By James Felton 28 DEC 2020
A woman has brilliantly trolled an anti-vaxxer Facebook group named "vaccines exposed".
Anti-vaxxers have infiltrated much of social media in a way that's of concern as the new COVID-19 vaccines are rolled out. Between July and August alone, engagement with anti-vaccine Facebook posts trebled, according to analysis from the Guardian.
Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook have all promised to take measures to deal with misleading content about vaccines and vaccine safety, from removing posts to deleting groups and users in violation of the rules.
Of particular concern are closed Facebook groups where only those who have been allowed to join can view the posts, making it difficult for others to counter any misinformation therein. One such group, "vaccines exposed", contains a lot of misinformation you've probably seen screenshots of elsewhere. Think 5G causes COVID-19 (which, as we've pointed out before, is as non-sensical as saying the radio causes super gonorrhea or Tom Cruise causes bread), or the vaccine contains a tracking chip.
Fortunately, there are heroes out there who will correct people within these groups, or at least annoy them thoroughly. An Internet user that goes by the name of Deb Deblinger (actually seasoned troll Ben Palmer) falls into the latter category and is quite effective at it.
In a troll for the ages, she managed to join the group by telling them that she was one of the participants in the Pfizer vaccine, and had a "horrible experience" that she needed to share with everyone.
Like a classic troll, she waited patiently for somebody to ask her what had happened, before leaping into some nonsense now that she'd got them on the hook.
"So when I first got there, there was absolutely NO place to park," the post read. "Then, I left my keys in the locked car. So I had to call Triple A and wait for them to get there. And of course that took forever. Then, as I was waiting, some guy walked by me and gave me a rude look like I was loitering or something.
Then when Triple A got there I found out the doors weren't even locked. Ugh. So then I was like an hour late for the study and so I was last in line to get the vaccine. I got vaccinated though so now I have a decreased chance of contracting COVID. So that's cool. But it was one of the worst experiences I've ever had."
Well played, Deb (by which we mean Ben).
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