As the world races to implement the COVID-19 vaccine, subversive narratives dating back to Spring are gaining new reach online. Preying on fears of the unknown, existing vaccine skepticism and long-standing distrust in big pharma, these narratives threaten public health and act as centers of gravity for various strains of misinformation now and in the future.
Analysis from Storyful Intelligence maps the most pervasive threads of conversation online, demonstrating the role prominent media figures play in amplifying and legitimizing misinformation, and the power of these narratives to recruit new audiences.
The public health danger is clear: distrust in the vaccine leads to continued exposure to COVID-19 further jeopardizing at-risk individuals. Less clear though are the long term implications of disinformation movements like this on businesses. As these narratives move from outskirts of social media to the center and then transpose to mainstream media, communities coalesce and opinions fortify. These communities become powerful online stakeholders that are savvy social media users, capable of lashing out against individuals and organizations.
Any business operating in the New Information Environment needs to understand how narratives and communities form. More importantly, marketing and communications leadership need to be aware of how these narratives evolve and the implications they may have for their activities and business operations.
The use of mRNA technology in vaccines is unprecedented, and side effects are unknown and potentially untreatable. This graph maps the most prominent narrative threads about mRNA vaccine, totaling over 100,000 social media mentions over the course of August – October 2020.
- Altering DNA: Over the past quarter DNA alteration appeared in 25% of the mRNA vaccine related posts on Facebook pages and public groups. It also appeared in some of the most engaged Twitter and Instagram posts. This claim, that mRNA vaccine will inevitably change people’s DNA, resonated especially within anti-vax and anti-science communities alike. Leading advocates of this narrative like Robert Kennedy Jr. equated the technology to the way genetically modified food products impacting people’s health.
- Mandatory vaccination: Though this narrative represented a smaller volume of the conversation (11% on Facebook), it has been amplified by influencers outside the core of antivax communities. Republican U.S. Representative Thomas Masie drew links between mandatory vaccinations and experiments on children. This narrative corresponded with the movements against lockdown and mask mandates which gained hundreds of thousands of followers online, throughout the pandemic.
Some of the messaging around the issue linked mandatory vaccination to the claim that the main motive behind the vaccine operation is financial. Often this argument is accompanied by a description of a grand narrative, involving governments, financial firms, public health experts and pharmaceutical companies.
- Surveillance scheme: This conspiratorial narrative suggested a Covid-19 vaccine would include a microchip helping governments to surveill their citizens. Different variations suggested DARPA involvement in developing a biochip that would be injected with the mRNA vaccines (which would also include altering the DNA). Others are focusing on links to Bill Gates and MIT, claiming the institution is developing an identification mark that will be injected with the Moderna vaccine.
In some communities this narrative has been associated with anti 5G conspiracy theories, linking between 5G technology implementation and the Covid-19 vaccine, using “nano technology”.
- Finally, there are a smattering of other theories like the corrupt financial intentions of pharmaceutical companies, that the FDA, CDC, and academic institutions are also driven by the profit motive and concerns about the supply chain for delivering vaccines.
The Actors: Not just antivaxxers
Like other major strains of misinformation, the actors amplifying the messages to wider audiences are varied.
Established personalities in the anti-vaxx community, such as Robert F. Kennedy Jr., are using the mRNA vaccine as an excuse to spread the same rhetoric they have used in the past against vaccines in general, and to gain influence outside of their typical echo chambers, appearing in popular mainstream newscasts and podcasts.
However, it is the spread beyond these communities that is the most informative. Figures from fringe media outlets, such as OANN and Newsmax, including Emerald Robinson (Newsmax White House Correspondent) and Ben Swann, who was fired from CBS after reporting Pizzagate conspiracy theories on air. Swann has been spreading Covid-19 conspiracy theories via RT as well as his own YouTube channel.
Some of the most engaged messages against mRNA vaccines are coming from right wing politicians from the US and the UK, such as Kentucky Congressman Thomas Massie, who has dismissed the positive results of Pfizer’s vaccine and spoken out against Covid-19 vaccines, drawing links between mandatory vaccinations and experiments on children. London Assembly Member David Kurten has used Christian and Creationist messaging in his anti-vaccine stance, and hinted that a vaccine could be more dangerous than Covid itself.
Televangelists in the US and Africa have expanded on an existing narrative about population control through the injection of a microchip to link the vaccine to the concept of the “Mark of the Beast”.
Finally, Personalities in the health and wellness space, such as Dr. Simone Gold, who led the infamous American’s Frontline Doctors press conference and advocated for hydroxychloroquine as a coronavirus treatment.
Expanding the Reach of mRNA Disinformation
Perhaps most important to understand for business leaders is the propagation of these messages to broader cohorts of people. The growth of these communities has implications beyond big pharma as was the case with QANON’s #savethechildren. What starts as a fringe online movement can quickly infect mainstream conversation and pull businesses into fray like we saw with Netflix and Cuties.
For mRNA conversation, figures such as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Joseph Mercola tagged #thegreatreset in their posts in November 2020, promoting the idea that 2020’s lockdown will result in two tiers of society: an all-powerful elite and the rest of humanity who will have none of their own assets.
These ideas then move from social into the media ecosystem. Prominent anti-vaxxers were featured as medical experts on a number of talk shows, such as Theo Von’s This Past Weekend and Mike Tyson’s Hot Boxin’, as well as Christian and local newscasts.
Finally, social media savvy plays a role. Members of the anti-vaxxer community know that fact checkers are watching for dubious content. Some are taking advantage of the live video option on the platforms, effectively avoiding fact checkers and potential deplatforming.
Conspiracy theories often rely on a degree of plausibility before spiraling out of control. The mRNA information environment is fraught with false narratives combined with savvy and motivated actors. As platforms move to stem the tide of misinformation, these actors adapt their tactics and methods. Prominent figures help to legitimize false claims, extending the reach of these communities, which then work to actively recruit new followers. The result is a dangerous combination of misinformed and motivated individuals.
Marketing and communication leaders must be aware of how these narratives form, how new information and events are pulled into the conversation, and where the risk lies for business. The New Information Environment requires a deep understanding of the actor, narratives and tactics used to spread information and the ability to track the course of conversations relevant to their business.
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