Contents
Introduction ...................................................................................................................................................... 4
Executive Summary....................................................................................................................................... 5
The Disinformation Dozen are responsible for up to 65% of anti-vaccine content ............... 6
The Disinformation Dozen account for up to 73% of Facebook’s anti-vaxx content ..............7
Facebook is underestimating the influence of leading anti-vaxxers .......................................... 8
Up to 17% of anti-vaccine tweets feature the Disinformation Dozen .......................................... 9
Platforms must act on the Disinformation Dozen ............................................................................ 10
Platforms must do more to protect users from harmful misinformation................................... 11
Appendix: The Disinformation Dozen .................................................................................................... 12
1 Joseph Mercola ........................................................................................................................................ 12
2 Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ...........................................................................................................................14
3 Ty & Charlene Bollinger...................................................................................................................... 16
4 Sherri Tenpenny ................................................................................................................................... 18
5 Rizza Islam ............................................................................................................................................... 21
6 Rashid Buttar .........................................................................................................................................24
7 Erin Elizabeth .........................................................................................................................................25
8 Sayer Ji .................................................................................................................................................... 28
9 Kelly Brogan............................................................................................................................................ 31
10 Christiane Northrup ........................................................................................................................... 33
11 Ben Tapper ............................................................................................................................................. 35
12 Kevin Jenkins ....................................................................................................................................... 38

2

The Center for Countering Digital Hate is a not-for-profit NGO that seeks to disrupt thearchitecture of online hate and misinformation.
Digital technology has changed forever the way we communicate, build relationships,
share knowledge, set social standards, and negotiate and assert our society's values.
Digital spaces have been colonised and their unique dynamics exploited by fringe
movements that instrumentalise hate and misinformation. These movements areopportunistic, agile and confident in exerting influence and persuading people.
Over time these actors, advocating diverse causes - from anti-feminism to ethnic
nationalism to denial of scientific consensus - have formed a Digital Counter
Enlightenment. Their trolling, disinformation and skilled advocacy of their causes has
resocialised the offline world for the worse.
The Center's work combines both analysis and active disruption of these networks.
CCDH's solutions seek to increase the economic, political and social costs of all parts of
the infrastructure - the actors, systems and culture - that support, and often profit fromhate and misinformation.

Anti-Vax Watch
Anti-Vax Watch is an alliance of concerned individuals who are seeking to educate theAmerican public about the dangers of the anti-vax industry.
As the anti-vaccine industry actively seeks to undermine the rollout of the COVID vaccine– capitalizing on a heightened sense of hesitancy from the public and targeting
communities of color who have already been disproportionately impacted by the
pandemic – we recognize that this is an all-hands-on-deck moment. We believe we mustjoin together to bring science and facts to the forefront and alert the public to thedangerous agenda of anti-vaccine leaders.
Our efforts center around bringing to light the nefarious activities of the anti-vaccine
industry and working with leading experts to dispute their falsehoods and non-medical
disinformation with science, research and expert analysis. Our goal is to support theefforts of leading health experts, pro-vaccine researchers and educators, civil rights andbusiness organizations, and others who, like us, recognize the importance of raisingawareness of the science of vaccines.

3

Introduction
We are in the middle of the deadliest US public health crisis in more than a century.
Covid-19 has killed more than 500,000 Americans and undermined the livelihood of
millions of American workers and families. The virus has had a particularly devastating
impact on Black, Latino, and Native American communities, all of whom are suffering
severe illness and death from COVID-19 at rates far greater than the general population.1
Compounding this crisis, vaccination rates in communities of color have also lagged thosefor whites, and skepticism and distrust of the vaccines are greater in these marginalized
communities.2
With widespread distribution of coronavirus vaccines, we have an opportunity to turn acorner on the pandemic. Our recovery depends on the public’s willingness to receive avaccine. However, researchers are increasingly connecting misinformation disseminatedvia social media to increased vaccine hesitancy, which will ultimately cause unnecessary
deaths.3
Living in full view of the public on the internet are a small group of individuals who do nothave relevant medical expertise and have their own pockets to line, who are abusingsocial media platforms to misrepresent the threat of Covid and spread misinformation
about the safety of vaccines. According to our recent report, anti-vaccine activists on
Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Twitter reach more than 59 million followers, making
these the largest and most important social media platforms for anti-vaxxers.4 Our
research has also found anti-vaxxers using social media platforms to target Black
Americans, exploiting higher rates of vaccine hesitancy in that community to spreadconspiracies and lies about the safety of Covid vaccines.5
Facebook, Google and Twitter have put policies into place to prevent the spread ofvaccine misinformation; yet to date, all have failed to satisfactorily enforce those policies.
All have been particularly ineffective at removing harmful and dangerous misinformation
about coronavirus vaccines, though the scale of misinformation on Facebook, and thus
the impact of their failure, is larger. Further, they have all failed to remove the accounts
of prominent anti-vaxxers who have repeatedly violated their terms of service, as
documented in later sections of this report.
Imran Ahmed
CEO, CCDH

