J & J Vaccine Suspension Creates “Perfect Storm” for Incorrect InformationExBulletin

According to tracking firm Zignal Labs, Johnson & Johnson received about the same amount of mentions online every hour on Tuesday as they did a few weeks ago.

Jakub Porzycki / NurPhoto via Getty Images

Hide captions

Switch captions

Jakub Porzycki / NurPhoto via Getty Images

According to tracking firm Zignal Labs, Johnson & Johnson received about the same amount of mentions online every hour on Tuesday as they did a few weeks ago.

Jakub Porzycki / NurPhoto via Getty Images

CNN. ABC News. New York Times. Fox News.

These are the publishers of four of the five most popular Facebook posts of this week’s Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 Vaccine article. According to data from the tracking tool Crowdtangle, it ranks 2nd to 5th in total interactions.

But number one is not from the press. Or a government official. Or a public health expert.

Facebook’s most popular link to Johnson & Johnson news is shared by a self-proclaimed “news analyst & hip-hop artist” named An0maly, a conspirator who considers the pandemic to be a cover of government control. I did.

This is a striking example of what experts have warned, and could be a flood of misleading information related to one-shot vaccines.

When most Americans went to bed on Monday night, the news about Covid-19 vaccination in the United States was overwhelmingly positive. The average number of doses per day far exceeds 3 million, and many people Rose prediction That pandemic limitation may be relaxed in the coming months, and some similarities to normal may be restored.

But the story shifted to Tuesday Federal health officials have recommended a temporary suspension of use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. A blood clot surfaced among the millions of people who received the shot.

Many doctors Insist This type of delay should actually be considered a positive for vaccine safety. Authorities pay close attention to reporting side effects and are taking swift action to maintain public confidence in vaccination efforts.

But Internet trending experts are prepared for the worst when it comes to how this news is understood and received by the general public.

“This is what I call a perfect storm of misinformation,” said Jennifer Granston of Zignal Labs, a media intelligence platform.

Millions of Americans are already Skeptical Before the Johnson & Johnson news there is a vast online network of vaccines, and to feed their skepticism. Bad information and conspiracy theory.

The network went live shortly after the vaccination suspension was announced.

Robert Kennedy Jr. Considered One of the top A spreader of false alarms in the United States posted news to his 230,000 Facebook followers.

Rizza Islam, another prominent promoter of vaccine repellent Especially in the black community, Johnson & Johnson’s news conspiracy theory tweeted to 54,000 followers on Twitter (Islam was recently removed from Facebook).

Even a part Status Congressman We used the news to imply that the vaccine is not safe. Pennsylvania Congressman Rob Kauffman posted to 13,700 Facebook followers that he “doesn’t fully understand these vaccines.”

Trend topics mean opportunities

In most cases, social media companies have comments and subtexts around posts. It also meant a wrong idea.

Many anti-vaccine activists Adopt this tactic As a way to circumvent the policies of social media networks designed to prevent the spread of false information.

An0maly, An influencer with a widely shared post about Johnson & Johnson Vaccines shared a CNN story with misleading captions on his 1.5 million Facebook followers.

“The problem is that this is a factual report,” said Sarah Roberts, a professor of information research at UCLA. “But the people reading the report have a very deep prejudice about what it means or lack the proper context to receive the information.”

Overall, it’s hard to exaggerate the extent to which the Johnson & Johnson story exploded online.

According to Zignal data, the company was getting the same number of mentions online every Tuesday as it was in the week before the news.

Many of those references were not related to false information, but Zignal’s Granston is always interested in the surge of such topics online, especially on polarized subjects such as vaccines, and is false. It is said to provide a mature environment for information.

“These big conversations provide this huge platform for people to drive a particular agenda on this information,” she said.

Zignal has seen rises not only in narrative references to side effects, but also in other vaccine misinformation stories that have nothing to do with the actual news, such as: Vaccine passport, Dead (number),and Microchip..

Disinformation economy

The Johnson & Johnson suspension is also a fertile basis for conspiracy, as it is a developing topic with many unanswered questions.

Incorrect information merchants with specific agendas often find that people are anxious for information and fill the knowledge gap with incorrect information.

“It’s supply and demand,” said Keenan Chen, a disinformation researcher at First Draft News, a non-profit organization.

Health officials are still investigating the issue of coagulation, and Guidance decision For vaccines, there is not much reliable information that governments and trusted agencies can provide to fill the void.

Roberts of UCLA says the problem is exacerbated because the country is so fragmented across pandemics.

Former President Trump has prepared parts of the country for the past few years to be skeptical of official sources of scientific information, including the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.On Tuesday, he issued a statement containing falsehoods Conspiracy theory It claims the Johnson & Johnson vaccine without evidence that a decision has been made to benefit rival pharmaceutical companies.

Now, Roberts says health officials whenever the CDC gives guidance on Johnson & Johnson vaccines. You will be fighting deep-seated questions.

“Every time there is a new negative part. [vaccine] “Suspicious information and situations are like we have to be caught on our hind legs and get together again to move forward,” Roberts said. Battle of size. Uphill seems to be an understatement. “

Authorities say they hope it will happen in the next few days, even after that guidance comes out, but this development was made especially by those who built the brand on the basis of vaccine skepticism for fear of business models. It may have a spillover effect.

First Draft’s Chen said that many of the actors pushing disinformation about vaccines also pushed disinformation about elections and other aspects of the pandemic last fall.

“”[For] It’s very easy to imagine a group of people whose business is to increase viewership on social media and monetize it, as they keep pushing this story and come back to point out this pause. ” Said Chen. “It’s hard to imagine that they just stop, that is, they just give up,” he said.