A Movement Maturing Beyond Social Media: How the Antivax Campaign Is Gaining Steam on the Ground Through Grassroots Activism and Adjacent Causes
Last year, just before the pandemic hit, anti vaxxers celebrated a victory in New Jersey. A hub for the pharma industry, they had managed to block legislation to limit vaccine exemptions. The achievement came after pressure from local antivax organizers, national influencers that used their channels to support the cause and a successful advocacy push by anti-vax activists withinJewish Ultra Orthodox communities in the tri-state area.
A lot has been said and written about the topic of antivax and medical misinformation over the past year.The conversation has largely focused on the role of social media in growing anti-science sentiment and has therefore highlighted the need for online platforms to better limit medical misinformation, and to scrutinize the steps platforms take towards this end. Even when covering protests against lockdowns and hearings featuring anti-mask speakers, reporting has tended to focus on how social media played a role in turning such individuals. While the growing spotlight on the role of social media is important, we should be more vigilant of the communication channels and advocacy efforts taking place outside the social media ecosystem as well as the cause’s increasing ability to weave itself into the fabric of other movements online and beyond by relying on anti-establishment sentiment. Throughout the pandemic, we’ve seen a greater maturity of the anti-science movement into a more organized institution that poses threats greater than just influencing fringe individuals’ state of mind and fueling distrust towards public health. There is an institutionalization of the movement taking place via the creation of more formal avenues for advocacy like organizations and Super PACs that influence de-facto and de-jure outcomes.
Anti-science activists are operating on grassroots levels and already impacting legislations
Measles outbreaks over the past five years and the Covid19 pandemic have led to a focus on social media’s role in cultivating a thriving medical misinformation and antivax movement online. But antivax activism has never been limited to online propaganda. Grassroots activism has also worked on the ground to shape legislation in the U.S. and worldwide.
U.S. efforts have focused on state legislation. Under the title of “medical freedom”, in 2019 local activists in New Jersey successfully stopped legislation that would limit exemptions on infant vaccines. In California, a similar effort failed but the movement around it led to creation of an activist organization “Freedom Keepers United”, a 501c(3) that is pushing against vaccine requirement legislation. The movement has built active chapters across several states (with the aid of social media), that have participated in anti lockdown protests, anti mask local efforts and Covid-19 related legislation.
More recently, antivax influencers Ty and Charlene Bollinger formed the first “medical freedom” Super PAC, United Medical Freedom. The two used their social media channels (Facebook page with over 1M followers) to raise money and awareness.
According to FEC filings (1,2), they managed to raise more than $60K during the second half of 2020. According to the files, their biggest donations came from owners of alternative health businesses. During 2020 the two have become avid advocates of Trump, participating in “stop the steal” protests. Charlene Bollinger has flaunted friendship with Trump’s daughter, Tiffany Trump, and her mother, Marla Maples. In June 2020, Maples and Bollinger appeared together on a Zoom call about natural healing.
These organizations are now lobbying in multiple states, including Tennessee, Florida, Ohio, Virginia, Washington and New Jersey to push for legislation banning or limiting any vaccination requirements. In all of these states, the activists found allies in elected officials to take their legislative agenda forward.
Social media limitations lead activists to explore alternative ways to get the message out
Amid growing complaints by antivaxers about “social media censorship”, new ways are being created to spread the word and utilize online platforms.
- Off-platform production, on-platform distribution: The first event of the new Superpac took place on the stairs of Tennessee’s state capitol in November 2020. It featured a long list of speakers including Trump’s recent pardon, Roger Stone, Plandemic producer, Miki Willis, and several local state legislators, including State Senator Mark Pody, who filed legislation to ban Covid-19 vaccine requirements later that month. But the event was also promoted, streamed and archived on Bollingers’ social media accounts. Specifically Facebook (1.1M followers) Instagram (77k followers), and Youtube (72k followers). Through these channels, Medical Freedom United managed to get over 60K views for the rally.
- Appealing to anti-establishment audiences: even before the pandemic, antivax accounts started using MAGA hashtags online, knowing their content would appeal to many anti-establishment supporters. But the pandemic drove an accelerated convergence process of like-minded conspiracy theorists. Online communities such as the infamous Facebook group “Collective Action against Bill Gates” (was taken down by Facebook in August 2020) alongside anti lockdown groups served as hubs where medical misinformation was distributed to a like minded audience.
- Spreading the word via ally influencers: on 12/13 a paid Instagram post by NFL team Carolina Panthers included a photo featuring team player Russell Okung’s shoe with the logo of Robert Kennedy Jr.’s organization, “Children’s Health Defense’’. Kennedy Jr. has almost 800k followers on Instagram (up from his 100k in 1/2020), but he recently complained that the platform is trying to curb his reach. In the face of media restrictions, exposure on other sites and accounts such as the official Panthers account (1.7M followers) and the Okung account (>80k followers) allows the movement to continue growing its audience and find ways to the mainstream conversation. Robert Kennedy Jr. also gave interviews recently on several podcasts (Mike Tyson’s podcast HotBoxin’, Theo Von’s “This Past Weekend”), where he was received positively by the hosts. Anti vaxxers have also been guests of televangelists and far right streaming channels during the pandemic.
- Utilizing local news:NBC News’ Brandy Zadrozny noted lately that more antivax activists are turning to local news to get the word out. The anti lockdown and anti mask protest coverage provided opportunity for members of local chapters of antivax organization to make their case (often ill-informed and with conspiratorial sentiment) to their local audiences.
2020 has been the year when society has finally started taking antivax and anti-science sentiment more seriously. But as this year comes to an end with Covid-19 vaccines in hand, there should be more reckoning the impact of the anti-science conversation is not limited to decisions made by ordinary citizens such as whether they should get vaccinated, vaccinate their children or wear masks. It is not even limited to the public health harm caused by those individual decisions. Rather, it damages the actions taken by society (through its institution) to respond. In other words, and considering the Covid-19 vaccine context, this conversation main impact is not necessarily on the demand side to the vaccine, but rather on the supply side (or lack thereof). If society is skeptical enough about the potential impact of the available vaccines, despite public health experts assurances, a vaccination operation seems less urgent.
