https://www.viralityproject.org/policy-analysis daily 0.75 2021-08-18 https://www.viralityproject.org/policy-analysis/evaluating-covid-19-vaccine-policies-on-social-media-platforms monthly 0.5 2021-02-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1613085436244-JR1138GP5LERTR7OF5JZ/Screen+Shot+2021-02-11+at+3.16.08+PM.png Policy Analysis - Evaluating COVID-19 Vaccine Policies on Social Media Platforms Table 1: The sources for the evaluation of the policies by platform was informed by their community guidelines and standards linked here: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Nextdoor, Pinterest, TikTok. *While YouTube’s policies are largely rated comprehensive, it is important to note that the policies are written with many specific examples under each category. While these examples are informative, it is unclear if they are meant to be comprehensive, or if related content which does not fall into these hyper-specific examples would also be considered. Thus, we found that the wording of this language may run the risk of being over prescriptive, without flexibility for new types of narratives. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1613085617956-WUHXQLCD27AOG8BJM9UM/Screen+Shot+2021-02-11+at+3.16.33+PM.png Policy Analysis - Evaluating COVID-19 Vaccine Policies on Social Media Platforms A screenshot illustrating how Facebook tries to connect Pages and Groups that share vaccine misinformation to authoritative sources such as the CDC. https://www.viralityproject.org/policy-analysis/white-house-plan-analysis-and-recommendations monthly 0.5 2021-02-18 https://www.viralityproject.org/policy-analysis/what-to-expect monthly 0.5 2021-03-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1614893540887-O1043MNWBTGFXUIRBJEW/rollout_narratives_pt1.png Policy Analysis - Vaccine Rollout and Mis/Disinformation: Expectations and Action Plan for Health Communicators Narratives By Community, Rollout Phase. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1614893587790-CMKY2V4YMK1MRUJDNEJG/rollout_narratives_pt2.png Policy Analysis - Vaccine Rollout and Mis/Disinformation: Expectations and Action Plan for Health Communicators https://cepr.net/a-basic-demographic-profile-of-workers-in-frontline-industries/ https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/new-york-city-waitress-fired-after-not-getting-the-covid-19-vaccine/ar-BB1dLWTK https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/26/opinion/covid-vaccine-rumors.html https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/07/24/a-look-at-the-americans-who-believe-there-is-some-truth-to-the-conspiracy-theory-that-covid-19-was-planned/ https://nlchp.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Racism-Homelessness-and-COVID-19-Fact-Sheet-_Final_2.pdf https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1614890822938-CBK862WPSNJTEHZTA7V8/Vaccine+Hesitancy+Narratives.png Policy Analysis - Vaccine Rollout and Mis/Disinformation: Expectations and Action Plan for Health Communicators Fig. 2. Vaccine Hesitancy Narratives. Graphics by Kolina Koltai. https://www.viralityproject.org/policy-analysis/rumor-control monthly 0.5 2021-05-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1620157122429-2TLS97KT48QGRGWWDPJA/rumor_control_workflow.png Policy Analysis - Rumor Control: a Framework for Countering Vaccine Misinformation Figure 1: Proposed Rumor Control Workflow https://www.viralityproject.org/policy-analysis/center-of-excellence monthly 0.5 2021-07-08 https://www.viralityproject.org/policy-analysis/new-truths-old-lies- monthly 0.5 2021-08-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1629311120300-TBGC2Y894JH3I3X5Z1ET/Screen+Shot+2021-08-18+at+11.23.51+AM.png Policy Analysis - New Truths, Old Lies ? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1629309577854-QHCR7CQPL9QVVMUMYN3O/VP_ConsensusBlog_AwakenTheMind_post+%281%29.png Policy Analysis - New Truths, Old Lies ? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1629311105811-NH0GC2QBH8UNLDE4DMV8/Screen+Shot+2021-08-18+at+11.23.42+AM.png Policy Analysis - New Truths, Old Lies ? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1629320884043-TJT9OYL55X0BJKQ38ZZP/Screen+Shot+2021-08-18+at+2.07.31+PM.png Policy Analysis - New Truths, Old Lies ? - Make it stand out Figure 5 : Example of opinion visualization on the platform vTaiwan https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1629308886857-RG8RWLJC5PS60SSWQGQT/VP_ConsensusBlog_CigaretteAd.png Policy Analysis - New Truths, Old Lies ? - Make it stand out Figure 1: Lucky Strike ad, 1930 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1629310036262-1JBOD47B2RLDKWB8Z2FH/Screen+Shot+2021-08-18+at+11.02.41+AM.png Policy Analysis - New Truths, Old Lies ? - Make it stand out Figure 3: An example of a Google Search warning for rapidly evolving results shown in Google’s blog post from June 2021. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1629310404829-E3BFQV0G1S0J5RYUC0Y9/Screen+Shot+2021-08-18+at+11.12.34+AM.png Policy Analysis - New Truths, Old Lies ? - Make it stand out Figure 4: Excerpt of the CDC’s Scientific Brief on SARS-CoV-2 Transmission https://www.viralityproject.org/rapid-response daily 0.75 2021-08-26 https://www.viralityproject.org/rapid-response/the-vaccine-passport-narrative-in-vaccine-hesitant-communities monthly 0.5 2021-03-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1617052263579-R5J5T8QUX71ODO77BR49/Screen+Shot+2021-03-25+at+4.30.03+PM.png Rapid Response - The Vaccine Passport Narrative in Vaccine Hesitant Communities Figure 7. A tweet by conservative commentator Ryan Fournier against vaccine passports. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1617052127120-LW86T470RO6T7BH1FAEZ/Screen+Shot+2021-03-25+at+4.29.39+PM.png Rapid Response - The Vaccine Passport Narrative in Vaccine Hesitant Communities Figure 2. Patrick Henningsen’s tweet claiming YouTube removed his Vaccine Passport radio episode from their platform. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1617052208093-2HBLOLQDLOR1PA9C03I6/Screen+Shot+2021-03-29+at+11.58.26+AM.png Rapid Response - The Vaccine Passport Narrative in Vaccine Hesitant Communities Figure 3. A comic by Ben Garrison pushing the “plannedemic” conspiracy from March 2020. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1617044878128-8FAI7CT7YLHXFH3QM30V/Screen+Shot+2021-03-22+at+3.51.53+PM.png Rapid Response - The Vaccine Passport Narrative in Vaccine Hesitant Communities Figure 9. A poorly executed public campaign to promote vaccines in Israel that led people to believe that these chairs were reserved only for vaccinated individuals. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1617044644544-6BSJH637LALDOBXMCKLZ/Screen+Shot+2021-03-25+at+4.50.42+PM.png Rapid Response - The Vaccine Passport Narrative in Vaccine Hesitant Communities Figure 6. Number of tweets per hour mentioning a vaccine-related term and “passport” since February 1st. This data is taken from a broader collection of Tweets related to vaccine-related terms (e.g., vax, vaccine, vaccinate). Other substantial spikes in conversation occur in response to hesitation from UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson over the use of Vaccine Passports in the U.K.—a hesitancy tied to their potential to “be discriminatory.” An analysis of the top 20 most-retweeted accounts leading Twitter conversation around vaccine passports highlights the prominence of several right-leaning figures in the UK and US including Sebastian Gorka and long-time critic Ryan Fournier, and civil liberties organizations such as Big Brother Watch who frame the potential for vaccine passports as an affront to freedom and government overreach. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1617044077647-5ZGKANOLU0ISGQMYIYFT/Screen+Shot+2021-03-29+at+11.54.23+AM.png Rapid Response - The Vaccine Passport Narrative in Vaccine Hesitant Communities Figure 1. Vaccine Passport coverage in right-wing media aimed at concerns over the involvement of “Big Tech” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1617044450791-B78CXIDVGN4QDEOI99ZA/Screen+Shot+2021-03-24+at+4.28.31+PM.png Rapid Response - The Vaccine Passport Narrative in Vaccine Hesitant Communities Figure 4. Eugene Gu’s tweet claiming that vaccine passports will create inequity. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1617052316485-X0G73907WE4567Y10HXH/Screen+Shot+2021-03-29+at+12.07.10+PM.png Rapid Response - The Vaccine Passport Narrative in Vaccine Hesitant Communities Figure 8. Antisemitic imagery shared alongside news reports about the Israeli ‘Green Pass’ on Telegram https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1617044588931-8PBILGDQ0W0X6L055MT5/Screen+Shot+2021-03-29+at+12.02.49+PM.png Rapid Response - The Vaccine Passport Narrative in Vaccine Hesitant Communities Figure 5. Chronotope showing engagement with the hashtag #vaccinepassports in late January- February Further analysis of Vaccine Passport-related conversation on Twitter similarly highlights news from Europe on proposed passport plans as drivers of hesitancy and conversation globally. As shown in Figure 6, Twitter conversations surrounding Vaccine Passports spiked around key news announcements in mid-February regarding the EU’s potential plan to allow vaccinated tourists to travel this summer. https://www.viralityproject.org/rapid-response/mark-of-the-beast-meets-vaccine-passports monthly 0.5 2021-04-07 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1617828716617-2U2G4R5XVDWP4T95TW6U/Screen+Shot+2021-04-05+at+4.07.14+PM.png Rapid Response - Mark of the Beast meets Vaccine Passports Figure 3: CrowdTangle results for public posts on Facebook for the “mark of the beast” and vaccine. After the initial spread of the content, most commentary on it has been critical of Greene’s statement. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1617828609893-OPJJPII7QWN488L8M4YF/pasted+image+0+%2838%29.png Rapid Response - Mark of the Beast meets Vaccine Passports Figure 2: Number of tweets per hour mentioning “mark of the beast” and a vaccine related term https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1617828443695-L3WOV6WXWDNUFLGJU6Z6/Screen+Shot+2021-04-06+at+11.21.57+PM.png Rapid Response - Mark of the Beast meets Vaccine Passports Figure 1: Congresswoman Greene’s tweet calling vaccine passports “Biden’s Mark of the Beast” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1617828984388-HVHADYWPMO4ZT3OQAZF3/Presentation1.png Rapid Response - Mark of the Beast meets Vaccine Passports Figure 4: A cartoon by A. F. Branco linking vaccine passports with the “mark of the beast” (left) published on March 31, 2021 and subsequent variations adding religious text (right) https://www.viralityproject.org/rapid-response/jampj-suspension-rapid-response monthly 0.5 2021-04-19 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1618630542604-Z2EG6QPVBFJTASL8PB8F/Screen+Shot+2021-04-16+at+8.34.34+PM.png Rapid Response - J&J Suspension Rapid Response Figure 3. An article shared by Reason Magazine, a libertarian magazine, that is critical of the FDA’s Decision to pause the J&J vaccine, but ultimately the criticism is based on confidence in vaccines generally https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1618631271290-WEDEP057LXMPZHS2IN46/image+%285%29.png Rapid Response - J&J Suspension Rapid Response https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1618631666799-KTUMP2VPHIKEPI8C80U4/Screen+Shot+2021-04-16+at+8.54.08+PM.png Rapid Response - J&J Suspension Rapid Response Figure 4. Top: Graph of the common terms surrounding AstraZeneca and J&J on Twitter demonstrates that J&J has captured a much smaller percentage of conversation relative to AstraZeneca. Bottom: Graph of the same breakdown by country. Data source: Meltwater. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1618629847467-FE3GW1Z7VCH4USV5GJUH/J%26J+mentions.png Rapid Response - J&J Suspension Rapid Response Figure 1. A search for mentions of the J&J vaccine across public social media and English-language news coverage via Meltwater Explore showed increased online discussion on April 13, the day the U.S. decided to suspend the J&J vaccine to investigate the link to a rare type of blood clot. The y-axis shows the total posts and articles mentioning the J&J vaccine across multiple public forums. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1618629904026-SIZGP8FOXKEAGGWBUBOE/Screen+Shot+2021-04-16+at+10.15.25+AM.png Rapid Response - J&J Suspension Rapid Response Figure 2. A Tweet from a user promoting the conspiracy theory that halting the J&J vaccine was premeditated so that individuals would need to take an mRNA vaccine. https://www.viralityproject.org/rapid-response/vaccine-shedding-narratives-targeted-toward-women monthly 0.5 2021-04-27 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1619509056758-9LK4P8JQ87YZIT4LX3IZ/Screen+Shot+2021-04-27+at+12.32.25+AM.png Rapid Response - Vaccine “shedding” narratives targeted toward women Figure 1: A tweet from Naomi Wolf pushing the claim that being exposed to vaccinated people can cause menstruation issues. