When researchers are threatened, harassed and silenced, it is an attack on public knowledge – and on democracy.
Jonas F. Ludvigsson, a pediatrician and professor of clinical epidemiology at Karolinska Institutet, was completely unprepared for what was to come. On January 6, 2021, the analysis he conducted on the prevalence of severe SARS-CoV-2 in Swedish children was published in the New England Journal of Medicine. (1). Shortly after, hateful and malicious messages began pouring in online. (2). The pressure was so intense and the messages so hateful that the veteran researcher stopped commenting and researching COVID-19. And now, when he writes about non-COVID topics, he no longer announces the articles on social media. He can’t stand trolling anymore (2).
Ludvigsson is not alone in this experience. Swedish researchers, health journalists and government authorities are increasingly facing hate messages, harassment and direct death threats in connection with the pandemic. (3). In Norway, the Norwegian Directorate of Health and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health have had the opportunity to report threats. (4). Some of their researchers have also considered withdrawing from public discourse about the pandemic after being trolled, threatened or receiving unpleasant messages. (4). In Denmark, the ten most cited COVID-19 researchers received hate messages, and several of them also received threats. (5).
Unfortunately, the problem goes far beyond just COVID-19 issues. Research on controversial topics such as climate, gender, predator removal, nutrition and alternative medicine seems particularly sensitive. For many years now, researchers conducting Norwegian and international research related to CFS/ME have been subjected to frequent and intense pressure, harassment and threats. (6, 7). And it’s not just the researchers themselves who are exposed to this treatment; Donors also come under attack when activists view them as not aligned with their agenda. (8). There have also been calls for entire research communities to be shut down after conducting research or publishing guidelines that did not give the “right” answers, as evidenced by the petition against the National Competence Service for CFS/ ME (7.8). The patients’ association itself, the Norwegian ME Association, refused to say whether its members are activists or whether they coordinate the filing of complaints. (9). He also managed to bring the curtain down on a meeting in a public academic and research forum because they didn’t like the topic the therapists were planning to discuss. (ten).
Unfortunately, the problem goes far beyond just COVID-19 issues. Research on controversial topics such as climate, gender, predator removal, nutrition and alternative medicine seems particularly sensitive.
There are strong indications that pressure, harassment and threats against researchers have increased in recent years, alongside the polarization of public discourse. (6, 11). At the same time, social media has become the primary source of information for many people, a development that helps perpetuate misinformation and spread anti-science propaganda. The fact that national politicians, even in Norway, are spreading anti-scientific attitudes and accusations that researchers are just “following the money” only reinforces these trends. (12).
All of these behaviors fuel a climate of public debate that is more toxic, more polarized, less objective and more personalized. It’s hard enough for media-trained debaters and politicians to deal with this; For researchers without such training, the pressure of unconstructive criticism, personal attacks, and harassment can quickly become too much to bear. When researchers do not want to study certain topics because of hatred and harassment, when certain areas of research do not receive funding because they are not “approved” by the crowd, and when researchers do not dare present their results in public debate out of fear. of personal attacks and threats, this is not just a problem for public discourse, it is a direct threat to democracy. Because when knowledge disappears from the public sphere, discourse becomes poorer and less enlightened – and it is with this in mind that important decisions concerning society are then made.
The Storting (Norwegian Parliament) will consider the draft of a new Norwegian law on universities and university colleges just before Easter 2021. The draft includes a proposal that universities and university colleges not only have a responsibility to protect academic freedom, but also employee rights. to exercise this freedom (13). This obligation should be systematically protected in our leading research institutions. But this is only the beginning. We need a national survey on the incidence of hatred, threats and harassment against researchers, and every research institution must be required to step up their efforts to ensure a positive climate for public debate in which its employees can engage.
