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Most anti-vax propaganda comes from 12 people

by on17 May 2021


Posting from three social networking sites.

Just 12 people account for the lion's share of anti-vaccination propaganda posted to three of the leading social media outlets, according to a study from a London-based group opposed to online hate and disinformation.

A study conducted by the Centre for the Countering of Digital Hate identified the "Disinformation Dozen" people, including RFK Jr., Joseph Mercola, and Sherri Tenpenny. In its study, the group blasts the social media companies for allowing their platforms to be abused and calls for them to be de-platformed.

"Living in full view of the public on the internet is a small group of individuals who are abusing social media platforms to misrepresent the threat of Covid and spread misinformation about the safety of vaccines", the study said in its introduction.

"Facebook, Google and Twitter have put policies into place to prevent the spread of vaccine misinformation; yet to date, all have failed to satisfactorily enforce those policies."

Some misinformation spreaders complain they're being censored, NPR reports, adding that: "After this story published on Thursday, Facebook said it had taken down more of the accounts run by these 12 individuals."

But the study concludes anti-vaccine misinformation has already spread to an audience of 59 million followers. And yet: "Analysis of a sample of anti-vaccine content that was shared or posted on Facebook and Twitter a total of 812,000 times between 1 February and 16 March 2021 shows that 65 per cent of anti-vaccine content is attributable to the Disinformation Dozen.

"Analysis of anti-vaccine content posted to Facebook over 689,000 times in the last two months shows that up to 73 percent of that content originates with members of the Disinformation Dozen of leading online anti-vaxxers."

Last modified on 17 May 2021
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