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Karam Bales Profile picture
@karamballes
Aug 30, 2021 • 86 tweets • 31 min read • Read on X
🧵How did we get here?

Sending unvaxed children into poorly ventilated rooms
Ignoring North America's warnings
Being told infection could be better than vaccination
Conspiracy theorists platformed by media

A look at how the foundations were made and long term implications
2/ We laughed at 5G towers getting attacked in the US, couldnt happen in the UK and then it did

Beyond damaging policy we need to worry about radicalisation

US vs UK
amp.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/a… ImageImage
3/ Jan-March 2020 disinformation was Qanon style denial or conspiracy, then Yeadon was out early with the whole false positives narrative which did have more of an impact, all of these were about creating doubt and mistrust, these had a limited audience
4/ March 2020 UK strategy is Herd immunity

23 March UK goes into lockdown

24 March headlines are "Oxford Uni report says HI almost reached, virus will burn out in a few months without restrictions

Convenient timing?
5/ Oxford report was citing as evidence there would be no second wave into autumn when the Alpha wave was already underway, a bedrock of the skeptic movement, media continued quoting it even though Oxford distanced themselves by 7pm on the release date.
6/ It wasnt published by Oxford, it came out via Dropbox by a PR company with links to the semi privatised Nudge uni

Not peer reviewed, requests to see the evidence used were refused, this isn't how serious studies are released
7/Cummings says Johnson is a trolley, I think those who liked HI despite knowing the consequences were alarmed when he changed course, they had to undermine lockdowns fast, create doubt, the fog of confusion from contradictory experts, so they rushed out this report
8/Slapping the Oxford label automatically confered a sense of integrity and quality so media trusted and ran with it.

The Oxford label came from the authors, the main one being Sunetra Gupta who would go on to sign the GBD
9/ The report was put out by Sugrue Communications run by Calibre Sugrue, the company had worked with Animal Dynamics, the company of former investment banker Alex Caccia, both worked with the MOD

Cassia happens to be Guptas partner, Cassia was one of the people behind the GBD
10/ So day after herd immunity is banned a mislabelled Oxford report is plashed across the papers that supports continuing with HI

Did a lot to set Gupta up as the go to contrarian scientist bylinetimes.com/2020/03/26/the…
11/ The lack of rigor shown by the press regarding the report was shocking

Gupta and Caccia were behind the GBD and have also now set up Collateral Global
bylinetimes.com/2020/12/02/min…
12/ 25 March headlines tell us a 6%drop in GDP will kill more people than covid, the report released that had serious issues with how it arrived to this conclusion, I still see this quoted in the media

Full look at this⬇️
13/ A week later Thomas the reports writer and owner of a risk management company had been invited into the Treasure to model roadmap unlocking, this was an economic exercise which focused on GDP and dates not data
14/ Same week Thomas was in the treasury, Viner published his report on covid in children and in schools, the study was an important early source for the idea children were less infectious and schools weren't a significant transmission issue

Still quoted
15/ Three key planks of skeptic movement laid in just over a week after lockdown was declared, and the elements of the media were lapping it up

➡️Herd Immunity on the horizon
➡️Lockdowns kill more than covid
➡️Transmission not significant in children or schools
16/ Start of April Toby Young starts Lockdown Skeptics as a hub for evidence that contradict the "official line" intentionally nodding to the conspiracy theorists while wrapping it science that was questionable but still got a mainstream platform.
17/ Just after this we had anti lockdown legal cases by peiple from lawyers 4 liberty (incorporated Feb2020) and Francis Hoar and another group Law or Fiction,

They knew the cases would fail but the publicity was worth the money as papers promoted the campaign
18/ This allowed Gupta and others like Sikora more airtime, Toby Young got to debate epidemiologists and virologists as if he was an equal allowing him to promote lockdown skeptics which was hinting at conspiracy with false positives, death rate etc
19/ Non-peer reviewed papers getting disproportionate weight and airtime in the press, contrarian experts, Young with a new initiative, the legal cases all building on eachother within a fortnight