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1619509674508-XAZQ9FBXRND7SWG4D1BP/Screen+Shot+2021-04-23+at+12.07.29+PM.png Rapid Response - Vaccine “shedding” narratives targeted toward women Figure 3. Left: A snapshot of the spread of the InfoWars article across Facebook, Reddit, and Twitter as of April 23, 2021. Right: An example of the warning label placed on the InfoWars article shared on Facebook. At a wider glance, our team didn’t find any notable degree of misinformation about vaccine shedding and women’s health outside of these more fringe communities. In fact, on Facebook, the top post for “vaccine shedding” was a post debunking its connection to the COVID-19 vaccines (in Malay) by Dr. Suhazeli Abdullah, a physician and activist from Malaysia. Large media outlets such as ABC News, The Today Show, and others have discussed COVID-19 vaccines and menstruation, but did so neutrally, without amplifying the conspiracy theories embraced by the anti-vaccine community. Interestingly, none of the conservative media properties ran videos in the past 2 weeks related to “shedding” or the COVID-19 vaccine’s impact on “periods” or “menstrual cycle”. Larger impact While there is no evidence to suggest that being around people who have received the COVID-19 vaccine will cause issues to menstruation or fertility, has the potential to scare many women who might otherwise take the vaccine. While it is difficult to predict how much this claim will affect the general public’s trust in the vaccine, anti-vaccine narratives which have focused on fertility and women’s health have historically been resonant talking points. As the vaccine roll-out continues, health officials and research institutions are working to highlight potential side effects that impact women — with authoritative, accurate information. The CDC’s COVID-19 vaccine safety monitoring has consistently tracked side effects for women, and will continue to detail differences in outcomes as more information is gathered. Anti-vaccine accounts gain a veneer of authority by packaging more palatable claims, such as general concerns related to women’s health, with more outlandish claims, such as proximity to a vaccinated person shifting someone else’s menstrual cycle. We noted a similar dynamic in the packaging of the outlandish “mark of the beast” claim with that of vaccine passports earlier this month. The emotional response caused by a more unconventional narrative (e.g., shedding) can expose new audiences to the trope and give it greater consideration without providing any scientific evidence. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1619509567805-YUD0YCNY42V1U141CG30/Screen+Shot+2021-04-27+at+12.45.36+AM.png Rapid Response - Vaccine “shedding” narratives targeted toward women Figure 2: Long form video that was initially shared by Laura-Lynn Tyler Thompson (left) being shared by anti-vaccination accounts (right). https://www.viralityproject.org/rapid-response/rapid-response-expanding-covid-19-vaccines-to-children monthly 0.5 2021-05-11 https://www.viralityproject.org/rapid-response/made-to-stick-origins-and-spread-of-the-magnetic-vaccine-narrative monthly 0.5 2021-06-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1624552433597-9R6NPDWZD2BBTSXCVMJW/magnet_rnd3.png Rapid Response - Made to Stick: Origins and Spread of the Magnetic Vaccine Narrative - Make it stand out Figure 1. A distribution of Tweets and Retweets of “magnetchallenge” as of June 21, shows the persistence of the hashtag over May and June. (Data does not show Tweets that were actioned on.) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1624552100657-KXPIA52CHELI1B2WIBMF/Screen+Shot+2021-06-24+at+9.26.06+AM.png Rapid Response - Made to Stick: Origins and Spread of the Magnetic Vaccine Narrative - Make it stand out Figure 2. A screenshot of a tweet from The High Wire, run by anti-vaccine activist, Del Bigtree, that promotes the conspiracy about the #magnetchallenge. https://www.viralityproject.org/rapid-response/fauxi-undermining-authoritative-health-sources monthly 0.5 2021-06-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1624638065254-SC5BW0EO5OES9IASEV6P/Screen+Shot+2021-06-25+at+9.18.45+AM.png Rapid Response - Fauxi: Undermining Authoritative Health Sources - Make it stand out Blog post from Circle of Mamas suggesting the CDC knows the vaccine is “killing the elderly.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1624638611947-MPSFDNAEBIJ13V1VPUGE/Screen+Shot+2021-06-25+at+9.28.11+AM.png Rapid Response - Fauxi: Undermining Authoritative Health Sources - Make it stand out An Instagram post from an anti-vaccine account lists examples of evolved scientific consensus to discredit authorities. