Propaganda Alert: Most of The Antivax Ads on Facebook Are Funded by Just 2 Organisations

(Stillness in the Storm Editor) The following article is produced by, what I would argue, is a government-sponsored pro-vax outlet. I’ve seen many pro-vax articles on this site, targeting those who want to fight anti-vaxxers. We’re sharing it here to alert you to the fact there is a propaganda campaign against vaccine truth. The purpose of sharing this is to make you aware of the disinformation propaganda tactics so that you can guard your mind against them.

While some might argue that avoiding disinformation and propaganda all together is the best thing to do, I disagree emphatically.

In my experience and research, looking to historical examples and tested methods, the way one guards against false information is by facing it head-on so that their superior knowledge and wisdom can identify the falsehood. In this way, you can think of your mind as having an immune system. When your body identifies a virus, it attaches antibodies to it so that your body knows it’s not good. Similarly, you can’t guard against a “mind virus”—a falsehood—unless you mark it as such. To mark it, you need to identify it. And to identify it you need to face it.

Related How Public Vaccine Policy Apologists Use ‘Firehosing’ to Spread Misinformation

What’s more, with the right frame of mind, with the right research inquiry in place, you can decode propaganda to understand how the Deep State is trying to manipulate you.

In this way, disinformation is key information to a well-trained mind.

In this instance, I think the Deep State is attempting to paint anti-vaxxers as anti-science.

But in principle, the anti-vax movement is founded on the recognition that the science has not been settled. That is, there is a wealth of evidence o suggest that vaccines, as they exist today, cause more harm than good, and appear to be linked to autism.

Buy Book Vaccine Whistleblower: Exposing Autism Research Fraud at the CDC

Thus, if the mainstream science community was truly about science, they would honestly and fully investigate these claims. But they don’t. And the propagandists know they aren’t taking a scientific stance when they reject anti-vax positions.

With this in mind, ask yourself, are the statements below science-based or opinion-based? Are they presenting the anti-vax position in an honest way (steelman) so that you can make up your own mind? Are they addressing the claims of anti-vaxxers with superior arguments or are they merely saying “it’s been debunked,” while offering nothing to help you understand why?

Be wary.

There are forces in this world that want to manipulate your thinking and fill your mind with falsehoods.

Discernment is the shield that guards against deception.

 – Justin

Related 4 Key Steps of Discernment – Advanced Truth-Seeking Tools

Source – Science Alert

by David Neild, November 18th, 2019

We know that online social networks are having a dramatic impact on the way we gather and absorb information, and it’s always worth checking out who is behind the links and adverts you see in your feed – because it can be very enlightening.

Case in point: vaccines. You might feel like there’s a mobilising army of opposition to vaccines on the web, but the reality has turned out to be quite different, according to a new study. Digging into the sources behind antivax advertising, a team of US researchers has discovered that 54 percent of antivax ads up to February 2019 were paid for by just two organisations.

Those organisations are the World Mercury Project run by Robert Kennedy Jr, and the Stop Mandatory Vaccinations campaign run by Larry Cook, both peddling anti-vaccination claims that have been debunked time and time again by scientists.

Buy Book Dissolving Illusions: Disease, Vaccines, and The Forgotten History by Dr. Suzanne Humphries 

The researchers looked into Facebook’s public Ad Library for their data, an initiative to try and improve ad transparency on the social network. As of March this year, antivax ads have been banned on the platform as being political, although pro-vaccine ads seem to be getting caught up in the same net.

“The average person might think that this anti-vaccine movement is a grassroots effort led by parents, but what we see on Facebook is that there are a handful of well-connected, powerful people who are responsible for the majority of advertisements,” says anthropologist Amelia Jamison, from the University of Maryland.

The study analysed 309 Facebook adverts displayed collected in December 2018 and February 2019: 163 had a pro-vaccine message, and 145 were anti-vaccine. Facebook’s detailed targeting tools can be used to point antivax ads towards people in areas where their claims are more readily believed, or towards mothers with young children.

According to the new research, the anti-vaccine ads had more money behind them and a slightly bigger reach than the pro-vaccine ads. For anyone interested in the health and well-being of the general public, that’s a problem.

A total of 27 unique buyers were behind the 145 anti-vaccine ads, the research found, while 83 unique buyers were behind the 163 pro-vaccine advertisements.

The Minnesota Hospitals Association is one of the organisations that has seen pro-vaccine ads blocked by Facebook, showing how adverts from both sides have been caught up in the same net.

“From our organisational perspective, vaccine misinformation causes real harm to individuals and their communities,” Emily Lowther, a spokesperson for the Minnesota Hospitals Association, who wasn’t involved in the study, told the The Guardian.

Buy Book The Peanut Allergy Epidemic, Third Edition: What’s Causing It and How to Stop It (Vaccine Conspiracy)

Other platforms, including GoFundMe and YouTube, have also been taking a stand against the misinformation spread by Kennedy Jr, Cook and others, but one of the concerns that’s been raised is that antivax groups are better at gaming the system than pro-science advertisers.

In other words, antivax ads can be constructed in such a way as to comply with the rules set down by networks including Facebook, while still promoting views and claims that have no scientific credibility behind them.

The researchers behind the new study are calling on Facebook and similar platforms to take greater steps to combat “vaccine hesitancy” – now named as one of the top 10 global threats to public health by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

“While everyone knows that Facebook can be used to spread misinformation, few people realise the control that advertisers have to target their message,” says computer scientist Mark Dredze, from Johns Hopkins University.

“For a few thousand dollars, a small number of anti-vaccine groups can micro-target their message, exploiting vulnerabilities in the health of the public.”

The research has been published in Vaccine.

Stillness in the Storm Editor: Why did we post this?

The Deep State agenda requires total control of your sense of reality, what I have termed reality management. This is founded on the psychological principle that the environment affects behavior more than direct force. If you want to control someone so perfectly that they don’t know it and actually do what you want thinking it was their own choice, you need to control what someone thinks. Propaganda is a tool for the mass manipulation of perception, values, and life choices. The aim of propaganda is to use subtle techniques to influence your sense of reality, and by extension, your life choices. Lawfully, when a person or people refuse to discuss ideas and work with others, subtle techniques can be used to manage their behavior. Benevolent use of propaganda works to raise the individual up so that they can engage in worldly affair management as a direct agent. Malevolent propaganda seeks to dumb down the individual so they lack the competence to participate. The Deep State uses propaganda in the latter fashion. Understanding that biggest danger to the powers that be is your own mind, your ability to think critically, investigate honestly, and bravely consider new ideas without prejudice, empowers you to be a warrior for truth and justice. Our world needs active thinkers. Learning about these truths can be difficult to accept, but once you let your resentment for the imperfection of this world die, you can embrace the adulthood desire to make things better through your influence. That is the work we are all here to do. With this knowledge in hand, specifically knowledge of how the Deep State use propaganda against the people, you can develop the self-mastery skills needed to not only transcend such efforts but use them to train your warrior spirit. And once trained, you can join the ranks of well informed and educated world healers working tirelessly to free humanity and make the world a better place.

– Justin

Not sure how to make sense of this? Want to learn how to discern like a pro? Read this essential guide to discernment, analysis of claims, and understanding the truth in a world of deception: 4 Key Steps of Discernment – Advanced Truth-Seeking Tools.

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Source:

https://www.sciencealert.com/most-of-the-antivax-ads-on-facebook-are-funded-by-just-two-organisations