Rockwell, who was targeted by vaccine opponents after she posted about her miscarriage online, looks at her Instagram page with her hijacked post marked as fake news during an interview at her home in Jenks, Oklahoma. Individuals across the country, like Rockwell, have found themselves swept into the misinformation maelstrom, their online posts or their very identities hijacked by anti-vaccine activists and others peddling lies about the Covid-19 outbreak. — AP
Dr Michelle Rockwell lost a pregnancy in December and shared her heartache with her 30,000 Instagram followers. Weeks later, she received the Covid-19 vaccine and posted about that, too.
By February, Rockwell was getting past the grief and finally starting to experience moments of joy. But then, to her horror, social media users began using her posts to spread the false claim that she miscarried as a result of the shot.
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Rockwell, who was targeted by vaccine opponents after she posted about her miscarriage online, looks at her Instagram page with her hijacked post marked as fake news during an interview at her home in Jenks, Oklahoma. Individuals across the country, like Rockwell, have found themselves swept into the misinformation maelstrom, their online posts or their very identities hijacked by anti-vaccine activists and others peddling lies about the Covid-19 outbreak. — AP
Reeder displays a retractable stunt syringe and needle at his shop in Austin, Texas. Reeder’s TikTok video about prop retractable needles was used without his permission to spread false claims about politicians getting fake vaccinations. — AP
Rockwell, who was targeted by vaccine opponents after she posted about her miscarriage online, at her home in Jenks, Oklahoma. To her horror, social media users used her posts to spread the false claim that she miscarried as a result of the shot. — AP
Reeder demonstrates a retractable stunt syringe and needle prop at his shop in Austin, Texas. In December, he learned that a clip of the footage was being misused on Facebook and Twitter. Someone had isolated the part of the video where he pushes the spring-loaded syringe into his arm, and falsely claimed that politicians overseas are using the devices to fake their Covid-19 vaccinations. — AP
Reeder displays retractable props at his shop in Austin, Texas. Reeder was able to tamp down the falsehoods with help from TikTok followers who vouched for him and by releasing a second video outlining the misinformation. But it upsets him that his posts were used to promote a conspiracy theory he knows is false. — AP