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1624574802187-358PUO0AWNPVDXWB7US4/Screen+Shot+2021-06-24+at+3.45.21+PM.png Rapid Response - Fauxi: Undermining Authoritative Health Sources - Make it stand out An example anti-vaccine post can be seen here adopting the above narratives. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1624575016366-O0OHH6BQXBQJKA08AF38/Screen+Shot+2021-06-24+at+3.49.06+PM.png Rapid Response - Fauxi: Undermining Authoritative Health Sources - Make it stand out A Facebook post uses the Fauci emails to justify not receiving a Covid-19 vaccine. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1624638397215-3S78Q0DIK07LT5NYUG0M/Screen+Shot+2021-06-25+at+9.24.54+AM.png Rapid Response - Fauxi: Undermining Authoritative Health Sources - Make it stand out An Instagram post insinuates that Fauci was conspiring with the CCP. https://www.viralityproject.org/rapid-response/how-anti-vaccine-narratives-go-global monthly 0.5 2021-07-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1626294880883-TPAFQFYBVINKJ3YJ0JBY/clynick1.PNG Rapid Response - Around and Back Again: How Anti-Vaccine Narratives Go Global - Make it stand out Figure 1: Original tweet sharing news of Jacob’s death (left). A collage of domestic and international coverage of Jacob’s death the following day (right). On June 21, a day after Burages’ first tweet, Jacob’s death was also picked up and circulated in dozens of languages—some of which perpetuated false or misleading claims which we chose not to link to in this post— including German, Romanian, French, Italian, and Chinese. Politicians in Romania and in Italy spread the story on social media. Non-English accounts used the reports of Jacob’s death not only to promote the belief that vaccines are extremely dangerous to children, but also advance the idea that pharmaceutical companies and governments are withholding evidence of harm. An Italian member of Parliament tweeted, “The thread I never wanted to read. But what the ‘conspiracy theorists’ feared comes true: the Pfizer vaccine killed a healthy child” (translated). https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1626295071875-I0KE6B9CC623ML07Y9TR/clynick2.PNG Rapid Response - Around and Back Again: How Anti-Vaccine Narratives Go Global - Make it stand out Figure 2: Breitbart shares a second article on Jacob’s death (left). A collage of domestic and international coverage of Jacob’s death the following day (right). The persistent anxiety around children’s health in particular allowed Jacob’s story to go viral a second time both in the US and abroad, even in the absence of new details to the case. On July 5, two weeks after news of his death originally spread and online chatter tempered off, Breitbart shared a second article calling attention to the CDC investigations into the case. This article generated nearly 23,000 interactions on Facebook and was re-shared in several different languages. There were still no updates from the CDC, but the next day several local Fox News pages shared the story on Facebook, garnering at least 40,000 interactions from their posts alone. Public posts on Facebook mentioning “Clynick” in languages other than English spiked to nearly 28,000 interactions on July 6, including posts by news organizations in Argentina, Bosnia, Greece, and Italy. This demonstrates how attention towards an individual story can spike at a later time, even with minimal new developments to the facts of the case, reigniting feelings of anxiety around the vaccine. A Global Network of Anti-Vaccine Groups In six months of monitoring, Virality Project analysts have seen anti-vaccine communities pick up similar real life events, like Jacob’s death, from all around the globe and spin them to support anti-vaccine narratives. We have identified online chatter around real or alleged cases where individuals experienced medical complications after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine in over a dozen of different countries, even when links between the vaccine and complications are unrelated, unproven or dubious. Anti-vaccine advocates often strip these real life events of important context to portray them in misleading ways in order to undermine confidence in the safety of vaccines. For