Russian Twitter trolls weaponized the vaccine debate
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| Rep. Justin Price (R-Richmond), Blake "Flip" Filippi (R-Charlestown) and Sen. Elaine Morgan (R-Hopkinton) - were these anti-vaxxers duped by the Russians? |
The
study, published by George Washington University,
showed that Russian Twitter trolls linked to the Kremlin promoted divisive
content of misinformation on both sides of the heated debate. The research was
conducted between July 2014 and September 2017.
One of the authors of the study said,
“These trolls seem to be using vaccination as a wedge issue, promoting discord
in American society.”
Researchers studied the database of
Russian troll accounts and found they were “significantly more likely to tweet
about vaccination than average Twitter users.”
“Thus, health communications have become
‘weaponized,'” researchers noted. “Public health issues, such as vaccination,
are included in attempts to spread misinformation and misinformation by foreign
powers.”
From NBC:
An
NBC News analysis of over a million tweets sent by identified Russian trolls published by the
data journalism website FiveThirtyEight and
Clemson University researchers found over 1,000 examples of tweets that mention
vaccines, often spreading divisive misinformation and discredited theories.
“’The Vaccine Hoax is Over — Secret
Documents Reveal Shocking Truth,’ wrote Russian troll _NICKLUNA_ in February
2017. ‘Autism Rates in California Have Skyrocketed Following Mandatory
Vaccination Bill,’ tweeted Amelie Baldwin, a prolific Russian troll, in
December of 2016.”
In February 2015, researches noticed
Russian trolls created divisive anti-vaccine hashtags. For example, one troll
account tweeted, “The production of a #vaccine is disgusting #VaccinateUS.”
“#VaccinateUS #vaccines can cause mental
disorders!,” another Russian troll account tweeted. That same troll tweeted
eight more times using the same anti-vaccine hashtag.
While the research found that posts
relating to vaccinations represented a small proportion of the total tweets
sent out by the accounts, the study provides an insight that the Russian
disinformation campaign did not focus strictly on political issues.
Here
is an abstract of the report from its authors:
Weaponized
Health Communication: Twitter Bots and Russian Trolls Amplify the Vaccine
Debate
David A.
Broniatowski PhD, Amelia M.
Jamison MAA, MPH, SiHua
Qi SM, Lulwah
AlKulaib SM, Tao
Chen PhD, Adrian
Benton MS, Sandra C.
Quinn (show
all authors)Author
affiliations, information, and correspondence details
Published Online: August 23, 2018
Methods. We compared bots’ to average users’ rates of
vaccine-relevant messages, which we collected online from July 2014 through
September 2017.
We estimated the likelihood that users were bots, comparing
proportions of polarized and antivaccine tweets across user types. We conducted
a content analysis of a Twitter hashtag associated with Russian troll activity.
Results. Compared with average users, Russian trolls (χ2(1) = 102.0; P < .001),
sophisticated bots (χ2(1) = 28.6; P < .001), and
“content polluters” (χ2(1) = 7.0; P < .001) tweeted
about vaccination at higher rates.
Whereas content polluters posted more
antivaccine content (χ2(1) = 11.18; P < .001),
Russian trolls amplified both sides. Unidentifiable accounts were more
polarized (χ2(1) = 12.1; P < .001) and antivaccine (χ2(1) = 35.9; P < .001).
Analysis of the Russian troll hashtag showed that its messages were more
political and divisive.
Conclusions. Whereas bots that spread malware and unsolicited
content disseminated antivaccine messages, Russian trolls promoted discord.
Accounts masquerading as legitimate users create false equivalency, eroding
public consensus on vaccination.
Public Health Implications. Directly confronting vaccine skeptics enables bots to
legitimize the vaccine debate. More research is needed to determine how best to
combat bot-driven content.
(Am J Public Health. Published online ahead
of print August 23, 2018: e1–e7. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2018.304567)