Dr. Michelle Rockwell lost a pregnancy in December and shared her heartache with her 30,000 Instagram followers. Weeks later, she received the COVID-19 vaccine and posted about that, too.
By February, Rockwell was getting past the grief and finally starting to experience moments of joy. But then, to her horror, social media users began using her posts to spread the false claim that she miscarried as a result of the shot.
鈥淭hey said horrible things to me, like how could I possibly get the vaccine, that I was a baby killer, and that I would be infertile forever and would never have babies again,鈥� said Rockwell, a 39-year-old family medicine doctor from Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Even though she knows that research shows the vaccine is safe for pregnant women, she said the posts brought her trauma to the surface and hurt her 鈥渢o the core.鈥�
From a movie prop master in Texas to a professor in New York, people across the country have found themselves swept into the misinformation maelstrom, their online posts or their very identities hijacked by anti-vaccine activists and others peddling lies about the outbreak.
Sharing other people鈥檚 posts or photos out of context is a common tactic in the disinformation playbook because it's an 鈥渆asy, cheap way to gain credibility,鈥� said Lisa Fazio, a Vanderbilt University psychology professor who studies how false claims spread.
But during the COVID-19 pandemic, experts warn, false or misleading posts can mean the difference between someone taking precautions or not.
鈥淲hen you鈥檙e in a situation where the world is confusing, you鈥檙e trying to latch on to what鈥檚 true. A common suggestion is to listen to the experts,鈥� Fazio said. 鈥淚f you have people pretending to be those experts or grabbing that credibility, then that can cause a lot of havoc.鈥�
Scott Reeder, a movie and TV prop master in Austin, Texas, who frequently shares jokes and film industry secrets with his 1 million TikTok followers, posted a short video in September demonstrating how retractable stunt knives, syringes and icepicks are used on a movie set.
In December, he learned that a clip of the footage was being misused on Facebook and Twitter. Someone had isolated the part of the video where he pushes the spring-loaded syringe into his arm, and falsely claimed that politicians overseas are using the devices to fake their COVID-19 vaccinations.
Reeder was able to tamp down the falsehoods with help from TikTok followers who vouched for him and by releasing a second video outlining the misinformation. But it upsets him that his posts were used to promote a conspiracy theory he knows is false.
鈥淚鈥檓 just trying to make people laugh with my dad jokes and my prop information,鈥� Reeder said. 鈥淏ut people just try to suck you in or utilize your content to push their agenda.鈥�
Robert Oswald, a professor of molecular medicine at Cornell University, hadn't even put anything on social media when he learned his name was being used in viral posts claiming the coronavirus was 鈥渋maginary and fictitious.鈥�
A bogus statement claimed Oswald had done research that found COVID-19 was 鈥渏ust another flu strain." Some of the posts included his professional photo and office address.
鈥淚t said I had some sort of lab in California. It said I was a virologist. None of that鈥檚 true,鈥� Oswald said. 鈥淚 was pretty horrified by it all, obviously.鈥�
Oswald, who doesn鈥檛 study viruses in his work, disavowed the posts on his professional webpage and responded to each message he received with the truth, though some refused to believe it.
Powerful or dramatic claims can be especially difficult to stamp out.
鈥淎 Cornell professor warning about COVID, that鈥檚 boring. The same professor saying COVID is a hoax, well, that鈥檚 interesting and guarantees traffic,鈥� said Dr. Elias Aboujaoude, a psychiatrist and Stanford University professor who studies the intersection of psychology and technology.
Dr. Nicole Baldwin, a Cincinnati pediatrician who posted a video in support of vaccines in January 2020, said she was subjected to harassing messages, calls to her office, one-star reviews of her work, and memes that used her picture and falsely claimed she was under investigation for 鈥渄rugging鈥� autistic children.
She now offers support over the phone and via email to people who have found themselves in her position 鈥� including Rockwell.
鈥淚 look back at that time in January now, actually, with gratitude, because it got me to the point where I am right now,鈥� Baldwin said. 鈥淏ut in that period that I was there in January, I certainly wasn鈥檛 saying, 鈥榊ay, this is amazing.鈥� So I鈥檓 trying to help other people.鈥�
Ali Swenson And Beatrice Dupuy, The Associated Press