example, in January, prominent anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy shared news about several elderly people in Norway who died shortly after receiving COVID-19 vaccines, even though Norwegian health officials indicated that the deaths were not related to the vaccine. Other times, anti-vaccine users veer into making more demonstrably false claims. After a nurse in Tennessee with an unrelated medical condition fainted during a TV interview on receiving the vaccine, one Facebook user shared the video with the caption, “Watch this nurse pass out after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. It’s so safe though, right? This will become a mass genocide if people continue to follow these rabid dictators.” Other anti-vaccine accounts started a rumor that the nurse had died shortly after (she did not). This story spread so widely among domestic and international audiences that it has been fact-checked by dozens of organizations from around the world, including those in Australia, France, India, Israel, Italy, and the United Kingdom. News of medical complications following COVID-19 vaccines is not the only type of vaccine-related content that spreads internationally. Other common narratives with international spread include unsupported claims from anti-vaccine medical doctors. In a recent example, doctors affiliated with a fringe, “alternative information” organization in Spain falsely claimed to find evidence that the majority ingredient in Pfizer vaccines is a toxic compound. This claim circulated internationally, spreading in Spanish, Hungarian, Czech, Polish, Bosnian, and Estonian. It gained even more traction, after a right-wing American influencer online featured the claim on his show, mainly hosted on BitChute and Rumble. Clips of the show then circulated on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, with a Japanese translated version of the video garnering over 66,000 views. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1626296883355-LP1FEUY3QGA0L8AD6XEG/examples.PNG Rapid Response - Around and Back Again: How Anti-Vaccine Narratives Go Global - Make it stand out Figure 3: Recurring COVID-19 misinformation spreader Alex Berenson shares a false claim that a Danish soccer player who suffered cardiac arrest had been vaccinated recently (left). A US-based mother’s wellness page shares a story about a Mexican woman who died shortly after receiving the vaccine with the caption, “She felt weak after the shot, passed out, and then died within 40 minutes of the shot, but her death isn't related to the shot. ” (center). A Spanish-language account shares criticisms from Michal Yeadon of vaccine passports, with the caption “The virus exists, but it is an excuse for total control of the population” (right, translated). When content that spotlights potential harms related to vaccines or other more explicit anti-vaccine material gains traction internationally, it often involves a core group of US- and foreign-based influencers, including partisan media figures. Sometimes, these influencers or their followers immediately translate their content into English or other languages anticipating and engineering for international spread. And, as the Jacob Clynick case above illustrates, local anti-vaccine groups in varying countries can then take up the content, often framing it to fit the social and historical context of their community. Global Circulation Prolongs the Longevity of Misinformation Even though we can anticipate certain narratives and debunk them, the international spread of anti-vaccine content can help these claims persist in spite of these efforts. For instance, towards the end of May, an English-language user on Twitter falsely tweeted that “Airlines are meeting today to discuss the risks of carrying vaxed passengers due to the risk of clots and the liabilities involved. Oh the irony only the non vaxed can fly.” While the Associated Press debunked the claim and Twitter removed the original tweet, the claim had already circulated in a few low-quality news sites in Russian, German, and in Spanish. Then, in mid-June, a Chinese-language account tweeted a link to one of these stories, leading the claim to regain moderate traction in English on different social media sites. Other incidents that have resurfaced in English after circulating abroad include false claims that deaths in Israel skyrocketed from the Pfizer