Majority of fake news on vaccines came from just 12 people: Report

WASHINGTON: An overwhelming majority misinformation and conspiracy theories regarding Covid-19 vaccines on social media originated from just 12 people, according to a news report in the Guardian by citing a document by the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH).

The CCDH report, which was published in March and cited by the White House earlier this week, found that just 12 people (dubbed in the report as the “disinformation dozen”) had a following of more than 59 million people across social media platforms and were responsible for 65% of all fake information being distributed regarding vaccinations. The CCDH, a British/ American non-profit and nongovernmental organisation, went through 812,000 Facebook posts and tweets and saw that posts on Facebook had the largest impact, according to the Guardian report.

Around 73% of all anti-vaccine posts that CCDH found on Facebook was traced back to the disinformation dozen. The report added that 95% of such posts were not removed by the social media sites.

“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,” Imran Ahmed, CCDH CEO, was quoted in the report.

In the last week, US President Joe Biden as well as US surgeon general Vivek Murthy have targeted vaccine misinformation on social media as a key factor contributing to the growing spread of the virus in the country and beyond. After months of declining spread, the number of Covid-19 cases in the US soared by a stunning 135 percent over the past two weeks, with increases seen in nearly every state.

“Among the dozen are physicians that have embraced pseudoscience, a bodybuilder, a wellness blogger, a religious zealot, and, most notably Robert F Kennedy Jr, the nephew of John F Kennedy who has also linked vaccines to autism and 5G broadband cellular networks to the coronavirus pandemic,” according to the Guardian story.

Persistent vaccine scepticism – driven by misinformation – has fuelled the rise in many areas. Nearly 97% of those hospitalised in June across the US were unvaccinated, according to Rochelle Walensky, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Around 48% of Americans are fully vaccinated; the figure is 68% among those 18 and older.