Thread by @marcowenjones

🧵1/ This thread is a Twitter analysis of various disinformation tropes, conspiracies and attempts to undermine public trust in the existence of #Omicronvariant. It's an analysis of around 25000 tweets, retweets and replies taken from the past 3 days. Read on for weirdness

2/ In order to generate the network, I searched for a few repeating conspiracies & pieces of disinformation I identified when searching Twitter for prime #Omicron content. Some search terms I used included 'fake variant', 'ghislaine maxwell', & a misleading tweet about Australia

3/ I'll walk through the network graph. The highlighted cluster below shows people retweeting a tweet from @TheMarcitect . His tweet, RT +21k times wrongly said ppl unvaccinated could not enter Australia. He then conspiratorial states the #omicron 'narrative' falls apart

4/ This highlighted cluster shows people retweeting @RealMattCouch , who seems to find it strange that that the timing of the Ghislaine Maxwell (and Jussie Smollett) trial and the new variant should coincide...Cos of course two things never happen at the same time. #Omicron

5/ This cluster show people retweeting celebrity chef and verified account @ChefGruel , who says that the variant is 'fake' and that rumours of it were 'strategically planted' to crash the stock market. At least 550 retweets there, with +4k likes #omicron #disinformation

6/ This anti Nancy Pelosi account (@nancytracker) is also promoting the conspiratorial connection between the new covid variant and the Ghislaine Maxwell trial. Again, hundreds of RTs and thousands of likes.

7/ Some accounts (and those who retweet them) are more explicit in their conspiracies. This account says clearly that the new variant is designed to distract from an 'elite paedophile ring'. #Omicron

8/ It even extends to French. This man lists a number of reasons for the new variant, included to distract from the trial of Ghislaine Maxwell. Again hundreds of retweets and thousands of likes #omicron #disinformation

9/ So what are the most common characteristics of people spreading this disinformation. Well the most cohesive community are pro Trump, MAGA (make American Great Again) accounts. Interestingly, the 2nd & 3rd most frequent terms are MAGA and Trump. Conservative, Christian patriots

10/ are also popular biographical descriptors. So while it may confirm what people already know, wild disinformation and conspiracy theories about #Omicron appear to be spread more by right-wing pro-Trump accounts. The Maxwell conspiracy is interesting because it very much

11/ overlaps with Qanon conspiracies about a democratic paedophile ring run by Maxwell and Epstein. In this trope the liberal 'MSM' (mainstream media) are focusing on the new variant to hide the fact the Maxwell trial will 'expose' this Paedophile ring. #disinformation #qanon

12/ The TL;DR - 1) Attempts to undermine public health messaging around the #OmicronVariant with disinformation and conspiracy theories are extremely common and popular on Twitter.
2) They appear to be led by right-wing accounts.
3) Qanon conspiracies are alive and well! TTFN