4

Executive Summary
1.

The Disinformation Dozen are twelve anti-vaxxers who play leading roles in
spreading digital misinformation about Covid vaccines. They were selected because
they have large numbers of followers, produce high volumes of anti-vaccine content
or have seen rapid growth of their social media accounts in the last two months.

2. Analysis of a sample of anti-vaccine content that was shared or posted on Facebook
and Twitter a total of 812,000 times between 1 February and 16 March 2021 showsthat 65 percent of anti-vaccine content is attributable to the Disinformation Dozen.
3. Despite repeatedly violating Facebook, Instagram and Twitter’s terms of service
agreements, nine of the Disinformation Dozen remain on all three platforms, while
just three have been comprehensively removed from just one platform.
4. This is the product of a series of failures from social media platforms:

a. Research conducted by CCDH last year has shown that platforms fail to act on
95 percent of the Covid and vaccine misinformation reported to them.
b. CCDH’s recent report, Malgorithm, uncovered evidence that Instagram’salgorithm actively recommends similar misinformation.

c. Tracking of 425 anti-vaccine accounts by CCDH shows that their total
following across platforms now stood at 59.2 million in December, an increaseof 877,000 more than they had in June.
d. CCDH’s ongoing tracking shows that the 20 anti-vaxxers with the largest
followings account for over two-thirds of this total cross-platform following of
59.2 million.

5. Analysis of anti-vaccine content posted to Facebook over 689,000 times in the last
two months shows that up to 73 percent of that content originates with members of
the Disinformation Dozen of leading online anti-vaxxers.

6. Facebook’s own internal analysis of vaccine hesitant content on its platform is likely
to underestimate the influence of leading anti-vaxxers by failing to address theultimate source of this content, and by the recorded failure of its algorithms toidentify content concerning vaccines.

7. Analysis of over 120,000 anti-vaccine tweets collected in the last two months showsthat up to 17 percent feature the Disinformation Dozen of leading online anti-vaxxers.
8. The most effective and efficient way to stop the dissemination of harmful
information is to deplatform the most highly visible repeat offenders, who we term
the Disinformation Dozen. This should also include the organisations these
individuals control or fund, as well as any backup accounts they have established toevade removal.
9. Platforms should establish a clear threshold for enforcement action, such as two
strikes, after which restrictions are applied to accounts short of deplaforming them.

10. Users should be presented with warning screens when attempting to follow links tosites known to host vaccine misinformation, and users exposed to posts containing
misinformation should be shown effective corrections.

11. Facebook should not allow private and secret anti-vaccine Groups where dangerous
anti-vaccine disinformation can be spread with impunity.

