Russian trolls spread lies about vaccines, say scientists

KREMLIN-BACKED Russian trolls and social media bots set out to spread lies and discredited theories about vaccines online, scientists have warned.

Researchers at George Washington University in Washington DC set about trying to improve social media communications for public health workers when they found trolls using tactics to instigate public discord.

Trolls set up a series of Twitter accounts to try and skew debate about safe vaccines. The report comes as health experts in the UK warn that measles is on the rise in Britain.

Officials have warned parents about refusing to vaccinate their children following widely-debunked concerns about the safety of the MMR vaccination, which was wrongly said to leave children at risk of developing autism.

David Broniatowski, an assistant professor at the School of Engineering and Applied Science, said: “Although it’s impossible to know exactly how many tweets were generated by bots and trolls, our findings suggest that a significant portion of the online discourse about vaccines may be generated by malicious actors with a range of hidden agendas.”

The research, published yesterday in the American Journal of Public Health, showed that the trolls were users connected to a Russian propaganda effort run by the Internet Research Agency, a troll farm. The farm has been linked to the Kremlin.

♦ Facebook’s former security chief has warned that it is too late to protect this year’s US elections from foreign online meddling. Alex Stamos wrote on the Lawfare blog that the midterms could become the “World Cup of information warfare” as Russia, Iran and other countries attempt to push propaganda.