Russia-linked PR company paying influencers to post anti-vax disinformation

[noblegiraffe]

www.theguardian.com/media/2021/may/25/influencers-say-russia-linked-pr-agency-asked-them-to-disparage-pfizer-vaccine

German and French influencers with millions of followers have been approached by a London-based PR agency with Russian connections, asking them to act passionately about information being covered up that the Pfizer vaccine is responsible for 100s of deaths.

Interesting. I wonder how many people took the cash, and useful to know that there are bad faith actors actively and dishonestly trying to discourage people from taking the vaccine.

Indeed, Not. It used to be the same on the schools threads. We know that one anti-lockdown group used to post on facebook calling people to them.

@Notonthestairs

The amount of new posters/name changers on Cv board always interests me.

I brought this up on site stuff a couple of months ago. I feel quite strongly that if it’s so easy to name change on here there should be some other way to judge how likely it is that you’re having a conversation with someone with an ulterior motives. We haven’t got many tools on here to protect ourselves from campaigns of disinformation. I didn’t get much support off MNHQ and was told by other posters to accept that people had differing opinions. It’s just not seen as a problem.

I think bots/paid agitators are still treated like a conspiracy theory by most.

@Cornettoninja

yup, I think it would be a good idea to have namechange limited for the coronavirus board

total fair enough if you want to change for things like AIBU and relationship, but here it does allow a lot of abuse to happen

@speckledostrichegg I suggested displaying a vague join date (month/year) which didn’t go down well... it’s not fool proof by any means but at least it would be a layer of information and allow for multiple name changes still. Given the amount of rucks that go on here anyway I really don’t think blatantly new posters would necessarily be at a disadvantage.

Sorry for the digression OP, I just feel MN is such an easy target for political campaigns and there is no way to mitigate personal risk on here.

This is interesting: news.mit.edu/2021/artificial-intelligence-system-could-help-counter-spread-disinformation-0527

Russian anti vax thing is the biggest red herring going

It's been going for many years, pre-dating the pandemic by long time. It's not a red herring - it is evidence based (having been tracked back to originating accounts. They don't have bang to right proof of official Russian involvement. But the sheer weight of evidence makes other explanations convoluted, over-complex and somewhat implausible

Haven't we always known Russia and China do this sort of thing to other countries. Be during the run up to elections, covid and vaccines or whatever else they think could destabilize a country a little. Anything to give them the upper hand in business or politics.

Yes, I think paying popular people to do the dirty work is new though?

They also have this issue on MN that people can easily see a lack of posting history (or a particularly focused posting history).

I guess paying established influencers to do the dirty work makes sense, but risks exposure.

They have allegedly paid minor royalty, politicians and film stars in the past to influence people. So this is just the modern day extension of that I suppose.

Well we know that plenty of politicians take money. Or wallpaper.

It is definitely important to know who is paying for your gold wallpaper. Though I doubt it was Putin this time

@noblegiraffe

That's interesting, AuntieStella. I get that they are wanting to disparage the Pfizer vaccine in order to hype the Sputnik, why would they be anti other vaccines?

I'd love to know what the Russian plan is.

They've approached a lot of ppl in France with big youtube followers. Pfizer is the main vaccination ised there. So I'm not surprised that they're trying to discredit Pfizer in France.

Apparently there are also aiming to cause discord with the different countries within the EU.

If they're targeting Pfizer in France and Germany, one wonders how much of the furore around AZ in the UK is manufactured.