5

The Disinformation Dozen are
responsible for up to 65% of antivaccine content
At the outset of this research, we identified a dozen individuals who appeared to be
extremely influential creators of digital anti-vaccine content. These individuals wereselected either because they run anti-vaccine social media accounts with large numbersof followers, because they produce high volumes of anti-vaccine content or because their
growth was accelerating rapidly at the outset of our research in February. Full profiles ofeach are available at the end of this report.
1. Joseph Mercola
2. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
3. Ty and Charlene Bollinger
4. Sherri Tenpenny
5. Rizza Islam
6. Rashid Buttar
7. Erin Elizabeth
8. Sayer Ji
9. Kelly Brogan
10. Christiane Northrup
11. Ben Tapper
12. Kevin Jenkins
The Disinformation Dozen are responsible for up to 65% of anti-vaccine content
Our analysis of over 812,000 posts extracted from Facebook and Twitter between 1
February and 16 March 2021 shows that 65 percent of anti-vaccine content is
attributable to the Disinformation Dozen.
This shows that while many people might spread anti-vaccine content on social media
platforms, the content they share often comes from a much more limited range ofsources. Exposure to even a small amount of online vaccine misinformation has beenshown by the Vaccine Confidence Project to reduce the number of people willing to takea Covid vaccine by up to 8.8 percent.6
Platforms have failed to act on the Disinformation Dozen
Despite repeatedly violating Facebook, Instagram and Twitter’s terms of service
agreements, nine of the Disinformation Dozen remain on all three platforms, while justthree have been comprehensively removed from just one platform.
This is an extension of platforms’ failure to act on vaccine misinformation. Research
conducted by CCDH last year has shown that platforms fail to act on 95 percent of theCovid and vaccine misinformation reported to them, and we have uncovered evidence
that Instagram’s algorithm actively recommends similar misinformation.7
Tracking of 425 anti-vaccine accounts by CCDH shows that their total following acrossplatforms now stands at 59.2 million as a result of these failures.8 The 20 anti-vaxxers
with the largest followings account for over two-thirds of this total.
6

The Disinformation Dozen account for
up to 73% of Facebook’s anti-vaxx
content
Analysis of anti-vaccine content posted to Facebook over 689,000 times in the last twomonths shows that up to 73 percent of that content originates with members of theDisinformation Dozen of leading online anti-vaxxers.
This analysis is based on a representative sample of 483 pieces of anti-vaccine content
that are known to be circulating in anti-vaccine Facebook Groups.
We collected this sample by analyzing anti-vaccine
posts containing URL links from 10 private and 20
public anti-vaccine Facebook Groups between 1
February and 16 March 2021. Groups in this sample
have between 2,500 and 235,000 members andgenerate up to 10,000 posts per month.

The largest anti-vaccine Facebook
Group now has 236,000 members.

Researchers then analyzed the content of these URL links, tagging each of them toindicate whether they contained a member of the Disinformation Dozen or originatedfrom a website controlled by or related to one of those members. For example, URL links
to articles hosted on Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s Children’s Health Defense website were
attributed to Kennedy, Jr.
Finally, in order to establish the full distribution of this content on Facebook, we used
Facebook’s own CrowdTangle analytics tool to establish how many times these URLs
have been shared on the platform.

This article by Joseph Mercola is from our sample of posts in anti-vaccine Facebook Groups.
Facebook’s CrowdTangle analytics tool shows it was shared over 12,000 times on the platform.

This revealed that the anti-vaccine content in our sample had been posted or sharedacross Facebook a total of 689,404 times. Content attributed to members of theDisinformation Dozen had been posted or shared 503,896 times, representing 73.1
percent of the total anti-vaccine posts represented by our sample.

7

Facebook is underestimating theinfluence of leading anti-vaxxers
Recent reports suggest that Facebook conducted its own internal analysis to understandthe spread of vaccine hesitant content on its platform.9
According to these reports, Facebook’s data scientists discovered that just 10 out of 638
population segments contained 50 percent of all vaccine hesitancy content on theplatform. These segments represented distinct types of users, Groups and Pages that
could each be at least each 3 million people.
Facebook also found that in the population segment containing the most vaccine
hesitancy, just 111 individual users contributed half of all vaccine hesitant content.
These findings corroborate our research showing that just a small number of determinedanti-vaxxers are responsible for much of the anti-vaccine content on Facebook, but
Facebook is likely to be under-representing the concentration of the problem for two
reasons.
Facebook does not address the sources of anti-vaccine content
Facebook’s internal research does not seem to examine the ultimate source of “vaccine
hesitant content” on its platform. This means that posts that share someone else’s
vaccine hesitant content are attributed to the individual users that share that content,
instead of the ultimate source. In this case, Facebook would attribute 12,000 shares of ananti-vaccine article from Joseph Mercola’s website to the individual users who shared it,
instead of Mercola himself.
This approach is also in keeping with Facebook’s failure to recognise the real-world
connections between accounts, for example by deplatforming the Instagram accounts ofsome anti-vaxxers while leaving their Facebook and organisational accounts intact, as
was the case with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Facebook’s algorithms struggle to identify vaccine content
The Center for Countering Digital Hate’s previous report, Malgorithm, showed that
Instagram’s algorithm would not always identify posts that contained content about
vaccines, and so many posts about vaccines would not carry information labels as
intended.10 Facebook is reported to have carried out this internal research using similar“software algorithms”, meaning it may have missed significant amounts of vaccine
hesitant content. It also makes it far less likely that Facebook has developed algorithmic
methods of distinguishing between individual expressions of vaccine hesitancy and theorganised vaccine disinformation that this report examines.

