But the Russians sometimes misread their audience, Dr. Broniatowski said, sending tweets that “didn’t quite make sense, given the way Americans usually argue about vaccines.”
Some, for example, suggested that God opposed vaccination. “I don’t believe in #vaccines I believe in God’s will,” one read.
Divine will is very rarely cited in the American debate except when HPV vaccine is discussed, and then not over the notion that God ordains which children fall ill. HPV vaccine prevents cervical cancer, which is sexually transmitted, and some Christian conservatives believe it encourages extramarital sex.
Other tweets promoted class hostility, saying the elite get “clean vaccines” while normal people did not.
Yet others appeared designed to appeal to the audience for conspiracy websites like Infowars. One claimed that vaccines were part of the world domination plan of the Illuminati secret sect.
More than 250 tweets had the unusual hashtag #VaccinateUS. Anti-vaccination activists tend to use tags like #Vaxxed, #b1less or #CDCWhistleblower, Dr. Broniatowski said, while pro-vaccine groups use #vaccineswork, for example.
Tweets carrying the hashtag #VaccinateUS, the study said, were “uniquely identified with Russian troll accounts linked to the Internet Research Agency,” a propaganda operation linked to the Kremlin.
Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/23/health/russian-trolls-vaccines.html