Seemed clear to me they were going to culture war covid
20/
1.There is a tried and tested tactic for inserting culture wars into a policy area favoured by the Kochs described by Monbiot here
2. Autumn 2020 Koch linked AIER explaining how they are convincing the word against lockdowns, special thanks to Young's LS ImageImage
21/ The @GeorgeMonbiot article mentioned above was about how Spiked had recieved $300,000 from the Kochs in the space of two years,and details how a whole network of think tanks and astroturf groups sprung up around Clare Fox, Frank Furedi etc from the RCP
monbiot.com/2018/12/10/you…
22/ Skeptic movement had its alternative experts complete with links to prestigious universities, LS and other groups were being created to serve the think tanks role,but they didn't have activists, the legal cases provided a start, antivaxer/conspiracy theorists became the base
23/ May 2020 World Doctors Alliance is formed, linking up anti vaxers and conspiracy theorists from different countries a succession of similar organisations form, as Qanon style theories also feed into the rhetoric

WDA also has a Republican politician
24/ In the US there was America's Frontline Doctors, who are a far right group, their founder was arrested for their involvement in the Capitol Hill Insurrection, these are people willing to engage in political violence
25/ UK May 2020
"Why can't we allow children the benefits of infection"
Us for Them is formed, instantly appearing in media with backing of Lockdown Skeptics, KBF, Hoar promptly represents them in a court case against school closures just like the KBF one
26/ Us for Them recieve extensive support from Ed Barker who runs a coms company and is heavily involved in the Tory Party
Telegraph takes on their founder as a writer promoting the skeptic movement via schools policy
bylinetimes.com/2021/01/21/par… Image
27/ The skeptic movement grew and the herd immunity almost reached narrative was convincing for many during summer when cases did remain low, UsForThem met with ministers in the summer and gov decided not to invest in mitigations in schools.
28/ Autumn cases started rising but the claims of Herd Immunity, no second wave were promoted across the media,the skeptic movement had gained enough coverage that those warning of a 2nd wave were treated as fringe thinkers and fear mongers

However need of restrictions was clear
29/ Pre GBD there was a letter sent to Johnson containing most of the same names and Robert Dingwall a gov advisor found controversial by many.

Authors and Signatories here, notice Balloux is on there Image
30/ A second wave was coming, skeptics argued herd immunity was almost here we could ride it out

GBD writen and goes around the worlds media,
Support from Emergant Order, AIER
bylinetimes.com/2020/10/13/koc…
31/ Emergent Order also behind Oster in the US school study
32/Oster currently saying UK last term proves masks aren't needed in schools because apparently we had minimal disruption last term, makes use of UK paediatrics work who have constantly claimed transmission isn't significant in schools ImageImage
33/ 6 months of culture war covid meant that public, pundits, journalists and MPs engaged in tribalism, GBD gave them comforting lies and they bought it.

GBD did a lot to unify and galvanise the skeptic movement, at this point there's an explosion in group creation
33/ Yeadon seems to go on a splurge creating multiple disinformation groups in a few months
Yeadon Campaign, PCRclaims, China Files, etc
34/ As Alpha batters us and along with other variants begins to spread around the world, we also see lots of various spin offs of the World Doctors Alliance, they push the Nuremberg 2.0 narrative that nurses and doctors should be put on trial for genocide for vaccinating people
35/ Medical Freedoms Alliance World Freedom Alliance, UK Medical Freedom Alliance, British Nursing Alliance, the list goes on