8Up to 17% of anti-vaccine tweets
feature the Disinformation Dozen
Analysis of over 120,000 anti-vaccine tweets collected in the last two months shows thatup to 17 percent feature the Disinformation Dozen of leading online anti-vaxxers.
This analysis is based on a representative sample of 123,494 anti-vaccine tweets
identified by analysis of their text contents.
We collected this sample using Brandwatch, an enterprise social listening tool, to extract
anti-vaccine tweets posted between 1 February and 16 March 2021 based on text
analysis. Retweets and quote tweets were also extracted to discover which pieces ofanti-vaccine content were shared most frequently.
Tweets were selected based on their use of anti-vaccine keywords, phrases andhashtags, as well as selecting tweets about vaccines from known anti-vaxxers including
those who are not members of the Disinformation Dozen. This process selected tweets
using phrases commonly used by anti-vaxxers such as “informed consent” and“casedemic” in combination with more common terms regarding Covid vaccines.
This sample was then analysed using an automated set of rules to tag those thatfeatured the name or username of a member of the Disinformation Dozen, or contained alink to a website controlled by or related to one of them.
Tweets that were extracted and tagged using these methods were then checked byresearchers on a daily basis to maintain the quality of our data.
This analysis showed that 21,351 of the tweets in our sample featured members of theDisinformation Dozen equivalent to 17.3% of the whole sample.

An example tweet from our sample in which Rizza
Islam, a member of the Disinformation Dozen,
promotes an anti-vaccine film featuring Robert F.
Kennedy Jr.

This tweet from our sample was identified by its useof the words “rona”, “vaccine” and “plandemic”.

9Platforms must act on the
Disinformation Dozen
Social media companies must now follow their repeated promises with concrete action.
Updated policies and statements hold little value unless they are strongly andconsistently enforced.
With the vast majority of harmful content being spread by a select number of accounts,
removing those few most dangerous individuals and groups can significantly reduce theamount of disinformation being spread across platforms.
The public cannot make informed decisions about their health when they are constantly
inundated by disinformation and false content. By removing the source of
disinformation, social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram and Twitter canenable individuals to make a truly informed choice about vaccines.
Deplatform the Disinformation Dozen
The most effective and efficient way to stop the dissemination of harmful information isto deplatform the most highly visible repeat offenders, who we term the Disinformation
Dozen. This should also include the organisations these individuals control or fund, as
well as any backup accounts they have established to evade removal.
1. Joseph Mercola
2. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
3. Ty and Charlene Bollinger
4. Sherri Tenpenny
5. Rizza Islam
6. Rashid Buttar
7. Erin Elizabeth
8. Sayer Ji
9. Kelly Brogan
10. Christiane Northrup
11. Ben Tapper
12. Kevin Jenkins
Deplatform key anti-vaxxer organisations
In addition to deplatforming the personal accounts of the Disinformation Dozen,
platforms must also acknowledge the real-world networks they use to spread their antivaccine messages. This means deplatforming key organisations that are linked to theDisinformation Dozen or simply help spread their messages.
•
•
•
•
•

Children’s Health Defense (Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.)
Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN) (Del Bigtree)
National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) (Barbara Loe Fisher, Joseph Mercola)
Organic Consumers Association (OCA) (Joseph Mercola)
Millions Against Medical Mandates

