Submission + - Report: 65% of social media anti-vax propaganda comes from just 12 people 3
jhylkema writes: Just 12 people account for the lion's share of anti-vaccination propaganda posted to three of the leading social media outlets, according to a study from a London-based group opposed to online hate and disinformation. According to the NPR report, a study (PDF file) conducted by the Centre for the Countering of Digital Hate identified the "Disinformation Dozen" people, including RFK Jr., Joseph Mercola, and Sherri Tenpenny, who account for 65% of the anti-vaccine content posted to Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and 73% of the same posted to Facebook. In its study, the group blasts the social media companies for allowing their platforms to be abused and calls for them to be de-platformed. "Living in full view of the public on the internet are a small group of individuals who... are abusing social media platforms to misrepresent the threat of Covid and spread misinformation about the safety of vaccines," the study said in its introduction. "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."
