RESEARCH: Russia trolls spreading vaccination misinformation via BBC

[Ryan Goble]

While a majority of Americans believed vaccines were safe and effective, looking at Twitter gave a different impression and suggested that there was a lot of debate about the issue, the disinformation study, which was published in the American Journ..., said.

"A significant portion of the online discourse about vaccines may be generated by malicious actors with a range of hidden agendas," said David Broniatowski from George Washington University.

The researchers reviewed more than 250 tweets about vaccination from accounts linked to the St Petersburg-based Internet Research Agency (IRA). In February the agency was named in a US indictment over alleged election meddling.

Russia trolls 'spreading vaccination misinformation' to create discord https://t.co/J943k43281

— BBC Science News (@BBCScienceNews) August 24, 2018