10Platforms must do more to protect
users from harmful misinformation
In addition to removing repeat offenders, in taking the following steps, social media
platforms can make monumental strides toward decreasing the presence of
misinformation on feeds.
Establish a clear threshold for enforcement action
A low threshold, such as two strikes, would allow for moderate enforcement that does
not rise to the level of removal, such as restriction of a page’s ability to go live or post
video content without moderated review. Such an approach could allow for efficientbalancing of harm reduction with the preservation of free speech on a large scale.
Display corrective posts to users exposed to disinformation
Serve users who have been exposed to content deemed to be in violation of the policy
with corrective posts from trusted providers at three times the frequency at which they
consumed misinformation. These corrective posts should be designed with input fromexperts to ensure that they help address the negative social consequences of
misinformation such as vaccine hesitancy without inadvertently entrenching theiropinions through the “backfire effect”.11
Add warning screens when users click links to misinformation sites
Add a warning screen in front of third-party websites housing content associated withvaccine misinformation profiteering. Additionally, platforms should stand up a task force
to maintain awareness of trends in vaccine misinformation dissemination and provide
updated recommendations as needed.
Institute an Accountability API
Institute an Accountability API to allow experts on sensitive and high-importance topics
to perform the human analysis that will ultimately make Facebook’s AI more effective.
Platforms can also offer guidance for users wishing to debunk information without
running afoul of enforcers.
Ban private and secret anti-vaccine Facebook Groups
Ban private groups that traffic primarily in vaccine disinformation and prevent groups
that require a Facebook disclaimer from existing as private or secret Groups. Anti-vaxxers
rely on the privacy of these Groups to spread dangerous anti-vaccine disinformation with
impunity.

11

Appendix: The Disinformation Dozen
The following profiles of the Disinformation Dozen collate their current access toFacebook, Twitter and Instagram; key biographical details; and examples of their content
and posts which breach platform standards.

1 Joseph Mercola
Facebook:
Twitter:
Instagram:

ActiveActiveActiveJoseph Mercola is a successful anti-vaccine entrepreneur, peddling dietary supplements
and false cures as alternatives to vaccines. Mercola’s combined personal social media
accounts have around 3.6 million followers.
Example Violations

12

This Mercola article included in our sample of URLs posted in anti-vaccine Facebook
Groups claims that “hydrogen peroxide treatment can successfully treat most viral
respiratory illnesses, including coronavirus” has been shared on Facebook 4,600 times.

13

2 Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Facebook:
Twitter:
Instagram:

ActiveActivePart Removed

Kennedy is a long-standing anti-vaxxer, and his Children’s Health Defense (CHD) hosts a
range of anti-vaccine articles.
Kennedy’s account was banned from Instagram on 8 February, yet his Facebook Page
remains active, as does the CHD’s Instagram page.
Kennedy and Children’s Health Defense released a film in mid-March targeting membersof the Black and Latino communities with tailored anti-vaccine messages. Facebook andTwitter continue to allow him a platform to promote these false claims.
Example Violations
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. shared this post which contains misinformation about Covid
vaccines posing a threat to pregnant women.

A misleading claim that Hank Aaron’s death was “part of a wave of suspicious deaths”
remains available with a “missing context” label, despite the Medical Examiner
confirming no association.

14

Here and here, Kennedy promotes misinformation linking Covid vaccines to deaths.

15

3 Ty & Charlene Bollinger
Facebook:
Twitter:
Instagram:

ActiveActiveActiveTy and Charlene Bollinger are anti-vax entrepreneurs who run a network of accounts thatmarket books and DVDs about vaccines, cancer and COVID-19. In 2020 they launched theUnited Medical Freedom Super PAC ahead of last year’s United States elections.
The Bollingers have promoted the conspiracy theory that Bill Gates plans to inject
everyone with microchips as part of a vaccination program.
Example Violations

16

Promoting a debunked story which claims that the Covid vaccine is responsible forseveral deaths in Senegal.

The Bollingers have also posted content that violates platform standards on election
misinformation. This post falsely claims the US Presidential election was “stolen” andpromotes the rally the Bollingers spoke at on 6 January.

17

4 Sherri Tenpenny
Facebook:
Twitter:
Instagram:

Part Removed
ActiveActiveSherri Tenpenny is an osteopath physician who spreads anti-vaccine sentiment and false
claims about the safety and efficacy of masks via her social media channels. While her
Facebook account has been removed, her Twitter and Instagram are still intact.
Example Violations
Facebook’s policies state that false claims about the safety and efficacy of masks areprohibited. Tenpenny, who regularly advocates against mask-wearing, is clearly inviolation of that policy here.

18

On 23 June 2020 Sherri Tenpenny tweeted that the longer you wear a mask, the moreunhealthy you get. Tenpenny alleged that masks suppress your immune system.

Tenpenny also posts, “Stop getting tested. If you are getting tested you are part of the
problem.” This clearly violates Facebook’s policy against claims that can discourage
someone from getting a government-approved COVID-19 test.

