Antivax group “New Zealand Doctors Speaking Out with Science” recent conference has got us thinking about how conspiracy theorists and antivax campaigners use (and abuse) “experts” to make their ideas seem more credible.

So how does it work? 🧵 This thread is part of a series on conspiracy theorist techniques and tactics. It builds on our previous thread on how they use front groups to appear credible.

If you find it useful, please share and look out for more from us in the coming weeks /2

https://x.com/factaotearoa/status/1838815550702784750

We know that conspiracy theory groups actively recruit members. But how does that work? It turns out it looks more like a sales process than you might think. As one Reality Check Radio guest advises: slide someone from A to Z one pink pill at a time 🧵 This is part of a series covering conspiracy group techniques and tactics. So keep your eye out for more articles and videos in the coming weeks 2/

Out there in conspiracy theory land, some people are looking at a poorly calculated PDF of potential money paid to vaccine centres and claiming they are “mind-blowing” figures. They want you to think something underhand is going on. They took two OIA responses and smashed them together to get the supposed amount paid to vaccination centres. One was the number of vaccine doses sent to the centres (OIA 1), the other was the amount paid per dose.

New Zealand General Election 2023 🧵

With less than four weeks until the election, conspiracy theorists are spinning their predictable web. Read our threads below to learn more about their tactics, narratives and disruptions. Please share to get the word out!!! Meetings have been disrupted by conspiratorial candidates and their supporters. It’s part of a coordinated strategy.

https://twitter.com/factaotearoa/status/1687705051102679040

Clips of conspiracy theorists confronting 2023 election candidates are rampant at the moment. They are asking questions designed to force politicians to respond to, legitimise and amplify fringe views. They want to shift the focus from candidates to themselves. As a nation we have prided ourselves on how accessible our candidates are. That is changing.
We need to talk about how conspiracy theorists are organising to disrupt meetings and what we can do about it.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/bu…

Voices for Freedom have been pushing hard for weeks to get their members to run for local council and have now released their strategy. They want to have a candidate sit in every seat and are working with other groups (TFRC and more) to make sure that happens. #nzpol But VFF’s focus is on running for seats with little to no competition. In a recent video, they took viewers through nominee pages, pointing out where there are spaces to run uncontested. #nzpol electionz.com/lge2022_resour…

FACT Aotearoa has uncovered that Nurses for Freedom’s Dunedin coordinator is Lauren Bransgrove, an ex-nurse who told fellow anti-vaxxers to slash tyres of vaccination buses, and called nurses and doctors who supported the vaccine “the enemy.” nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-19-de… After the story was widely reported, Lauren changed her pseudonym on Telegram from Lauren Hill to X O, and as shown, Lauren is the NFFNZ coordinator for Otago/Dunedin. She is also a member of Voices for Freedom.

1. The Freedom & Rights Coalition protests in New Zealand are being led by a spinoff from self-appointed Apostle Brian Tamaki's Destiny Church. But the wider self-described ‘freedom movement’ comprises a diverse range of groups and individuals. Here are some of the key players👇 2.1 Sue Grey: a lawyer (currently under investigation by the Law Society) and co-leader of The Outdoors Party (0.1% of the vote in 2020). Grey has an avid support base which she constantly bombards with covid & vaccine related misinformation.

https://twitter.com/davidfarrier/status/1459629356364427264?s=20