These groups were the ones in Trafalgar Square calling for nurses to be hung
36/ Coming out of GBD is Collateral Global, Gupta, Henegan and go this is the academic high brow of the skeptic movement that likes of Spectator (who has Henegan and GBD Jefferson as writers now) can push disinformation with a veneer of respectability.
37/ Jennie Bristow is on the Collateral Global board and others as well including HART.
She was formally an editor at Spiked with Frank Furedi and Academy of ideas with Furedi and Clare Fox.
38/ Jay Bhattacharya also at Collateral Global was one of the GBD authors, he also has his own links to the AIER aier.org/staffs/dr-jaya…
39/ As you can see the Collateral Global lot are happy to rub shoulders with likes of Clare Craig, Yeadon and Republic politicians, as are Hoar and Young ImageImageImage
40/ HART set up at start of 2021 are an interesting bridge between the CG, LS crowd and the dangerous far right anti vaxers, while getting mainstream platforms they are anti vaxers believing all sorts of conspiracy madness
41/ Even setting up BIRD ivermectin buyers club after talking to America's Frontline Doctors, after their founder was arrested for insurrection, they also share Qanon theories talking about the Great Reset
42/ Panda Event, speakers from
GBD/CG, HART, PCRclaims, C19 Assembly, Young and Jones from LS, Hoar, etc and Frank Furedi of Spiked and Institute/Academy of ideas

Can't be working that closely together on so many projects without knowing eachothers views, ImageImage
43/ Collateral Global, Young and media backers will try to keep a degree of separation from openly far right conspiracy groups,Gupta pulled out of the event below would should be called Word Conspiracy Coalition, but HART chats show knowing collaboration
44/ @halfon4harlowMP promotes and took evidence from UsForThem on a number of occasions, its produced by HART and UK MF Alliance, UsForThem are across mainstream media without scrutiny of their background as they spread disinformation without challenge
45/ HART chats have been public since end of July, only Byline Times and a few smaller outlets have reported on how they have systemically worked to develop disinformation and conspiracy spreading it online while appearing in media as independent experts with concerns asking Qs
46/ Why not? Some in the media are actively supporting these disinformation groups, others are lost in the tribalism "they're on our side attacking the right ppl so they can't be that bad, even if they are they are useful"

Its all about destroying objectivity.
47/ After a year of organising, growing activists off of a dangerous initial base the antivaxers can't believe their luck with how much of their narrative has become mainstream as they enjoy more coverage than ever before.

Its all about creating doubt
48/ Idea children would come home from school vaccinated without parents consent was seeded by HART who dug up Gilick to create anger and fear, but media are still running with it.

Mollys comments in thread above are laden with hints of conspiracy "its murky" she says
49/ We know myocarditis is more common in children from Covid than vaccination, yet here we have Lucy Johnson, UsForThem Dingwall and conspiracy theorists Hoenderkamp suggesting vaccines will kill some children Image
50/ The success of previous UsForThem campaigns in making schools less safe benefitted greatly from the support of Tory CRG MPs, a party inside the party much like the ERG, its rumoured Johnson didn't seek to extend certain measures because without CRG support he'd have to rely
51/ on Labours support to get the measures through, he thought preventing political damage within his party was more important than our health or economy.

While getting a slice of our public money they also recieved donations from the Recovery Alliance in which T4Recovery, LS,
52/ the lawyers and UsForThem sit. T4Recovery have links to Farage and World4Brexit which has Steve Bannons involvement.

CRG also received donations from Luke Johnsons Risk Capital Partners
Ed Barker working with UfT, also works for the CRG MPs
53/ We now have the #TogetherDeclaration campaign, supported by ppl from the various disinformation groups its signatories also include Luke Johnson CRG donor and Clare Fox again.
54/ This feels much like the Save Our Rights campaign which brought together mainstream skeptics with the the more tinfoil hat types
55/ The Skeptic marches show a clear Qanon influence, we see the signs we hear the same conspiracy theories, here's Fenton who was also a speaker at the PANDA event alongside Young, Furedi, Luke Johnson.
Image
56/ The real danger,doubt Gupta, Henegan,Young,Furedi etc who've persuaded media and others to "live with it" are antivax conspiracy theorists, however in their pursuit of herd immunity and acceptable deaths they are willing to make use of dangerous groups
57/ Spiked, Young, Lucy Johnson, Spectator, Telegraph etc by playing culture wars and backing GBD despite the flaws,of playing into false positives, died with or from, myocarditis with child vax etc while wrapping it in culture wars have opened the door to mainstreaming of
58/ extremists. Its a drip drip approach adding to doubts and mistrust for their own agenda.

