Thread by @ASlavitt

COVID Update: Anti-vaxxers on Twitter/Facebook are a whole different breed from people who haven’t been vaccinated IRL. 1/

In my work to combat misinformation, I learned a lot & got a good read from experts at this while extensively polling & focus grouping what real people who aren’t vaccinated think. 2/

google.com/amp/s/www.nyti…

As with many things, people on these platforms who spew garbage are worth ignoring.

People who have concerns about being vaccinated are well worth listening to. 3/

People with anti-vax messages on SM have more in common with people who spread political misinformation than they do with people who have real concerns about vaccines.

Those commonalities are a bit of a tell. 4/

I won’t share the prototypical propaganda messages but they have a lot in common with other propaganda:
-They manipulate data & graphs or make up data
-They take advantage of algorithms by using key words like needle & infertile 5/

-They appear to be pro vaccine & create unproven anecdotes of side effects (One tell is “I am not anti-vax but…)
-They use “it makes you think” type logic. (“Nine people in the hospital with tremors. Makes you think”) 6/

-Because the mission is only to plant doubt among people already unsure or who have questions, they aim to “just clear the bar” so they avoid radical sounding claims
-They tap into pre-existing beliefs about government tyranny & pharma profits to suggest motives 7/

-They are expert at staying on the line of the kind of message that makes it hard for FB or Twitter to take down by avoiding key words, by making up personal experiences, by adding opinion words & if they’re really targeted, they use code words.
8/

-They coordinate campaigns (often on WhatsApp) so that people feel like they are seeing a swarm of different data on the same topic. 9/

These are the exact same techniques used pre- and post-election. It’s a playbook of manipulation, not people who have serious doubts.

If you told me 90% of the major anti-vax messengers had all gotten safely vaccinated themselves, I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised. 10/

Many are American generated but tap into Russian networks to spread their posts. We used to call that kind of thing collaboration. 11/

Fortunately that behavior doesn’t represent the people who aren’t vaccinated.

However, it does work. 2/3 of those who haven’t been vaccinated believe one of 5 lies about the vaccine. Social media is the most frequent source of that info. 12/

People who aren’t vaccinated largely speaking fall into 2 categories:
-One, they have questions or concerns about the vaccine
-Two, they aren’t paying much attention or aren’t motivated one way or another

And there is a lot of variability within those groups 13/

We believed in the WH & I believe that it’s important to accept whatever questions people have as legitimate & serious concerns even when they’re based on falsehoods they picked up. 14/

In category 1, many of these people are routinely vaccinated & vaccinate their kids. Their questions are about the COVID vaccine.

Commonly— Long term side effects? Impact on fertility? Rushed process? Change your DNA? Cause COVID? 15/

People who are vaccinated or unvaccinated cluster in communities. So they know people with the same questions. Many don’t have a regular doctor to ask questions to. Rumors spread easily. 16/

Sometimes these are just low level concerns. They are in the “I’d rather not” category & when cases dropped this spring, any of these concerns exceeded the risk they felt from COVID.

With Delta, a number of them are rethinking. FDA approval next week will move even more. 17/

It’s safe to say at a minimum this group— who skew non-college educated, skew white (& yes Republican)— doesn’t trust messages from the government. Local voices matter more— employers, doctors, clergy, small business. Many don’t trust the health care system, incl POC & nurses!18/

The other group generally speaking doesn’t see COVID as much of a threat.

Only 40% of those 18-25 have been vaccinated. Above 25, close to 3 in 4 have. 19/

Much of this group say they would get vaccinated if required by school or jobs. Some who work hourly jobs don’t have easy enough access. 20/

We should have all kinds of time to understand these groups & help them get their questions answered. Antagonizing or shaming people isn’t a great way to treat people & it doesn’t abate the propaganda, it actually aids it. 21/

It’s also important that while they’ve chosen to remain unvaccinated, we protect ppl who can’t be inoculated.

I’ve had to show my vax card or a negative test 3 times this week (in California) & if unvaxxed people aren’t thrilled, that’s OK. 22/

About 25 million people say they would get vaxxed if work, school or venues required it. They are looking for the nudge to settle their uncertainty.

Others of course will strenuously object. A reasonable discourse on this question would be better than more SM fights.23/

People are getting increasingly pushed into camps. Pro or anti— but that’s not how most people approach a complex question like this.

But it serves the social media propagandists well. 24/

The SM platforms are as usual the last to address the problem. They empower those out to do harm.

But those who want to reduce the toll of the pandemic should ignore, not enable these trolls & try to get back to the things we do IRL like listening & talking to each other. /end