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The dirty dozen: A tiny group of anti-vaxxers are flooding the internet with misinformation
Two-thirds of vaccine misinformation on social media comes from twelve — yes, just twelve — people
www.salon.com
3/30/21
A recent PBS NewsHour/NPR/Marist poll found that 30 percent of those surveyed in March 2021 told pollsters that, if offered the COVID-19 vaccine, they would not take it. The huge number of vaccine-hesitant Americans might give the impression that anti-vaccination propaganda is rampant. Yet it turns out that a select few very loud voices are responsible for a great deal of online misinformation regarding vaccines. Their disproportionate ability to spread disinformation should give social media platforms pause. In their recent report, the CCDH revealed that these twelve people and their groups have disseminated nearly two-thirds of the anti-vaccine misinformation they have been tracing on Facebook and Twitter between Feb. 1 and March 16 of this year. Overall the CCDH found that the information they had been tracing was shared or posted on one of those platforms roughly 812,000 times, even though their inaccurate statements about vaccines violate those companies' terms of service. Indeed, according to the nonprofit Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), a mere dozen individuals and their organizations are responsible for up to 65% of the anti-vaccine misinformation that is spreading on social media platforms. The most famous of the so-called "Disinformation Dozen" is Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., nephew of President John F. Kennedy.
One of them, Rizza Islam, has argued that Bill Gates is behind the COVID-19 pandemic, claimed he "beat" the disease through a special diet, and repeated the debunked claim that vaccines cause autism. Anti-vaccine entrepreneurs Ty and Charlene Bollinger have used their Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts (all of which remain active) to denounce the "fake pandemic" and spread an inaccurate story claiming that a COVID-19 vaccine had killed seven children in Senegal. They have also established ties with the far right, repeating the disproved talking point that Joe Biden stole the 2020 election from Donald Trump. Another anti-vaccine entrepreneur, Joseph Mercola, has referred to the pandemic as a "scam" and argued that "hydrogen peroxide treatment" can successfully treat most viral respiratory illnesses, including the coronavirus. "The Disinformation Dozen — including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Joseph Mercola, and Ty and Charlene Bollinger, among others — continually violate the terms of service agreements on Facebook and Twitter," the CCDH explains in the summary of their report. "While some anti-vaxxers identified by CCDH have been removed from a single platform, comprehensive action has yet to be taken, and most remain active on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter."
If you are a user on Twitter, Facebook, and/or Instagram remember ..... 66% of the false vaccine information presented on these social media platforms originates from only 12 anti-vaxxer individuals.
Don't assume that individuals with notoriety or famous last names have professional backgrounds in immunology or virology. They don't. They are pushing a personal agenda.