Who was behind a secret plot to pay social media stars to falsely discredit the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine?

Trending investigates an attempt to weaponise the power of influencer marketing in the online disinformation war over the pandemic.

In May this year a marketing agency contacted influencers in several countries with an extraordinary offer. A mystery client was offering big money if the influencers would use their YouTube and Instagram videos to spread lies about the health risks associated with the Pfizer vaccine. The anonymous sponsor wanted them to pretend they weren’t being paid so the fake message would appear genuine.

The plan failed spectacularly when several influencers went public and blew the whistle. But who was behind it and what were their motives?

Presenter: Charlie Haynes

Reporter: Flora Carmichael

Editor: Ed Main

Photo: French YouTuber Leo Grasset

Photo credit: Leo Grasset

Nicole is a paediatrician in Ohio who was shocked when she received a ton of nasty comments on one of her online videos. Her “mistake” was providing reliable, evidence-based information about vaccines.

It meant that anti-vaccine activists targeted her. But with the help of a group of volunteer medical professionals called Shots Heard Around the World, she led a fight back against abuse and disinformation.

The pandemic is far from over – but there are signs that science is winning out over hardcore anti-vaccine lies.

In the final episode of the series, we reveal the extent of vaccine disinformation in countries around the world. And we meet some of the volunteers on the frontlines of the push back.

They’re filling in some of the gaps, but shouldn’t that be the job of the social media companies? We

Presenter: Mike Wendling

A helicopter carrying vaccines is greeted in a by a crowd in an indigenous village – and the villagers are armed with bows and arrows.

Presenter: Mike Wendling

As India struggles with a surge in Covid-19 cases, it is also dealing with a wave of misinformation about the virus and vaccines.

Although now banned from Facebook and YouTube, self-proclaimed nutritionist Biswaroop Roy Chowdhury built his social media stardom by claiming that conventional medicine is almost entirely wrong about coronavirus.

Labelled a dangerous “quack” by his critics, Chowdhury has a track record of spreading outrageous medical falsehoods. He is opposed to all vaccines and even claims AIDS is not caused by HIV.

During the global pandemic he has gained a new audience by spreading conspiracy theories about Covid-19, which he calls “the scandal of the millennium”.

Chowdhury says – contrary to scientific evidence - that masks and lockdowns are harmful and warns that hospital treatment only increases a patient’s chances of dying.

He claims to have “cured” thousands of Covid-19 patients through diet alone and has set up a course where followers can pay to learn his methods. We challenge his bogus claims and uncover new details about the death of one of his followers.

Presenter: Mike Wendling

Catherine’s family believed in alternative medicine and she grew up in relatively poor, fringe communities that didn’t have much to do with mainstream science or Britain’s national health system. And when social media became a big part of her life, she started believing in all sorts of wild conspiracy theories.

But when she slowly realised that she was being conned by some of the pseudoscientists and charlatans she had put her trust in, she started to turn a sceptical eye on her online sources.

Catherine now lives a quiet life in southern England with her family, gardening and selling clothes at festivals. She also dedicates her free time to spreading reliable information about medicine and science online. It’s a mission that’s become ever more urgent throughout the global pandemic. Her story gives us insight into why people fall victim to anti-vaccine conspiracy theories - and what can help them to get out.

Presenter: Mike Wendling

The Querdenken (in English, “lateral thinking”) sprung up last summer – it’s Germany’s anti-vaccine, Covid-denying, anti-lockdown movement, and it’s created a new crop of social media figures.

Presenter: Mike Wendling

Recent surveys indicate that there might be rising scepticism about vaccines in South Africa. But

France is one of the most vaccine sceptical countries in the world. A recent poll suggests just 40% of French people intend to take a Covid-19 vaccine, but what's fuelling the doubt?

We meet the superstar doctor whose anti-authoritarian zeal has inspired an army of devotees, and the conspiracy obsessed shaman with a huge following on social media.

Plus, the activists staging a fightback. “Marie” runs a pro-vaccine Facebook group aimed at countering disinformation but wants to remain anonymous following a string of death threats. And Tristan Mendes France works with the team behind “Conspiracy Watch”, a site that keeps a close eye on the spread of toxic information online.

Presenter: Mike Wendling

Scientists say only a vaccine will really get us out of the Covid-19 pandemic. So why has the anti-vaccine movement grown stronger than ever over the last year?

From the global pandemic to the US election, the extraordinary events of 2020 have both fuelled, and been shaped by, the online spread of falsehoods, propaganda and bizarre conspiracy theories.