19After Instagram took down an Instagram Live with disgraced former doctor Andrew
Wakefield, Tenpenny took to Instagram again with Wakefield with a video where
Wakefield calls COVID-19 an “alleged plague,” and errantly discusses a vaccine that “haskilled more children than it has saved from the targeted disease.” This video alone
contains numerous violations of Facebook’s stated policies yet remains available despite
Instagram seeing fit to remove it the first time it was posted.

20

5 Rizza Islam
Facebook:
Twitter:
Instagram:

RemovedActiveActiveRizza Islam’s anti-vaccine posts aim to spread vaccine hesitancy amongst African
Americans. While Facebook removed Rizza Islam’s Facebook Page in February, hecontinues to post anti-vaccine messages from his Instagram and Twitter accounts.
Example Violations
Rizza Islam promoted the false conspiracy theory that COVID vaccines make womeninfertile in a tweet last June.

Rizza Islam recently tweeted that he recovered from COVID in 48 hours by following a
special diet.

21

In this February 2021 post, Islam posts a video which contains contains the claim thatvaccines cause autism in higher rates in non-white children.

This post claims that “Satan” is behind the COVID vaccine and discourages audience
members from receiving the vaccine.

22

In this February 2021 post, Islam suggests that Bill Gates had a role in planning the
pandemic.

23

6 Rashid Buttar
Facebook:
Twitter:
Instagram:

ActiveActiveActiveRashid Buttar is an osteopath physician and conspiracy theorist known for videos posted
to his YouTube channel.
Example Violations
In this Facebook post, Buttar claimed that Covid vaccines cause infertility.

In this video posted to Facebook, Buttar claims that COVID-19 tests have living
microorganisms (discouraging people from getting government-approved tests).

24

7 Erin Elizabeth
Facebook:
Twitter:
Instagram:

ActiveActiveActiveErin Elizabeth, partner to Joseph Mercola, runs Health Nut News, a prominent ‘alternative
health’ website with affiliated newsletter and social media accounts.
Example Violations
This Instagram post claims vaccines are part of a medical industry plan to create “achronically-ill population”.

25

26

Erin Elizabeth also posted this antisemitic conspiracy theory about the Rothschilds to her
Instagram account27

8 Sayer Ji
Facebook:
Twitter:
Instagram:

ActiveRemovedPart Removed

Sayer Ji runs a popular alternative health website, GreenMedInfo.com, and affiliatedsocial media accounts that promote pseudoscience and anti-vaccine misinformation.
Despite his GreenMedInfo accounts being removed by Twitter and Instagram, it is stillavailable on Facebook.
An article on GreenMedInfo.com falsely claimed that "The FDA knows that rushed-tomarket COVID-19 vaccines may cause a wide range of life-threatening side effects,
including death."
Example Violations
In this March 2021 post Ji shares claims that the Pfizer vaccine has killed more people
than COVID.

28

29

30

9 Kelly Brogan
Facebook:
Twitter:
Instagram:

RemovedActiveActiveKelly Brogan is the partner of fellow alternative health entrepreneur Sayer Ji. She claims
to practice “holistic psychiatry” and sells a range of books and courses from her website.
Example Violations
Brogan has posted messages encouraging Instagram users not to wear masks

31

In a widely viewed video in March, 2020, Kelly Brogan claimed that “there is potentiallyno such thing as the coronavirus” because “it’s not possible to prove that any given
pathogen has induced death.”
A post on Kelly Brogan’s website titled “Why We Stay Asleep When Covid-19 Is Trying to
Wake Us Up” cites a number of COVID conspiracy theories, including that the pandemic
was planned. CrowdTangle analytics show it has been shared on Facebook nearly 11,000
times.

32

10 Christiane Northrup
Facebook:
Twitter:
Instagram:

ActiveActiveActiveChristiane Northrup is an obstetrics and gynecology physician who has embraced
alternative medicine and anti-vaccine conspiracies. She has used her social media
accounts to spread disinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine.
Example Violations
Here, Northrup links to a Google Doc that recommends HCQ and Ivermectin among
several substances as cures for COVID.

Here she makes the baseless claim that vaccines cause an 800% increase in chronic
illness.

