An investigation into the spread of fake news about Covid-19 vaccines via Twitter and Facebook has led researchers to an unexpectedly narrow range of sources. In fact, in a month and a half, almost 65% of all anti-vaccination propaganda on these social networks came from a dozen influential people. And one of them is the nephew of the notorious John Fitzgerald Kennedy.
Last year was marked not only by economic and health crises: against the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic, an "infodemic" also broke out. This catchy neologism hides a real information catastrophe: political and medical disinformation has reached unprecedented proportions. Social networks are unsuccessfully trying to fight it, and various structures are tracking fake news and recording that, despite all the efforts of corporations like Facebook and Google, "infodemia" only continues to bloom and smell.
The Center for Countering Digital Hate, a non-profit international organization, has released another report. It contains the results of an analysis of anti-vaccination publications on Facebook and Twitter, which were distributed from early February to mid-March. In total, the researchers recorded 812 thousand posts, most of which came from a very limited number of sources.
More precisely, dozens of influencers - individuals who successfully influence public opinion through social networks. Among them, two stand out. For example, the American Joseph Mercola is an osteopath, private physician and an ardent supporter of the so-called alternative medicine. Among other things, he managed to become famous for the promotion of vitamins C and D3, as well as extracts of oak bark (quercetin) and blueberry with grape (pterostilbene) as drugs for Covid-19.
The activist has already received several warnings from regulators, including the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). They were even going to initiate an investigation against him, but so far the case has not been launched for various reasons. So the enterprising Mercola calmly continues to sell dubious drugs and campaign against vaccination.
And the most famous antivaccinator in this dozen disinformers is Robert F. Kennedy, nephew of the late 35th President of the United States. For his destructive activities, he has already received a permanent ban on Instagram, but his Facebook and Twitter accounts are still functioning. And they continue to distribute propaganda, of course.
The other ten key generators of fake news about coronavirus vaccination outside the English-speaking segment of the Internet are not very familiar to anyone. These are Ty and Charlene Bollinger, Sherri Tenpenny, politician, activist, Rizza Islam, Rashid Buttar, famous conspiracy theorist, Erin Elizabeth, beauty blogger, Sayer Ji, alternative medicine guru, Kelly Brogan, Christiane Northrup, Ben Tapper and Kevin Jenkins, artist.
While these 12 individuals were the source of most of the misinformation, small campaigns pose no less of a threat, according to researchers at the Center for Countering Digital Hatred. On a local scale - for a particular city or community - they can be much more effective than such “centralized” fake news. This issue has been extensively explored by the Media Matters For America initiative, which released its report about a week ago.