# In case you thought there wasn't a disinformation campaign **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [July 26, 2021, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-case-you-thought-there-wasnt-a-disinformation-campaign/947286 "2021-07-26T00:32:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2021, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-case-you-thought-there-wasnt-a-disinformation-campaign/947286/1 "2021-07-26T00:32:07Z")
I was reading the BBC on a different COVID-19 topic (oral vaccines) and noticed this link in the corner. > **[The YouTubers who blew the whistle on an anti-vax plot](https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-57928647)** > > A mysterious marketing agency secretly offered to pay social media stars to spread disinformation about Covid-19 vaccines It seems that there are people being paid to spread false information about the vaccines. Granted, this one seems to be about painting one as more dangerous than another, but this is also the most bungled attempt. If you’d rather talk about the work on an oral vaccine, I can make a thread about it, too. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2021, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-case-you-thought-there-wasnt-a-disinformation-campaign/947286/2 "2021-07-26T01:10:03Z")
That’s a really interesting article, @BigT. Thanks for posting it. Now, why am I not surprised the Russians are probably involved? ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2021, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-case-you-thought-there-wasnt-a-disinformation-campaign/947286/3 "2021-07-26T08:03:10Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > It seems that there are people being paid to spread false information about the vaccines. More generally, there is a growing professional back-alley industry of “disinformation for hire”. It seems there are a whole bunch of shady operators who peddle more-or-less professional disinformation for paying clients. > **[Disinformation for Hire, a Shadow Industry, Is Quietly Booming (Published 2021)](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/25/world/europe/disinformation-social-media.html)** > > Back-alley firms meddle in elections and promote falsehoods on behalf of clients who can claim deniability, escalating our era of unreality. > [@](#): > > Private firms, straddling traditional marketing and the shadow world of geopolitical influence operations, are selling services once conducted principally by intelligence agencies. > > They sow discord, meddle in elections, seed false narratives and push viral conspiracies, mostly on social media. And they offer clients something precious: deniability. > > “Disinfo-for-hire actors being employed by government or government-adjacent actors is growing and serious,” said Graham Brookie, director of the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab, calling it “a boom industry.” Professional disinfo-for-hire regarding Covid and the vaccines is but a small corner of the industry. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2021, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-case-you-thought-there-wasnt-a-disinformation-campaign/947286/4 "2021-07-26T08:07:18Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > If you’d rather talk about the work on an oral vaccine, I can make a thread about it, too. I’d be all for developing an oral vaccine. Maybe they could put it into all our municipal water supplies (just like they did with fluoride) so everyone who drinks municipal water gets it. Oh yes, I remember the screaming and shrieking from the paranoid lunatics about fluoridated water! It would make you infertile! It would give you cancer! It was a Communist plot to take over the minds of our vulnerable youth! But saner heads prevailed, fluoridation became widespread, and American Civilization survived, at least for a while. Why not do the same with Covid oral vax? ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2021, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-case-you-thought-there-wasnt-a-disinformation-campaign/947286/5 "2021-07-26T10:58:54Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > I’d be all for developing an oral vaccine. Maybe they could put it into all our municipal water supplies (just like they did with fluoride) so everyone who drinks municipal water gets it. > > Oh yes, I remember the screaming and shrieking from the paranoid lunatics about fluoridated water! It would make you infertile! It would give you cancer! It was a Communist plot to take over the minds of our vulnerable youth! > > But saner heads prevailed, fluoridation became widespread, and American Civilization survived, at least for a while. > > Why not do the same with Covid oral vax? How much money ya got? Depending on which vaccine and who’s paying, a dose of COVID vaccine costs anywhere from $2.15 to $19.50. I might drink half a gallon a day, but I use a lot more to shower, flush toilets, do dishes, and water the yard. If you want to give me a dose, then I’m pouring ten doses down the drain or on the ground. That’s a lot of wasted vaccine. In comparison fluoridation is cheap: somewhere between **[11 cents and $24.38 per person per year](https://www.google.com/search?q=fluoridation+costs&rlz=1C1GCEA_enUS930US931&oq=fluoridation+costs&aqs=chrome..69i57.2903j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8)**. Then there’s the question of dosage. Large doses reportedly run the risk of adverse side effects, while small doses are ineffective. There’s no control over how much tap water a person drinks, and no monitoring for acute side effects like there is when you hang around for 15 minutes after getting a shot. There are also people who should not receive vaccines (people who are known to be at risk for severe adverse effects). Putting vaccine in the city water supply would ensure they receive it, and could put them in danger. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2021, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-case-you-thought-there-wasnt-a-disinformation-campaign/947286/6 "2021-08-16T03:43:51Z")
There is also a significant group who are ‘earning money’ by spreading disinformation. People seeking income as ‘influencers’ are rewarded for finding communities that are tight, sticky and loyal. That’s anti-vaxers. Analysis of youtube/facebook/instagram influencers shows that they are being steered into providing an anti-vax viewpoint to gain clicks. That’s just something I read on the internet 🙂 . I didn’t keep a reference.