will provide a foundation for data-driven policy and regulatory interventions enabling the creation of a healthier information environment.
+Call for Proposals
+The** Mercury Project is a 10M research consortium** investigating the impacts of health misinformation and evaluating interventions to prevent its spread in the United States, Africa, South Asia, and Latin America. ((https://web.archive.org/web/20211116124701/https://www.ssrc.org/programs/the-mercury-project/))
+==== The Behavioral Science of Infodemic Response ====
+The [[:World Health Organization]] and the United Nations define an infodemic as the spread of “false or misleading information in digital and physical environments during a disease outbreak. It causes confusion and risk-taking behaviours that can harm health. It also leads to mistrust in health authorities and undermines the public health response.” The U.S. Office of the Surgeon General has declared health [[:misinformation]] to be a significant public health challenge.
+In an October 17, 2021 interview on MSNBC, outgoing [[:National Institute of Health]] Director [[:Francis Collins]] expressed regret over the U.S. response to Covid-19 misinformation: “I think we underestimated the vaccine hesitancy issue…I wish we had somehow seen that coming, and tried to come up with some kind of a ‘Myth Buster’ approach to try to block all of the misinformation and disinformation that’s gotten out there, all tangled up with politics, and which is costing lives.”
+Online Information, Misinformation, and Uptake
+There is some evidence that inaccurate and misleading health information circulating on social media platforms may reduce Covid-19 vaccination uptake.
+Finally, there is also some evidence that increasing individuals’ exposure to reliable online health information may increase uptake. Breza et al (2021) found that U.S.-based Facebook users randomized to view ads containing video messages from health professionals about the dangers of travel during the 2020 holiday season decreased distance travelled and Covid-19 infection rates in intervention counties and zip codes. Moehring et al (2021) found in a large international Facebook survey experiment that Increasing exposure to accurate information about growing Covid-19 vaccine acceptance increased vaccine acceptance. However, we have little other causal evidence about online interventions that may increase the uptake of reliable health information.
+Finally, there are some studies of informational interventions that may be able to mitigate racial and ethnic disparities in information uptake. In a U.S.-based survey experiment, Alsan et al (2021) found that physician video messages delivering Covid-related health information increased Covid-19 knowledge among Black and Latinx subjects, but that alternative interventions tailored to Black and Latinx communities had no additional effects for either Black or Latinx subjects. In a similar U.S.-based survey experiment, Torres et al (2021) likewise found that physician video messages delivering Covid-related health information increased Covid-19 knowledge, the demand for Covid-19 information, and the willingness to pay for a mask among both Black and white subjects, but that videos tailored to Black communities had no additional effects for either Black or white subjects. More work is needed to identify interventions that can mitigate disparities in information uptake around the globe. ((https://web.archive.org/web/20211116145212/https://www.ssrc.org/programs/the-mercury-project/the-behavioral-science-of-infodemic-response/))
 ==== Censorship & Propaganda ====
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 ddukuly@rockfound.org
 +1-212-852-0000
+{{ :nsf_mercury_project_partners.png?200|}}
+==== National Science Foundation Partnership ====
+A new $20 million partnership with the [[:National Science Foundation]] will **advance the scientific frontier of building Covid-19 vaccination demand** and a healthier information environment. ((https://web.archive.org/web/20220904230642/https://www.ssrc.org/))
+==== Criticism ====
+Rockefeller Foundation, Nonprofits Spending Millions on Behavioral Psychology Research to ‘Nudge’ More People to Get COVID Vaccines
+The [[:Rockefeller Foundation]], the [[:National Science Foundation]] and other nonprofits are pouring millions of dollars into a research initiative “to increase uptake of COVID-19 vaccines and other recommended public health measures by countering mis- and disinformation.”
+By  Michael Nevradakis, Ph.D.  September 13, 2022 Childrens Health Defense
+The Rockefeller Foundation, the National Science Foundation (an “independent” agency of the U.S. government) and other nonprofits are pouring millions of dollars into a research initiative “to increase uptake of COVID-19 vaccines and other recommended public health measures by countering mis- and disinformation.”
+In conjunction with the Social Science Research Council (SSRC), the Rockefeller Foundation last month announced $7.2 million in funding for the Mercury Project,  initially launched in November 2021, under the slogan, “Together, we can build a healthier information environment.”
+The funds will support 12 teams of researchers in 17 countries who will conduct studies on “ambitious, applied social and behavioral science to combat the growing global threat posed by low COVID-19 vaccination rates and public health mis- and disinformation,” the Rockefeller Foundation said.
+The Rockefeller Foundation and the SSRC claim the aim of the Mercury Project, whose name is derived from the ancient Roman god of messages and communication, is to bolster public health and safety.
+However, some critics described the project as one based on “propaganda” aimed at “nudging” the unvaccinated to get vaccinated. ((https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/rockefeller-foundation-nonprofits-behavioral-psychology-covid-vaccines/))