vaccine that have been fact-checked on numerous occasions and a recycled rumor that the Supreme Court had canceled vaccine mandates that resurfaced on Inspirer Radio, a Nigerian website, earlier this year. Key Takeaways The examples in this post illustrate how the international spread of misinformation contributes to the larger pervasiveness of anti-vaccine narratives and tropes. Local anti-vaccine groups and media outlets perpetuate narratives across borders. In particular, the collective experience around the COVID-19 pandemic makes local stories and pieces of misinformation salient to a global audience. This means that news of individual tragedy, which anti-vaccine influencers can strip of their context and use to undermine confidence in vaccines, can spread quickly across the globe. It also means that even after measures have been taken to deplatform or counter-message, particular misleading stories and false claims can resurface again after gaining traction abroad. https://www.viralityproject.org/rapid-response/how-russia-and-china-attempt-to-influence-us-vaccine-conversations monthly 0.5 2021-07-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1626800909164-R13TVILAMTQNQL8JJM5R/Screen+Shot+2021-07-20+at+10.08.19+AM.png Rapid Response - How Russia and China attempt to influence US vaccine conversations - Make it stand out Figure 3 : Memes originally posted by Russian accounts implying Kamala Harris is forcibly vaccinating individuals (left), and that Microsoft is responsible for the US vaccine agenda (right). https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1626801276109-PEXJRN4Q8CL9UDN7GD9M/Screen+Shot+2021-07-20+at+8.51.39+AM.png Rapid Response - How Russia and China attempt to influence US vaccine conversations - Make it stand out Figure 5: Timeline of the Norway story and its reporting in various Chinese state-media outlets. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1626804698126-ESU0NQNCER1D7IPHG7TK/Screen+Shot+2021-07-20+at+11.11.00+AM.png Rapid Response - How Russia and China attempt to influence US vaccine conversations - Make it stand out Figure 4: Ruptly reports on the CDC’s media briefing about the Johnson & Johnson vaccine pause (left). RT shares an article highlighting that there are no reports that Sputnik V has caused blood clots (right). https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1626800105945-Z8LZXQ40JXDENR04CHDP/Screen+Shot+2021-07-19+at+9.05.00+AM+%281%29.png Rapid Response - How Russia and China attempt to influence US vaccine conversations - Make it stand out Figure 2. RT shares an original video claiming vaccine “passports” are effectively making vaccines compulsory. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1626799424625-AY6U58XPIZR08X14CVD5/Screen+Shot+2021-07-20+at+9.43.21+AM.png Rapid Response - How Russia and China attempt to influence US vaccine conversations - Make it stand out Figure 1: CGTN reports on investigations into cases of myocarditis in teens after receiving Pfizer or Moderna vaccines (left). CGTN shares a new study showing the Sinovac vaccine is safe for children (right). Injecting New Content Into Existing Vaccine Conversations Chinese and Russian state actors, through overt and covert means, have injected novel narratives and new content into ongoing vaccine conversations. Instead of reporting on issues that tell a certain story, they will share brand new content in which they tell that story themselves. Similar to their efforts to selectively promote content, new content injected to existing conversations from both Russia and China is often used to contrast Western “failures” with their own successes. Russia Russian state media tends to inject perspectives that exacerbate existing social and political cleavages in the US and Europe. For example, RT has keyed off existing narratives about vaccine “passports” and spun them to trigger fears of government overreach and population segregation. In February, RT posted a video discussing a recent announcement by the Danish government that it was planning to implement vaccine passports. The caption argued that while the policy didn’t strictly require vaccines for everyone, “making it impossible to travel and harder to get a job without one, isn’t this that [sic] effectively making them compulsory?” RT has also shared pieces denouncing the appearance of a global “vaccine apartheid,” such as one by British writer Jani Allan on