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Trending: The Anti-Vax Files: One woman’s escape from the rabbit hole

Factual

The Anti-Vax Files

17/04/2021 GMT

One woman’s escape from the rabbit hole

BBC World Service - Trending, The Anti-Vax Files, One woman’s escape from the rabbit hole

How Catherine fell for conspiracy theories - until she turned her scepticism around.

Catherine didn’t have much to do with mainstream medicine. Social media pushed her down a rabbit hole – but also dragged her back out again.

Catherine’s family believed in alternative medicine and she grew up in relatively poor, fringe communities that didn’t have much to do with mainstream science or Britain’s national health system. And when social media became a big part of her life, she started believing in all sorts of wild conspiracy theories. 

But when she slowly realised that she was being conned by some of the pseudoscientists and charlatans she had put her trust in, she started to turn a sceptical eye on her online sources.

Catherine now lives a quiet life in southern England with her family, gardening and selling clothes at festivals. She also dedicates her free time to spreading reliable information about medicine and science online. It’s a mission that’s become ever more urgent throughout the global pandemic. Her story gives us insight into why people fall victim to anti-vaccine conspiracy theories - and what can help them to get out.

Presenter: Mike Wendling
Reporter: Marianna Spring         
Producer: Joseph Martin

Trending: The Anti-Vax Files

We investigate how anti-vaccine activists have used social media to spread their message.

Scientists say only a vaccine will get us out of the pandemic. So why do some feel the anti-vax movement has grown stronger than ever over the last year?

In a new series from BBC Trending a team of disinformation reporters investigate how hard-core anti-vaccine activists have used social media to spread their message far and wide, capitalising on fear and mistrust to advance their own agendas during the pandemic.

BBC Trending: The Anti-Vax Files explores how the movement has manifested across the world, from France – portrayed as one of the most vaccine-sceptic countries in the world – to India, South Africa, and Germany. The team also uncovers the extraordinary stories of people fighting online against this misinformation and those who are actively promoting the facts and the science behind vaccination - often working without pay or institutional support.

The series will turn the spotlight on the world’s social media giants asking whether they turned a blind eye, or just acted too late in countering misinformation about vaccines. It will also look at more traditional sources of information – journalists, governments, and health officials – and ask whether they simply weren’t ready for the “infodemic” that was to come with the virus.

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