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A family member has turned out to be a full on anti-vaxxer, so I've spent the last couple hours going down the rabbit hole of who the main grifters are behind the anti-vax machine.
Meet Del Bigtree, one of the biggest voices at the front of the anti-vax movement. He produced a documentary called Vaxxed and since then has grown an anti-vax empire.
He has a podcast called Highwire & a non-profit called Informed Consent Action Network https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/marketplace-anti-vaccination-hidden-camera-washington-1.5429805
He has a podcast called Highwire & a non-profit called Informed Consent Action Network https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/marketplace-anti-vaccination-hidden-camera-washington-1.5429805
He's created a bevy of bunk science materials designed to suck in distraught or fearful mothers and pretend that he has answers where before there were none.
These online networks of moms will search out and target women with tragic stories they can find on Facebook and swarm them, trying to convince them vaccines killed or injured their child. It's a numbers game. Sometimes it results in a conversion. https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/how-anti-vaxxers-target-grieving-moms-turn-them-crusaders-n1057566
Because ICAN is registered as a non-profit, their tax filings are publicly available.
In 2016 the organization posted a revenue of $120K
In 2019 it was almost $3.5m.
It's safe to say that spreading disinformation has made Del Bigtree very, very rich.
In 2016 the organization posted a revenue of $120K
In 2019 it was almost $3.5m.
It's safe to say that spreading disinformation has made Del Bigtree very, very rich.
Del Bigtree's anti-vax non-profit was started almost entirely with a grant from a multi-millionaire hedge fund investor Bernard Selz.
Since then Bernard and his wife Lisa have donated over $3m to anti-vax groups https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/anti-vax-donation-new-york-couple-vaccine-a8970921.html
Since then Bernard and his wife Lisa have donated over $3m to anti-vax groups https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/anti-vax-donation-new-york-couple-vaccine-a8970921.html
But starting in 2020, something happened that caused this extremely profitable anti-vax grift to change -- COVID-19.
Del shifted almost entirely to virus denialism and fearmongering about an eventual vaccine.
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/covid-19-vaccines-face-varied-powerful-misinformation-movement-online-n1249378
Del shifted almost entirely to virus denialism and fearmongering about an eventual vaccine.
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/covid-19-vaccines-face-varied-powerful-misinformation-movement-online-n1249378
And in doing so, started to align himself with other groups who would help propel this narrative, including promoting Qanon and other similar conspiracies like the Bill Gates microchip conspiracy theory and the 5G conspiracy theory.
There's others I still need to do research on.
@bastardspod did a great episode on Andrew Wakefield, the disgraced doctor turned grifter who is a huge figurehead in the anti-vax movement. https://open.spotify.com/episode/3jhNthyHjJ3SAorg2o3qyl
@bastardspod did a great episode on Andrew Wakefield, the disgraced doctor turned grifter who is a huge figurehead in the anti-vax movement. https://open.spotify.com/episode/3jhNthyHjJ3SAorg2o3qyl
There's also Larry Cook, who I haven't read enough about yet, but he's also one of the key grifters atop the anti-vax mountain of disinfo shit. https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/meet-larry-cook-villain-behind-164513141.html
But this is more or less the top of the pyramid.
It's genuinely upsetting to me how a handful of people that you could fit comfortably in your car are enough to potentially destroy civilization in the middle of a pandemic because they're greedy motherfuckers with no morals.
It's genuinely upsetting to me how a handful of people that you could fit comfortably in your car are enough to potentially destroy civilization in the middle of a pandemic because they're greedy motherfuckers with no morals.
