Anti-vaxxer Asshattery Update: #liedsuddenly

 

About a month ago I blogged about the latest efforts of the anti-vaxxer asshats, who've been trying to claim that any unexplained, sudden death is because of vaccines. Today I learned that this effort is a lot more organized than I thought.

According to an AP investigation, the trend is being driven by a dark web film that

features a montage of headlines found on Google to falsely suggest they prove that sudden deaths have “never happened like this until now.” The film has amassed more than 20 million views on an alternative video sharing website, and its companion Twitter account posts about more deaths and injuries daily. 

An affiliated Twitter account has been flogging the hashtag #diedsuddenly, posting new cases as it finds them. The problem is that the film and posts are straight-up lies. 

AP uncovered case after case where the cause of death was unknown or attributable to other known medical conditions. They even list people who died but were unvaccinated as victims of the vaccine! As you can probably imagine, grieving families aren't too happy about having their departed loved ones used as fodder for a coordinated disinformation campaign. 

People who are doing this are scum, plain and simple. It wouldn't surprise me a bit if this turned out to be a Russian or Iranian or North Korean operation.

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