Dear John,

Twitter claims that it doesn’t allow disinformation about Covid-19 on its platform.

So what did they do when Marjorie Taylor Greene tweeted out a series of false, anti-vaccine messages, in violation of Twitter’s own ban on Covid-19 disinformation?

They banned her for 12 hours. And then she was right back, pushing more dangerous, anti-vaccine conspiracy theories.

Covid-19 is again spreading like wildfire, due to the super-contagious Delta variant, while 40 percent of Trump voters still say they don’t plan to get vaccinated.

If Big Tech won’t crack down on the disinformation enabling this pandemic, then we must take action to counter the conspiracy theories and lies on the platforms where they spread.

That’s why we’ve launched a critical and urgent project, using scientific A/B message testing to identify and deploy the most effective messages for countering right-wing disinformation online. And it’s working—but with the Delta variant spreading fast, we must go bigger right now.

Will you make a donation and help get out the truth, including to counter the far-right conspiracy theorists fueling the resurgent Covid-19 pandemic?

It’s not just Marjorie Taylor Greene who is pushing COVID-19 disinformation.

Studies released just in the last week show that Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube remain flooded with anti-vaccine conspiracy content, despite promises by the tech giants to crack down and enforce their terms of use.

Meanwhile, Tucker Carlson, the top-rated host on cable TV, uses his platform every night to oppose masks and undermine confidence in the vaccine.

And conservative radio talk-show host and anti-vaccine propagandist Larry Elder is dangerously close to becoming the next governor of California, via a recall effort funded by far-right billionaires.

We launched this project to counter right-wing disinformation online after January 6 when it became clear that even with Trump defeated, our democracy remains in peril due to Trump’s Big Lie. Now, anti-vaccine and anti-mask lies are threatening the lives of millions.

The good news is that this project is working.

By testing and deploying the most effective and compelling content on social media, Inequality Media has become one of the few progressive groups able to compete toe-to-toe on Facebook engagement with far-right propagandists like Dan Bongino and Ben Shapiro. People are watching our videos to completion at up to nine times the typical rate. And we’ve been able to build an unusually large following among both “purple” and conservative audiences.

Right-wing disinformation is an existential threat to our health and democracy. We must confront these lies directly on the platforms where they spread, and we must employ the most effective messages to inoculate the public against these conspiracy theories. But we need your help to go big.

Will you make a donation and help battle right-wing disinformation online? No donation is too large or too small.

Thank you for standing on the side of truth,

Robert Reich
Inequality Media