Facebook has deleted 65 Russian accounts on the social network of the same name, as well as 243 Instagram accounts (owned by Facebook), through which information about the dangers of vaccines from the Pfizer and AstraZeneca coronavirus was disseminated. According to the press service of Facebook, the deleted accounts are linked to Fazze, a subsidiary of a UK-based marketing company, whose activities were mainly carried out in Russia. The company itself was banned from working with Facebook.
According to Facebook, the campaign to discredit Western vaccines consisted of two waves, “separated by five months of inactivity.” “In November and December 2020, the network posted memes and comments claiming that the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine could turn humans into chimpanzees. Five months later, in May 2021, the network questioned the safety of the Pfizer vaccine by publishing a document allegedly stemming from a leak at AstraZeneca, ”it said (.pdf).
Facebook notes that both campaigns coincided with periods when authorities in several states, including India, the United States and Latin America, discussed the possibility of allowing emergency use of these vaccines.
According to Facebook, representatives of Fazze, among other things, recruited bloggers to spread the word about vaccines. In particular, bloggers from France and Germany drew public attention to similar offers from Fazze, according to Facebook. A 12-page paper was also published comparing the effectiveness of various COVID-19 vaccines. It has been claimed to have originated from a leak from AstraZeneca. The document included a table showing that the use of the Pfizer vaccine resulted in more casualties than the use of other drugs.
“However, questions remain about aspects of this campaign, including who commissioned Fazze to launch it. One of the features of these recruitment operations is that they allow the ultimate beneficiary to hide their involvement,” it said.
According to Meduza (recognized by the media as a foreign agent), Fazze is associated with Adnow Ltd, one of the founders of which is a Russian named Stanislav Fesenko. One of the former employees of Fazze, who worked there until December 2020, told the publication that his duties included correspondence with foreign bloggers with a proposal to advertise various products, services and services – mainly bioactive supplements (dietary supplements) and online games.
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