Remember empty hospitals? Mobs trying to get in to take pictures?

Young and Pearson of Telegraph were willing to push this, if you believed this then

59/ your on the path to thinking nurses and doctors are lying, and a rabbit hole of echo chamber groups will seek to lead you to calling for Nuremberg 2.0.

They know this, but they do it anyway,
60/ See the conspiracy slant to the messaging

Its dark,
Moderate (Dingwall!?) voices leaving
Can't trust schools, the vaccinated with consent angle straw man has got anti vaxers ready for blood ImageImageImageImage
61/ This week sees the launch of "Safer to wait" campaign by UsForThem and HART members, the sites links for additional info lead to dangerous conspiracy theorists including Kennedy Jr

Bet it will still get high profile support
62/ This is where it could get really dangerous, they are making the anti vaxers and conspiracy theorists think that the government and schools could be coming after their children without their consent

They now risk actual radicalised violence
63/ Veterans4Freedom appear to be a UK militia group, much like we've seen in the US including those who stormed Capitol Hill.

Reminds me of when parliament was prorogued,a troll farms built an echo chamber rabbit hole with the aim of forming vet militias
64/ Here is a clip of another group of antivax conspiracists threatening schools teachers and nurses with violence over child vax

Those at the top of the disinformation network have let the far right out the box to serve their agenda. Its win at all costs
65/ Its already spilling into the streets, was prompted to write this after hearing about schools attacked by anti vaxers, as has happened on other culture war issues im worried we'll see mobs outside school gates. And they will be there cos of disinformation from those claiming Image
66/ that they care about children, despite actually wanting to see them intentionally infected.

A lot of effort is being put into pushing the letting it rip and adopting an acceptable deaths mentality and they've use whatever tools they have to hand. ImageImageImage
67/ Corpoate lobbyists, eugenics fans and herd immunity academics can steer the far right, anti vax, conspiracist, groups, but they don't control them, they've let them loose and encouraged them with choice of rhetoric for short term goals, these groups won't stop easily now
67/ Like with Qanon these groups are primed to be fed all sorts of nonsense, if I was Russia I'd be all over HARTs TL cos I know narratives I chose to push could get platformed in mainstream media by them and coopted journalists, want division
68/ This is perfect for those who want division, threats of political violence, distrust in institutions of state, hatred for educators and healthcare workers, this is how you create attacks on democracy like on Capitol Hill. This is the fire skeptic leaders are playing with.
69/ It couldn't happen here...

Well we all laughed as conspiracy theorists attacked 5G masts in the US....
70/ And here is a lead member of Lawyers4Liberty who work with HART and Us for Them waving the latest legal letter about child vax while screaming "your murdering children"

Radicalised
Image
Read the comments to that video😞
For some reason 61/ seems to be out of the thread
"Safer to wait" campaign by HART and Us For Them pours petrol on the anti vax fire with links to dangerous far right conspiracy groups

Mobs outside hospitals this week, a mob outside the medical regulator building

Yet MPs still supporting and speaking with those spreading this
@SteveBakerHW @halfon4harlowMP
@SirGrahamBrady

ImageImageImage
72/ 1. Public Union of Britain (PUB) making out governors could vaccinate against parents will
2.Lawyers4Liberty making out parental consent will be ignored
3.Disinfotmation aimed at provoking outrage
⛽🔥 ImageImageImage
73/ And now the antivaxxers are at the school gates accosting students

@lensiseethrough @UsforThemUK @halfon4harlowMP @hartgroup_org
You said you cared about students mental health, I assume you will be speaking out against this threatening behaviour?
74/ So despite Ros Jones of UfT beginning a disinformation campaign resulting in threats to heads, look at all the MPs openly supporting UfT.
Isnt it time this was scrutinised by the media?
75/ Nothing to see here, just UsForThem retweeting Cambridge Analyticas former head of psychology Fagan making out the gov will just skip parental consent.
Gillick is a bit more complicated than that Image
76/ Non-peer reviewed study from dredging VAERs gets traction in the media, thoroughly debunked.
One of the first to run it, Camilla Turner of Telegraph who has been in touch with UsForThem for more than a year. ImageImage
77/ More on that Hoeg study, one of the other authors is linked to Pandata and HART via Rational Ground group

