Study looks at how Russian troll farms are politicizing vaccines

Enlarge / Have Russian trolls done a drive-by on vaccines? (credit: Bruna Prado / Getty Images)

At this point, it's old news that Russia is intervening in US society in part by using troll farms organized by its Internet Research Agency. While the farms' most high-profile activity was supporting Donald Trump during the 2016 election, the trolls were active both before and since, largely in attempts to enhance existing divisions in US society.

One divisive area they've latched on to is vaccination, which has been the subject of numerous public controversies of late. But, while it was clear Russian trolls were talking about vaccines on social media, it wasn't clear what they hoped to accomplish. A new study suggests their goals are twofold and create the risk of politicizing an issue that has largely been free of partisan politics.

The results provide a preview of where we might be going with coronavirus misinformation and why things might get worse once a vaccine becomes available.

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