In March 2021, a single report named 12 Americans as responsible for 65% of anti-vaccine content on social media. Within months the label was echoed by major media, built into platform moderation and repeated from the White House. Meta later said “there isn’t any evidence to support this claim.” So how did the label travel so far, and what does the primary record actually show?
This video follows the “Disinformation Dozen” label from its origin in a report by the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) through media coverage, platform enforcement, the White House and the courts. It also introduces the Targeting Tracker, a public, sourced record of every published characterization.
CHAPTERS
0:00 When an accusation outruns the facts
0:29 The March 2021 “Disinformation Dozen” report
1:04 Inside the methodology
1:29 Meta’s review: 0.05% of views
1:53 Why the label kept spreading
2:16 Institutional laundering: the chain of citations
2:58 Platforms act: deplatforming
3:17 The White House, 19 July 2021
3:46 The network and its funding
4:50 Offline pressure and the legal response
5:21 Dismissed without a trial on the facts
5:54 The Targeting Tracker
6:35 Why it matters: the right to evaluate claims yourself
7:00 Read the record
KEY FACTS AND SOURCES
- CCDH, “The Disinformation Dozen” (24 March 2021). The report attributes 65% of anti-vaccine content on Facebook and Twitter to 12 individuals. A separate 73% figure for Facebook comes from a sample of 483 pieces of content from 30 groups.
https://counterhate.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/210324-The-Disinformation-Dozen.pdf
- Meta, statement by Monika Bickert (18 August 2021): “There isn’t any evidence to support this claim.” Meta said these 12 people accounted for about 0.05% of all views of vaccine-related content on Facebook. Note: 65% (a share of anti-vaccine content) and 0.05% (a share of views of all vaccine content) measure different things.
https://about.fb.com/news/2021/08/taking-action-against-vaccine-misinformation-superspreaders/
- President Biden to reporters, 19 July 2021: “Facebook isn’t killing people, these 12 people are out there giving misinformation. Anyone listening to it is getting hurt by it.” (as reported by CNN, Reuters and NBC News)
- Funding: documented grants to CCDH total $9,000,256 and £1,294,233 (51 entries from 41 organizations). Documented funding does not show that donors directed CCDH’s work, and shared relationships do not prove illegal coordination. No government funding of CCDH is documented.
https://restorethe1st.com/foreign-censorship/funders.html
- Murthy v. Missouri (No. 23-411). The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on 26 June 2024 that the plaintiffs lacked standing, without reaching the merits.
https://www.scotusblog.com/cases/murthy-v-missouri-3/
- Finn v. Global Engagement Center (3:25-cv-00543). Dismissed on 28 July 2026 as an “impermissible shotgun pleading.” No emails were compelled and no witness testified.
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/70274698/finn-v-global-engagement-center/
READ THE RECORD YOURSELF
The Targeting Tracker compiles 241 primary documents spanning 2013 to 2026. Every row links to its source. It also publishes counter-evidence, lists claims it could not substantiate and issues corrections.
Tracker: https://restorethe1st.com/tracker/
Who funds CCDH: https://restorethe1st.com/foreign-censorship/funders.html
Restore the 1st: https://restorethe1st.com/
Read the record. Question the label. Defend the freedom to decide for yourself.
Disclosure: Sayer Ji, founder of GreenMedInfo, is one of the 12 people named in the report and a plaintiff in Finn v. Global Engagement Center.
#FreeSpeech #FirstAmendment #Censorship #DisinformationDozen #CCDH #MurthyVMissouri #BigTech #ContentModeration #PrimarySources #MediaLiteracy #SayerJi #GreenMedInfo #RestoreThe1st #SeekTheSource
