Anti-vaccination groups on Facebook are changing their names to “Dance Party” or “Dinner Party” and using coded language that matches those themes in order to avoid bans from Facebook. After pressure from the US government, the social networking platform is trying to remove material that spreads misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines.
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These groups are largely private and may not be easily found. However, they maintain large user bases. Members of these groups now try to hide themselves with fake names and coded language.
A large “dance party” group has more than 40,000 followers. Another, known as “Dinner Party” created by the same administrators, has more than 20,000 followers.
Other anti-vaccination influencers on Instagram use similar methods to speak out on the issue without being noticed. For example, it has been found that many refer to vaccinated people as “swimmers” and vaccination as “swim club.” In this way, they express their anti-vaccination views without being noticed by Facebook.
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Facebook did not comment on this, but a spokesperson stressed that the company vaccines COVID-19.
Anti-vaccination groups' efforts to evade detection by Facebook and Instagram are increasing as the White House presses social media platforms to do more to curb misinformation about vaccines.
“They’re killing people,” President Joe Biden Friday about misinformation on Facebook.
Facebook spokesman Kevin McAlisterresponded on Saturday: “The facts show that Facebook helps save lives. Finally.”
A “Dance Party” administrator said it was an honor for the team to manage to fool Facebook’s detection systems, while reminding users to stay away from “unapproved words.”.
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Using coded language to avoid Facebook bans is not a new tactic among anti-vaccination groups.
Members of these groups use other words to cover their conversations. “Danced” or “drank beer” means someone took the vaccine. “Pfizer” is commonly referred to as “pizza” or “Pizza King,” and Moderna is referred to as “Moana.”.
Also, various words related to dance are used to match the name of the group.
For example, one member of the group said that her husband had become ill after a “trip to the countryside where we spent 2 nights with dancers.” By dancers she was referring to two people who had just been vaccinated.
The name changes and use of coded language underscore the challenge Facebook faces in addressing misinformation and the spread of anti-vaccination views.
Source: NBC News
