5/15/21 "Disinformation Dozen" Drive COVID Vaccine Lies

Researchers at the Center for Countering Digital Hate have managed to track down just 12 accounts that are responsible for the bulk of the misinformation on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

This diabolical clutch of fraudsters are responsible for *65%* of the shares on the three social media sites, according to the CCDH's Imran Ahmed, the group's CEO.

The lie-spinners are well-known to the social networks, too. They're a mishmash of "natural health" boosters, anti-vaxxers, sellers of supplements and books, and even doctors. They don't care where their misinformation comes from. They'll pick up stories from anywhere and exaggerate, twist, and misrepresent them in whatever way serves their purpose. What's more, many of these people have been at it for years!

There can be no doubt that they've contributed to the "vaccine hesitancy" that is keeping so many Americans from getting COVID-19 shots.

Since the news went public two days ago, Facebook has removed 16 accounts (including Instagram accounts) and stymied 22 others by preventing users from recommending the accounts, as well as blocking the accounts' ads, and so forth. A spokesman said FB had ditched more than 16 million "pieces of content."

Twitter suspended two of the hucksters' accounts, had other accounts delete some tweets, and made the tweets impossible to share. The company says it's removed more than 22,400 tweets for violating its COVID-19 policies.

In what we hope are the waning weeks of the pandemic, let's hope the social media companies become more diligent -- and stay that way.
https://www.npr.org/2021/05/13/996570855/disinformation-dozen-test-facebooks-twitters-ability-to-curb-vaccine-hoaxes?fbclid=IwAR2ahtYTQYRvYELnkIOIxkYdo7Na6GHwWJB2VyuQfVLAauyJAS47C89bRm4