33

34

11 Ben Tapper
Facebook:
Twitter:
Instagram:

ActiveActiveActiveBen Tapper is a chiropractor with a growing following on social media. He has routinely
posted COVID disinformation and spoken out against masking.
Example Violations

35

36

37

12 Kevin Jenkins
Facebook:
Twitter:
Instagram:

ActiveActiveActiveKevin Jenkins is an anti-vaccine activist with a growing social media presence who hasappeared at public events with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Jenkins has called vaccines a“conspiracy” to “wipe out” black people and is a co-founder of the Freedom Airway &Freedom Travel Alliance, a company founded in late 2020 to help its members travel
around the world without observing any masking, quarantining, vaccination, or otherpandemic control measures.
Example Violations
In a now-deleted Facebook Live from DC on January 6th, Kevin Jenkins stands on stage
and tells the crowd that Black people are being targeted with the vaccine. “They are

spending a trillion dollars to convince you [the Black Community] that it’s ok to killyourselves [with the COVID vaccine].”38

Here Jenkins claimed that the Black community is being targeted for experimentation
with the vaccine.

In a now-deleted post, he also accused Hank Aaron of being paid off to take the vaccine calling him a “modern-day slavecatcher.”39

Published 24 March 2021
© 2020 Center for Countering Digital Hate Ltd

CDC, 10 December 2020, https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/healthequity/racial-ethnic-disparities/disparities-hospitalization.html
1CDC, 10 December 2020, https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/healthequity/racial-ethnic-disparities/disparities-deaths.html
KFF, 17 March 2021, https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-covid-19/issue-brief/latest-data-on-covid19-vaccinations-race-ethnicity/
2

KFF, 26 February 2021, https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-covid-19/poll-finding/kff-covid-19vaccine-monitor-february-2021/
Daniel Allington, Siobhan McAndrew, Vivienne Louisa Moxham-Hall, Bobby Duffy, Media usage
predicts intention to be vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2 in the US and the UK, Vaccine, 2021, ISSN
0264-410X, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2021.02.054
34“The Anti-Vaxx Playbook”, CCDH, 22 December 2020, https://www.counterhate.com/playbook

USA Today, 10 March 2021, https://eu.usatoday.com/story/tech/2021/03/10/covid-vaccinefacebook-youtube-instagram-black-misinformation-fight/6943180002/
5

Loomba, S., de Figueiredo, A., Piatek, S.J. et al. Measuring the impact of COVID-19 vaccine
misinformation on vaccination intent in the UK and USA. Nat Hum Behav 5, 337–348 (2021).
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01056-1
6“Failure to Act”, Center for Countering Digital Hate, 3 September 2020,
https://www.counterhate.co.uk/failure-to-act
7“Malgorithm”, Center for Countering Digital Hate, 8 March 2021,
https://www.counterhate.com/malgorithm“The Anti-Vaxx Playbook”, Center for Countering Digital Hate, 22 December 2020,
https://www.counterhate.com/playbook
8

Washington Post, 14 March 2021,
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/03/14/facebook-vaccine-hesistancy-qanon/
9“Malgorithm”, Center for Countering Digital Hate, 8 March 2021,
https://www.counterhate.com/malgorithm
10

Nyhan B, Reifler J. Does correcting myths about the flu vaccine work? An experimental
evaluation of the effects of corrective information. Vaccine. 2015 Jan 9;33(3):459-64. doi:
10.1016/j.vaccine.2014.11.017. Epub 2014 Dec 8. PMID: 25499651.
11

Skurnik, I., Yoon, C., Schwarz, N. (2007). “Myths & Facts” about the flu: Health education
campaigns can reduce vaccination intentions. Retrieved fromhttp://webuser.bus.umich.edu/yoonc/research/Papers/Skurnik_Yoon_Schwarz_2005_Myths_Facts_Flu_Health_Education_Campaigns_JAMA.pdf
Peter C, Koch T. When Debunking Scientific Myths Fails (and When It Does Not): The Backfire
Effect in the Context of Journalistic Coverage and Immediate Judgments as Prevention Strategy.
Science Communication. 2016;38(1):3-25. doi:10.1177/1075547015613523
Douglas MacFarlane, Li Qian Tay, Mark J. Hurlstone, Ullrich K.H. Ecker, Refuting Spurious COVID-19
Treatment Claims Reduces Demand and Misinformation Sharing, Journal of Applied Research in
Memory and Cognition, 2020, ISSN 2211-3681, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jarmac.2020.12.005.

40