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21 Jul, 4 tweets, 3 min read
New + exclusive from me + @BrandyZadrozny:

Anti-vaxx Groups on Facebook Are Changing Into “Dance Parties” on Facebook to Avoid Detection

nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news…
Antivaxx groups with tens of thousands of followers are changing into “dance parties” or “dinner parties” on Facebook.

They have code legends at the top of the page. “Pizza” can mean Pfizer; “Moana” for Moderna.

Here’s what they look like.

nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news…
One 40k-member antivaxx group is also bragging about getting around Facebook’s moderation bots by just swapping out language and calling it a “Dance Party” after the White House press conference last week.

nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news…
Antivaxxers’ newest strategy of renaming groups to irrelevant names like “Dance Party” is stolen from the extremist playbook.

Boogaloo Bois, remember, wear Hawaiian shirts in part because they changed their group names to Big Luau to avoid Facebook bans.

nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news…

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More from @oneunderscore__

Ben Collins Profile picture
22 Jul
Quick thread: I don't think most people know what antivaxx posts on Facebook really look like.

That's good. Why would you?

But I think people assume it's Suzy Turmeric plaintively yelling at you about the microchip, and it’s not.

It looks like this. Like code. Or gibberish.
Antivaxxers are calling themselves something, anything else on Facebook.

Once they change their group name, the adapt their whole vocabulary to fit it.

Here’s a list of codewords for the group of people who don’t “go dancing” — or won’t get the vaxx.

Pizza. Beer. Moana.
Antivaxx codewords have two purposes:

Most importantly, they stay on Facebook. They’re still a community.

But it also offers a sense of belonging, a secret code, a sense of mischief. People feel like they’re getting away with something, part of an ingroup.
Read 10 tweets
Ben Collins Profile picture
7 Jul
New from me: QAnon’s New ‘Plan’? Run for School Board

nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news…
QAnon forums are imploring followers to run for school board or local office, pinning a Mike Flynn quote to “get involved in the education of our children” to the top of their page.

But they’re also reminding followers: don’t mention QAnon when you do it.
nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news…
QAnon conspiracy theories are crashing those now megaviral school board meetings: Masks are cover for child traffickers, Hollywood pedophiles are “carrying away our children.”

Some explicit Q followers are running for, and winning, school board seats.

nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news…
Read 5 tweets
Ben Collins Profile picture
15 Jun
I want to tell a quick story about Tucker Carlson, a small town in Maine, and a panic over “critical race theory” stoked with the help of Fox News and viral conservative websites.
Last year, Maine’s 51st school district put out a letter denouncing white supremacy after George Floyd's death.

One parent, Shawn McBreairty, took issue, saying it “essentially labeled all the community members from [his town] ‘white supremacists.’”

As you can see, it doesn’t.
Because of the letter, McBreairty quickly became convinced his daughters’ school was teaching Critical Race Theory.

He filed a Freedom of Information Act request and discovered the town had spent $12k for diversity training for its staff.
Read 16 tweets
Ben Collins Profile picture
8 May
Just want to make this clear: do you believe the vaccine is a tracking device designed by Bill Gates?
.@EmeraldRobinson just checking in.
..........
Read 4 tweets
Ben Collins Profile picture
29 Apr
NEW and exclusive from me + @kevincollier:

As forgeries spread, CDC tells states to pull vaccination card templates from web

nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news…
Anti-vaxx, pro-Trump, and QAnon forums dug up vaccine card templates from the back ends of state websites, giving extremely detailed instructions on how to forge them.

The CDC told states last night to pull them down, citing misuse, NBC News has learned.
nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news…
The forged vaccine card instructions on sites like 4chan, TheDonald, and Q forums are super detailed, like thickness of the cardstock, printer resolution, even estimated vial numbers.

It could mess with verifying who's actually been vaccinated.
nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news…
Read 4 tweets
Ben Collins Profile picture
2 Apr
Whoops.
Update from Scott: Scott is claiming Scott is AI-generated, and therefore Scott is not Scott and Jorg is not Jorg. There is no Scott or Jorg, just a robot posing as Scott, and another robot who stole robot Scott's identity to pose as Jorg.
BTW, when he says "AI generated," he means his face, not his words. Scott/Jorg's face was pretty clearly made using thispersondoesnotexist.com.

This is how the Martin Aspen fake identity was created. Extremely easy thing to do.

nbcnews.com/tech/security/…
Read 4 tweets

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