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Collected Item: “"Disinformation Dozen"”

Give your story a title.

"Disinformation Dozen"

What sort of object is this: text story, photograph, video, audio interview, screenshot, drawing, meme, etc.?

news article

Tell us a story; share your experience. Describe what the object or story you've uploaded says about the pandemic, and/or why what you've submitted is important to you.

This article discusses "misleading claims and outright lies about COVID-19 vaccines that proliferate on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter". According to the article, 12 people are behind the majority of the misinformation surrounding COVID and the vaccine that leads to conspiracy theories. Many of these theories have led some social media users to avoid the vaccine and ignore scientific facts.
It is scary to think that such a small group of people are in control of so much of what we see on social media. What this small group shares and communicates to users are so widespread... I can't open a social media app without seeing some sort of conspiracy theory about COVID or the vaccine. We are so close to overcoming the pandemic, but this type of misinformation is holding us back.

Use one-word hashtags (separated by commas) to describe your story. For example: Where did it originate? How does this object make you feel? How does this object relate to the pandemic?

misinformation, communication, Facebook, conspiracy, NPR, Twitter, social media

Enter a URL associated with this object, if relevant.

https://www.npr.org/2021/05/13/996570855/disinformation-dozen-test-facebooks-twitters-ability-to-curb-vaccine-hoaxes

Who originally created this object? (If you created this object, such as photo, then put "self" here.)

Shannon Bond

Give this story a date.

2021-05-14
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