Anti-vaxxers have been meeting secretly to plan how to stop the Covid vaccine.

We were there.

Today, we’re exposing their playbook.

And showing how you can help to counter it.

counterhate.co.uk/playbook
Leading anti-vaxxers met privately in October.

While doctors battled to save lives and scientists worked relentlessly to find a vaccine, anti-vaxxers discussed how to stop them.

Our new report draws on this conference & other private spaces we found to expose their Playbook.
Anti-vaxxers have developed a simple “master narrative” on a Covid vaccine with three key false messages:

1⃣ Covid isn't dangerous
2⃣ Vaccines are dangerous
3⃣ You can't trust the experts
Anti-vaxxers adapt their master narrative to target key online demographics, including:

1⃣ Alternative health advocates
2⃣ Conspiracy theorists
3⃣ Parents of young children
4⃣ BAME communities
Our report covers the techniques online anti-vaxxers are using to spread their messages:

1⃣ Holding Q&As that spread misinformation
2⃣ Using Facebook Groups to train activists
3⃣ Creating controversy to attract mainstream exposure
Their digital playbook is working: leading anti-vaxxers gained another 10 million followers this year, primarily on Instagram and YouTube.

Tracking of 425 dedicated anti-vaccine accounts shows that they now have over 59 million followers.
Tech giants are failing to act on misinformation about Covid vaccines.

They need to remove the handful of online “superspreaders” who are reaching tens of millions of followers every day.
Experts can counter online anti-vaxxers by warning the public about their methods and motives, “inoculating” them against their misinformation.

We also need to be much better at reaching people where they are online, answering questions or concerns with the right information.
You can help counter lies about Covid vaccines.

Share this infographic to get the word out on how we can avoid boosting anti-vaccine narratives and instead counter them with positive information.
Read our report, The Anti-Vaxx Playbook, published today, here:

counterhate.co.uk/playbook

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More from @CCDHate

22 Nov
NEW: Facebook and Instagram are hosting accounts that sell neo-Nazi merchandise to fund far-right extremism.

Facebook was told two years ago and failed to act.

Our breaking research in @ObserverUK. theguardian.com/technology/202…
Facebook and Instagram are allowing neo-Nazis with 80,000 followers to openly sell products featuring:

❌ Symbols of the Nazi SS
❌ Praise for Nazi death squads
❌ Antisemitic imagery
❌ Celebration of racist violence
These neo-Nazi accounts direct Facebook and Instagram users to websites and Telegram channels where even more extreme material is sold.

Products that celebrate Hitler, promote images of racist violence and bear the symbols of far-right extremists are being shipped worldwide.
Read 7 tweets
5 Nov
.@Facebook is hosting a "Stop the Steal" group run by figures close to Donald Trump and Steve Bannon.

It is calling on 300,000 members to protest at vote counts and contains calls for violence.

It has to be shut down.
The Stop the Steal Facebook group is calling on its 300,000 members to protest vote counts in battleground states.

One administrator has told them "Don’t worry about permits or anything like that. Just do it."

They are planning nationwide protests this Saturday.
One administrator of the Stop the Steal Facebook group even posted a call for military veterans to join a "fire mission" at counts in battleground states.
Read 10 tweets
27 Oct
NEW: Google is making millions of dollars from websites spreading misinformation about the Presidential Election.

It’s time for @Google to stop profiting from and funding dangerous lies.

Here’s what we found ⬇️

#no2misinfo

THREAD 1/8
From a sample of six misinformation sites, we found ads for huge brands like:

@Kia @PUMA @thenorthface @YamahaMotorUSA @Georgetown @FIU @kingstontech @AllSaintsLive @ASUSUSA @harrys

all appearing next to false content about the election.

2/8
The Google-funded websites falsely claim:

❌ Mail-in ballots are being used to steal the election
❌ Pandemics are “manipulated crises” to influence elections
❌ There will be a planned "civil war" on election day
❌ There is collusion to rig the result

3/8
Read 8 tweets
3 Sep
NEW: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube & Instagram act on just 1 in every 20 posts reported to them for spreading anti-vaccine misinformation.

Our new report with @RestlessDev, Failure to Act, is published today. 👇 counterhate.co.uk/failure-to-act
Volunteers with the Youth Against Misinformation project, trained by us and @RestlessDev, found and reported 912 misinformation posts to YouTube, Facebook, Instagram & Twitter.

Just 21 were removed, with 3 of the accounts removed and 21 flagged as false but left online.
Posts which Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube chose to leave online include false claims that vaccines:
❌ Cause autism and cancer
❌ Make you more susceptible to Covid-19
❌ Are used to “microchip” people
❌ Aren’t needed, as there are cures for Covid-19
Read 5 tweets
8 Jul
THREAD: Ty and Charlene Bollinger are anti-vaxx entrepreneurs who promote the pro-Trump QAnon conspiracy.

Our report exposes how they are using the social reach granted to them by Big Tech to launch a new anti-vaxx Super PAC ahead of the upcoming US elections.
The Bollingers run a network of accounts with 1.6 million followers.

It's an elaborate marketing funnel designed to sell books and DVDs about vaccines, cancer and Covid.

New signups get a free “Coronavirus field guide” that claims the disease is being used to push vaccines.
But the Bollingers don’t just push anti-vaxx misinformation to their followers: they promote the pro-Trump QAnon conspiracy theory too.

They claim that Trump is fighting the deep state and a global elite involved in child trafficking and paedophilia.
Read 7 tweets
7 Jul
NEW: Big Tech is profiting from an anti-vaxx industry that has grown to 58 million followers during Covid.

Now 31% of Brits and 41% of US respondents don't plan to get a Coronavirus vaccine.

⬇️ Our latest report ⬇️ #LiesCostLives counterhate.co.uk/anti-vaxx-indu…
Our new report identifies 409 anti-vaxx social media accounts with 58 million followers.

They are gaining millions of followers a month, growing by 19% during the pandemic. counterhate.co.uk/anti-vaxx-indu…
New polling from YouGov for our anti-vaxx report shows social media use and reluctance to vaccinate are linked.

It also reveals that 31% of Brits and 41% of Americans don’t plan to get a Covid vaccine – enough to make a vaccine ineffective. counterhate.co.uk/anti-vaxx-indu…
Read 7 tweets

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