A report from the CCDH discovered that 12 folks are accountable for almost all of on-line COVID disinformation. Roberto Serra – Iguana Press/Getty Images
12 folks are accountable for almost all of COVID-19 disinformation being unfold on-line, a CCDH examine discovered.
Number one is Joseph Mercola, a natural health doctor who publishes anti-vaxx claims to a following of three.6 million on social media.
One of Mercola’s articles, “Could Hydrogen Peroxide Treat Coronavirus?”, was shared almost 5,000 occasions on Facebook.
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A March report from the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) discovered that almost all COVID-19 disinformation on-line is being unfold by simply 12 folks. A Facebook evaluation discovered that 73% of 689,000 anti-coronavirus vaccinations posts shared between February and mid-March got here from this group.
Among the 12 are Robert F Kennedy Jr, the nephew of former President John F Kennedy, who has been an anti-vaxxer lengthy earlier than the pandemic. In the Nineties, Kennedy Jr started to unfold disinformation that some vaccines given in childhood have been linked to autism diagnoses and the event of allergic reactions.
More just lately, in a letter addressed to President Biden, Kennedy Jr. claimed that the CDC is administering propaganda and that “the sad reality is vaccines cause injuries and death.” Later in the identical letter, nonetheless, he additionally wrote that it might be unattainable for autopsies decide if loss of life was attributable to a “vaccine adverse event.”
But beating Robert F Kennedy Jr to the No. 1 spot within the ‘disinformation dozen’ is Joseph Mercola, a natural health doctor primarily based in Cape Coral, Florida.
Mercola is not any newcomer to the anti-vaxx movementA screenshot of Dr. Mercola (left) dishing out health recommendation in one in all a number of appearances on the Dr. Oz present. Flap’s Blog
According to the New York Times, Mercola has constructed his profession on far-fetched health notions, together with claims that spring mattresses amplify radiation and that tanning beds can cut back the possibility of getting most cancers. Cashing in on his followers, he bought them at-home tanning beds that value between $1,200 and $4,000. He was then sued by the Federal Trading Commission and agreed to pay his prospects refunds totaling $5.3 million, in response to a 2016 report from the Chicago Tribune.
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During the coronavirus pandemic, Mercola has targeted his zeal in opposition to COVID vaccines.
Articles published on his web site embrace “Thyme Extract Helps Treat COVID-19” and one other titled “Could Hydrogen Peroxide Treat Coronavirus?” which was published in April and shared on Facebook 4,600 occasions, in response to screenshots within the CCDH’s report.
Mercola later eliminated the hydrogen peroxide article, and others, from his website, on account of what he known as the “fearmongering media and corrupt politicians” censoring his content material, which he alleges have led to non-public threats.
US health officers have known as out social media platforms and conservative information retailers, like Fox News, for his or her function in permitting the unfold of vaccination misinformation, particularly as new circumstances are once more on the rise.
Over the previous week, the US reported a mean of almost 50,000 new COVID-19 infections every day, in response to CDC knowledge. The rise in new infections come amid the unfold of the extra contagious delta variant of the illness. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky beforehand known as the uptick in circumstances a “pandemic of the unvaccinated.”
With an viewers of three.6 million over Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, the CCDH report discovered that Mercola has been probably the most far-reaching spreader of COVID disinformation.
In an emailed response to the Times, Mercola stated it was “quite peculiar to me that I am named as the #1 superspreader of misinformation.”
While some social media platforms have taken steps to determine and take away disinformation, most of the 12 folks’s accounts are nonetheless energetic, together with Mercola’s, the place he typically shared a number of posts a day.
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