May 8. In a similar fashion, RT published an op-ed by editorialist Alexis Poulin on July 12, claiming that the French government’s latest measures, which restrict activities open to non-vaccinated people, amount to a “policy of repression and control.” https://www.viralityproject.org/rapid-response/content-moderation-avoidance-strategies-used-to-promote-vaccine-hesitant-content monthly 0.5 2021-07-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1627509359909-KVSDPK98H0V4TKF173QX/Screen+Shot+2021-07-28+at+2.54.19+PM.png Rapid Response - Content moderation avoidance strategies https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1627330738162-QT867IJSX9YT1K4KEMXD/Screen+Shot+2021-07-26+at+1.18.43+PM.png Rapid Response - Content moderation avoidance strategies https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1627509372823-P93P65MEHG1G8U1YU7YR/Screen+Shot+2021-07-28+at+2.55.26+PM.png Rapid Response - Content moderation avoidance strategies https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1627508151122-D665FYJ4KE3C3UWDF0TP/Screen+Shot+2021-07-28+at+2.35.28+PM.png Rapid Response - Content moderation avoidance strategies https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1627508180019-EXCAPWPCUNUYKGZYNO73/Screen+Shot+2021-07-28+at+2.34.51+PM.png Rapid Response - Content moderation avoidance strategies https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1627508185151-YG5P1HBJIOEE8NWYYT33/Screen+Shot+2021-07-28+at+2.35.07+PM.png Rapid Response - Content moderation avoidance strategies https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1627510224861-52WN8LULG7GEN4T7VXNF/Screen+Shot+2021-07-26+at+1.09.31+PM.png Rapid Response - Content moderation avoidance strategies - Make it stand out Table 1: Moderation-avoidance strategies used on major platforms to spread vaccine-hesitant content. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1627508902975-7P2O70LER9O4GYS3A20Y/Screen+Shot+2021-07-28+at+2.47.44+PM.png Rapid Response - Content moderation avoidance strategies https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1627508909381-9K8H2Q3N2QKEEV9PREGZ/Screen+Shot+2021-07-28+at+2.47.51+PM.png Rapid Response - Content moderation avoidance strategies https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1627508917105-W5UL44KJ9OT0M2IOPKRM/Screen+Shot+2021-07-28+at+2.48.06+PM.png Rapid Response - Content moderation avoidance strategies https://www.viralityproject.org/rapid-response/how-debunked-science-spreads monthly 0.5 2021-08-26 https://www.viralityproject.org/news daily 0.75 2021-02-12 https://www.viralityproject.org/news/about monthly 0.5 2021-03-08 https://www.viralityproject.org/home daily 0.75 2022-02-17 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/f6d2cff1-0681-4a05-a486-217e65d4fa27/vp-final-report-webinarv2.jpg Virality Project - Webinar: Findings from the Virality Project The Stanford Internet Observatory will host analysts from the Virality Project to discuss the project’s findings from a year of observation and analysis on COVID-19 vaccine conversations online. Join report contributors Renée DiResta, Kaitlyn Dowling, Cameron Hickey, Lily Meyersohn and Chase Small along with special guest Dr. Seema Yasmin, director of the Stanford Health Communication Initiative as they discuss the dynamics and impact of misleading information targeting the COVID-19 vaccines. The final report, “Memes, Magnets and Microchips: Narrative dynamics around COVID-19 vaccines,” will be available on February 24. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1611691606052-8BC42SFW9355XD43JSUI/daniel-schludi-mAGZNECMcUg-unsplash.jpg Virality Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1616096680683-9MPKHJUFZA0WCI3M5UXK/ncoc.png Virality Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1616096751509-DIV2H1MHP9OATCGKRGVK/graphika.png Virality Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1616096626181-KV8JKQAXXPRY5VDJZXPR/csmap Virality Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1616096579170-MECEAXHAQMGWXDXJS9ST/tandon Virality Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1616096530790-HPJ58YJW60TFGI7RVIAZ/cip Virality Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60025974f9f7920e6b40885b/1616096501257-HTMVJ1FVBVVVONYGBQZX/sio Virality Project https://www.viralityproject.org/weekly-briefings daily 0.75 2021-08-03 https://www.viralityproject.org/final-report daily 1.0 2022-02-24