“Disinformation Dozen” Tests Facebook, Twitter’s Ability to Suppress Vaccine HoaxesExBulletin

According to researchers, most of the social media opposition to vaccines goes back to a few influential people.

Chandan Kanna via Getty Images / AFP

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Chandan Kanna via Getty Images / AFP

According to researchers, most of the social media opposition to vaccines goes back to a few influential people.

Chandan Kanna via Getty Images / AFP

Researchers have found that only 12 people are responsible for most of the misleading claims about the proliferation of COVID-19 vaccines on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

“A dozen disinformation accounts for 65% of the share of false alarms on social media platforms,” ​​said Imran Ahmed, chief executive officer of the Digital Hate Countermeasures Center, which identified the account.

The influence of these 12 people, as the deployment of the vaccine is reaching a critical stage and most adults who want the vaccine have the vaccine, but many others have withheld it. Some social media users will have a big impact on the results.

These numbers are familiar to both researchers and social networks. Some of them run multiple accounts across different platforms. They often promote “natural health”.Even some Sell ​​supplements and books..

Many of the messages about the widespread use of the Covid-19 vaccine online reflect what merchants have said about other vaccines in the past. Misinformation about health..

John Gregory, Deputy Health Editor of NewsGuard, who evaluates the reliability of news sites and independently tracks misinformation about COVIDs and vaccines, said: “Superspreader”

Disinformation Dozen’s allegations “deny the existence of COVID, argue that fake treatments are actually a way to resolve COVID rather than vaccination, blame the vaccine, and doctors recommend the vaccine. It even accuses you of being motivated by veins or other factors in some way when you do. ” Ahmed said.

According to him, many of the twelve have spread scientifically disproved medical claims and plots over the years.

Which raises the question: why have social media platforms recently begun to crack down on their falsehoods?

Both the House of Representatives and the State Attorney General have urged Facebook and Twitter to ban a dozen disinformation.

“Vaccination of Americans is important to put this pandemic behind us. Disinformation of vaccines can have fatal consequences when spread online. Therefore, the greatness of these lies. We called on social media platforms to take action on the disinformation account, “said Senator Amy Crobshire D-Minn. , Told NPR.

Social networks crack down on COVID vaccine claims

Both companies have stopped taking all 12 figures completely offline, Strengthened their fight: Labeled misleading posts. They got rid of the falsity. In some cases, they banned people from repeatedly sharing accused claims.

Facebook states that it has taken steps against some of the numbers identified by CCDH, some of which operate multiple accounts in the app. This includes permanently removing 11 accounts from Facebook or Instagram and limiting the other 19 accounts.

“We worked with health professionals to respond early and proactively to the COVID-19 pandemic by updating the false alarm policy for harmful claims about COVID-19 and vaccines. This includes measures for some accounts in the CCDH report, “said spokesman Kevin. McAllister of the statement. “In total, we have removed over 16 million content that violates our policies. We continue to work with health professionals to regularly update these policies as new facts and trends become apparent. I will. “

Twitter repeatedly violated the rules, permanently suspending two of its Disinformation Dozen accounts, requiring other accounts to delete some tweets, linking to trusted information about vaccines, sharing tweets and He states that he has labeled it as not allowing replies. Overall, more than 22,400 tweets have been deleted due to a violation of the COVID policy.

However, spokesman Elizabeth Basby said on Twitter that “misinformation of harmful vaccines that contradict reliable public health information prohibited by our policy and negative vaccine sentiment that is a matter of opinion” He said he was making a distinction.

Therefore, a dozen disinformation can be easily found on social media.

“Trial and error” tactics

You can also use code to bypass platform rules.

Instead of saying “vaccine,” you might lift the V sign with your finger in the video and say, “If you’re around someone who has the V sign, you can get an X.” “Ahmed said.

Or they take something truth, Distort itIt’s like misleading the death of a celebrity to the fact that they were vaccinated days or weeks ago.

Gregory of NewsGuard said the “true attempted” tactics of vaccine opponents “are terribly misrepresenting some research, some data to promote the stories they chose.” It was.

Facebook states that it limits the scope of posts that can discourage people from being vaccinated, even if the message does not explicitly violate the rules.

However, the cat-and-mouse game continues.

Vaccine opposition activists insist on censorship

As social networks cracked down, formerly common vaccine misinformation spreaders reduced posts and told followers that they were being censored.

Take, for example, anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has promoted the long-standing untrusted belief that vaccines are associated with autism.During the pandemic he shared an unfounded conspiracy theory 5G cellular network To the coronavirus, and without evidence, suggested that the death of the great baseball player Hank Aaron was “part of a suspicious wave of death” linked to the vaccine.

None of that is true.

Kennedy Instagram startedRepeatedly shared Facebook-owned allegations accused in February.

Still, Facebook didn’t remove him from the platform of the same name. He became more cautious as he told NPR that the company had flagged some of his posts.

“We have to post pictures of unicorns and kitty cats there,” he said. “I don’t want to make excuses”

He also uses it to promote his website and newsletter, where he claims he can’t on social networks.

Kennedy said he never posted false information and never accused Facebook of censorship. He says the crackdown cost “hundreds of thousands of dollars” to donate to his organization.

Battle of persuasion

Researchers are worried that the persistence of vaccine-related hoaxes will further undermine confidence among those who hesitate to take shots, even as social media companies have recently become harsh with false information.

It is of particular concern as the vaccine is deployed Children over 12 years old..

In a study of parents in the United States, Indiana University sociologist Jessica Caralco found that more than a quarter had no plans to vaccinate their children.

“Many of these moms are looking at Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms,” ​​she said. “And they say,’Every time I open the phone, I see something different.'”

He told Calarco that even parents whose children had been vaccinated with regular childhood were uncertain about COVID jabs.

This week’s Facebook Published survey data Showing vaccine acceptance among adults in the United States has increased by 10 percent since January. But the study also shows that the main reason people don’t want to be vaccinated is their concerns about side effects and lack of confidence in the vaccine or government-just an account against vaccination. The kind of fear that promotes.

According to social networks, amplifying credible information from credible sources such as the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is just as important as reducing the spread of harmful posts. Both Facebook and Twitter link to public health information labeled on apps and misleading posts.

But they are now facing a difficult battle to persuade skeptics.

Calarco says many of the parents she talked to weighed the posts she saw on social media “as much as the type of professional medical information that comes out of something like the CDC.” ..

Editor’s Note: Facebook is one of NPR’s financial backers.