Thread by @reveal

1/⚡️NEW⚡️
#COVID19 vaccines do not contain microchips! Yet many American adults think it may be true thanks to the rapid spread of disinformation. In our latest investigation with @verge, @RadioIke traces the spread of the viral conspiracy theory🧵revealnews.org/article/where-…

2/ The microchip conspiracy theory first appeared last year after @BillGates predicted in a @reddit AMA chat that one day we would all carry a digital passport for our health records.

3/ Bill Gates didn't actually suggest a microchip, however, but some kind of e-vaccine card.
Then a Swedish website distorted Gates' comment. The headline read: “Bill Gates will use microchip implants to fight coronavirus.”

4/ A couple days after the web story was published, a Jacksonville pastor stumbled upon it online. It resonated with his deep distrust of Gates and he ran with it.

5/ In a 9-minute video, the pastor tapped into a long-standing, wide-ranging conspiracy theory that Bill Gates is trying to “depopulate” the planet. The video quickly got 1.6 million views.

6/ Shortly after, the conspiracy theory spread. Online posts peddling the microchip conspiracy were suddenly getting shared by everyone from shock-jock comedians on Youtube to conspiracy-minded Gen Z TikTokers.

7/ And then there's Roger Stone -- Trump's former political adviser -- who gave the conspiracy theory a boost during his appearance on the @JoePiscopoShow.

8/ Hours later, the @nypost gave the story legitimacy by running the headline: "Roger Stone: Bill Gates may have created coronavirus to microchip people." Soon, the Post and the pastor's video each had over a million interactions on Facebook.

9/ Since then, the microchip lie has continued spreading and mutating across the world. By January 2021, 1 in 10 U.S. adults – and 1 in 7 Republicans – said they believed a tracking chip would be implanted with the vaccine.

10/ It’s easy to write off these beliefs as far-fetched. But it's also easy to see how these lies and conspiracies take off, especially on social media where so much information gets repackaged and shared as misinformation.

11/ @Facebook said that by May, it removed 16 million pieces of content for violating its COVID-19 and vaccine misinformation policy and slapped warning labels on 167 million pieces of content rated false by its fact-checking partners.

12/ @YouTube offered a statement saying the platform removed 900,000 misleading videos about the coronavirus, including 30,000 just about the vaccines. The video platform even has an explicit policy banning videos that claim there are microchips in the vaccine.

13/ @tiktok_us pointed to a policy that prohibits medical misinformation, including vaccine misinformation.
But according to research by @CCDHate, social media platforms fail to act on 95% of COVID-19 and vaccine misinformation reported to them.

14/ The pandemic won't end if enough people don't get vaccinated. And vaccine misinformation certainly doesn't help. Will public health agencies at the federal, state and local level ever beat a viral lie?

15/ Read our investigation, in partnership with @verge, on the spread of the microchip conspiracy theory and whether the U.S. is prepared to stop the next one. revealnews.org/article/where-…

16/ Or listen to our podcast episode about viral lies: revealnews.org/podcast/viral-…