If you catch your old college roommate sharing incorrect information about the COVID-19 vaccine on Facebook, chances are these falsehoods come from one in twelve people.
That’s right. Only twelve individuals.
A new one from and found that up to 65 percent of the “anti-vaccine content” on Facebook and Twitter originated from twelve influencers within the anti-xxx movement.
The report focused on these twelve accounts after an analysis of the content that was shared and posted on Facebook and Twitter 812,000 times between February 1st and March 16th.
Only on Facebook, the content of these individuals, which the report calls the “Twelve of Disinformation”, accounts for 73% of all antivaxxer content posted or shared on the platform in the past two months.
The biggest antivaxxer influencer on social media, according to the report, is Joseph Mercola. Mercola is a promoter of alternative medicine who runs a multi-million dollar online business that sells treatments and dietary supplements. The FDA recently issued a warning about its fictional treatments for COVID-19.
Another major culprit is Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Kennedy, nephew of John F. Kennedy, who is perhaps one of the most important influencers in the anti-xxx community. Last month, I installed it on the platform for violating the site’s disinformation policy against the coronavirus vaccine.
However, despite harming him from Twitter and Instagram’s parent company, Facebook, Kennedy’s accounts remain on these social media services.
Other social media users in the “Twelve of Disinformation” include Ty and Charlene Bollinger, Sherri Tenpenny, Rizza Islam, Rashid Buttar, Erin Elizabeth, Sayer Ji, Kelly Brogan, Christiane Northrup, Ben Tapper and Kevin Jenkins.
Although Facebook and Twitter have pledged to ban anti-vaccine content and users who spread misinformation about vaccines, most of these twelve users have active accounts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. According to the report, they all have an active account on at least one of these platforms.
Disinformation about health was a reality in 2020 amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. According to the Center for Countering Digital Hate, more than 59 million people were reached on social media platforms at the end of last year by the 425 antivaxxer accounts that the organization tracks.
And as the pandemic continues, the problem has not gone away. In fact, as coronavirus vaccines began to be distributed in recent months, anti-vaccination content continued to increase.
For example, a recent by Media Matters For America found that in addition to the 12 main influencers mentioned in this article, “microinfluencers” are having a moment on Instagram. Smaller accounts that disclose incorrect information are increasing the number of followers, violating Instagram’s vaccine incorrect information policies and operating undetected on the platform.