78/ Daily Mail has decided to write in support of L4L threatening letters to heads, and members of the disinformation groups are booked to appear at Clare Fox's Battle of Ideas.
79/ 21st Sept Westminster Hall actually decided to debate these groups petition to halt vaccine roll out for 12-15
The words of antivaxxers and disinformation repeated by every MP except @leicesterliz
Great media set piece for them
80/ Next day @halfon4harlowMP and Caroline Johnson basically grill Whitty by going through the briefing notes sent to them by HART and UsForThem.
Lots more disinformation, and now the antivaxxers are quoting MPs in Parliament!
81/With antivaxxers converging on schools around the country a fake NHS email address sent out a fake vaccine consent form, without checking properly some schools sent it to parents causing concern and confusion

And disinfo groups dined out again
ImageImageImage
Big reveal for source of the fake NHS vaccine consent form

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More from @karamballes

Karam Bales Profile picture
Aug 10
🧵Toby Young’s Daily Sceptic article suggesting the anti-racism protests were state controlled public manipulation

Claims "anti-migrant" protests were completely spontaneous, the crowd in Birmingham was too white in a city where visitors are "forced to play spot the white face"


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2/ Because the far-right didn't show up in numbers, that the claims of new targets was part of developing a "meta-narrative" for "collective public Muslim-loving"
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3/ The article seems to act like it's a big reveal that the counter protests had been organised before the day

But there were plenty of digital flyers, ppl talking on radio shows like LBC about planning to go Image
Read 6 tweets
Karam Bales Profile picture
Aug 9
1/ When they have essentially built a campaign model and an ecosystem of opaque orgs and astroturfs around disinformation any efforts to tackle disinformation, even that which might contribute to violence on the streets, is seen as a threat
2/ For instance Kingsley has been responsible for sharing all sorts of anti-vax disinformation, for instance promoting claims by Bernie, Naomi Wolf etc

No comments or condemnation of the rioters, just outrage at tackling disinformation


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3/
Read 9 tweets
Karam Bales Profile picture
Aug 4
🧵Thread of threads
This is not an organic uprising of ordinary people, this is a coordinated attack, a culmination of years of disinformation and division

Note the nodes below Farage and a former Cambridge Analytica employee
2/ Also note the efforts to align this with veterans, we've seen this before...
3/ It's worth going back to the illegal proroguing of parliament in 2019 by Johnson and the artifical amplification of #stopthecoup which aimed to bring a mob to parliament and create civil unrest
Read 60 tweets
Karam Bales Profile picture
Jul 3
🧵A thread of links on Reform's general election
2/ Worth noting this other UK based coordinated disinformation network includes Together Declaration

Image
3/ Casting doubt on validity of UK voting process
Read 21 tweets
Karam Bales Profile picture
Jun 26
🧵Oh what a suprise, Together Declaration are part of this network, and members of the Exec like UsForThem founder Kingsley accused anyone who said they were a hard right political project of smears and defamation
Image
2/ Founded as anti-lockdown but going straight into anti-vax talking points, Together then switched to anti Ulez, anti net zero heading towards climate change denial
3/ They have been one of the main groups peddling nonsense about the WHO pandemic treaty, starting two years ago with Farage then becoming the leading face of a new astroturf group
Read 6 tweets
Karam Bales Profile picture
May 24
🧵The Covid in Schools Scandal

While much of the media claims the inquiry is accomplishing nothing, its slowly revealed the gov knew transmission occurs in schools and causes harm to a not insignificant number of children
2/ The much delayed testimony of Simon Case reveals that covid in schools policy ignored the science and was designed without expert advice

Macnamara
"Genuine suggestion that we secretly do different things in schools in places to see what the impact is.. last straw for me" Image
3/ Sunaks appearance revealed that the senior scientific advisors had warned that schools were the most significant risk to transmission

Image
Read 205 tweets

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