How fake experts are used to mislead

My eleventh Critical Thinking about COVID video explores the fake expert strategy: one of the most persuasive forms of misinformation. In the 1980s, tobacco companies were desperate to convince us smoking wouldn’t kill us. They had a secret weapon – scientists willing to promote smoking. Tobacco executives called them white coats and the PR campaign was called the Whitecoat Project. It didn’t matter if they didn’t have any expertise researching the health impacts of smoking. They just had to look like an expert.

Now, we see white coats being used to cast doubt on the scientific research into COVID-19. The arguments from these white coats are familiar denial techniques – anecdotal arguments and casting doubt on scientific research. But a white coat is persuasive. A group of white coats is even more persuasive.

How do you tell the difference between an expert and a fake expert? Let’s start by looking at what doesn’t make an expert. You don’t become an expert in one field because you have a degree in a different field. We understand this in real life – when it comes to important life events like surgery, we expect the person opening us up to have relevant expertise.

The only way to obtain expertise in a complex scientific field is through years of study, further years of scientific research and having your research scrutinized by other experts. Without scientific expertise and familiarity with all the relevant research, it’s all too easy to be misled by misinformation. Nowadays, we have more access to information than ever and it’s tempting to think we’re capable of weeding out truth from misinformation. But it takes expertise to understand the nuance and uncertainty in a complex topic.  

So look out for fake experts – one of the most persuasive techniques of science denial. How do you spot one? A red flag is when someone appeals to their own authority while contradicting the consensus of the expert community. That’s when you want to look closer – examine whether they have actual relevant scientific expertise. Being able to spot fake experts makes us less vulnerable to misinformation, clearing the way to rely on real experts for reliable information.

Check out the full list of Critical Thinking About COVID videos on YouTube. Thanks to Prof. Melanie Trecek-King, Dr. Lori Byron, Dr. Robert Byron, and Dr. Elizabeth Del Buono for their feedback in the writing of this video.