Facebook bans Reignite Democracy Australia, suspends anti-vaccination boss for spreading misinformation

Two of Australia’s most viral misinformation superspreaders have had their ability to share wild Covid vaccine claims significantly curtailed.

Two major sources of potentially dangerous Covid-19 vaccine misinformation have been wiped from Facebook following an article debunking wild claims they published about the virus in Australia.

Facebook deleted the page belonging to Reignite Democracy Australia on Saturday, which boasted more than 66,000 followers.

The group’s duplicate “backup” page to evade the ban was removed on Monday.

The US tech giant also suspended the account of Australian Vaccination Risks Network president Meryl Dorey, leading her to announce the group would move to other, lesser known platforms.

Their removal came one day after News Corp named the top 10 misinformation superspreaders about Covid vaccines on Facebook in Australia, according to CrowdTangle data.

Two major sources of potentially dangerous Covid-19 vaccine misinformation have been wiped from Facebook. Picture: AFP

Facebook has previously banned independent federal MP Craig Kelly and celebrity conspiracy theorist Pete Evans for repeatedly breaking rules around misinformation.

Social media experts said the Facebook bans could help significantly cut public health misinformation circulating in Australia, though they warned the network still needed to do more to label, fact-check and remove dangerous claims about important public health issues.

Before its removal, the Reignite Democracy Australia Facebook page published claims that Covid vaccines weakened immune systems, were untested medicine, and were manufactured “by people who openly admit to wanting population control”.

The page, led by Melbourne woman Monica Smit, also encouraged Australians to avoid being tested for Covid-19.

But World Health Organisation adviser and epidemiologist Mary-Louise McLaws called the group’s assertions “completely fallacious” and “wickedly inaccurate,” pointing to an extensive, multiphase testing process for all approved Covid-19 vaccines in Australia.

The head of the Australian Vaccination Risks Network, Ms Dorey, also made wild claims about Covid vaccines on Facebook before her account was suspended for 30 days.

In a video on the group’s Facebook page, she called the vaccines a “experimental Covid genetic modification device” — a claim that Griffith University infectious diseases epidemiologist Professor Paul Van Buynder dismissed, saying the vaccine simply trained the body to recognise the virus “without any modifications of the body’s DNA”.

In a post on the AVN’s Facebook page, the group said Ms Dorey “has decided she will no longer fight” to remain on the social network, its page would “not be monitored,” and the group would move to smaller social platforms.

Anti-vaccination campaigner Meryl Dorey was suspended from Facebook for 30 days. Picture: Glenn Barnes

A Facebook spokesperson said the decision to remove Reignite Democracy Australia’s page from its platform was made after it repeatedly broke the company’s rules about public health misinformation.

“We don’t allow anyone to share misinformation about Covid-19 that could lead to imminent physical harm or Covid-19 vaccines that have been debunked by public health experts,” the spokesperson said.

“We have clear policies against this type of content and have removed this page for repeated violations of this policy.”

The spokesperson said the company also removed its second “backup” page that was a clear attempt to “circumvent” its removal.

Swinburne media senior lecturer Dr Belinda Barnet said the removal and suspension of accounts sharing misleading health advice was a positive step for Facebook and could significantly reduce dangerous information shared on its platform.

“De-platforming these accounts does have an impact and these influential accounts have a disproportionate impact on people’s opinions and the information they see,” she said.

“This does make them more difficult to find, it silences them for a period of time and lessens their impact.”

Dr Barnet said Facebook needed to do more to identify and remove false and risky health claims during the pandemic, however, as there were still “a number of influential voices spreading misinformation” on the social network.

Originally published as Facebook bans Reignite Democracy Australia, suspends anti-vaccination boss for spreading misinformation