On or about April 16, 2020, CHD’s Facebook page posted a link to an article from Collective Evolution, reporting on a study published in the journal Vaccine (Wolff, 2020), which found a greater associated risk of contracting coronavirus among individuals in the study who received the influenza vaccine (Figure 1). PolitiFact checked information in the article, an ‘independent third-party fact checker’ working with Meta (which owns Facebook and Instagram, among other platforms).

Contested claim: “News study: The Flu Vaccine Is ‘Significantly Associated’ With An Increased Risk of Coronaviruses” (Collective Evolution, 200416)

PolitiFact’s fact-check verdict: False headline (200716)

Facebook action: False headline (200416) (no link available)

Context: PolitiFact deemed the claim a “false headline” (Figure 2), concluding, “While this article did specify that the U.S. Armed Forces study was testing common coronaviruses and not COVID-19, the headline was ambiguous and misleading. We rate this headline False.” Facebook displayed the PolitiFact fact-check below CHD’s Facebook post: “False Headline: This 2017-18 flu season study does not include COVID-19” (Figure 3).

NB: Apparently, Collective Evolution updated the title of their article from “Study: The Flu Vaccine Is “Significantly Associated” With An Increased Risk of Coronaviruses” to “Study: The Flu Vaccine Is ‘Significantly Associated’ With An Increased Risk of Coronaviruses – Not COVID-19” (captured on July 19, 2020, using the Wayback Machine), presumably to avoid confusion. This change may have occurred sometime after the original publication date (200716), and the earliest archived version of the article (200719), but the article cannot be retrieved from its (apparently) original URL cited by PolitiFact.

Verdict detail: “The study featured in the article is from 2019 and the data for it was collected in 2017-18, so it doesn’t include COVID-19 information. [. . .] “In past fact-checks, experts said this connection between the flu vaccine and other viruses is still speculative” [. . .] “While this article did specify that the U.S. Armed Forces study was testing common coronaviruses and not COVID-19, the headline was ambiguous and misleading. We rate this headline False” (PolitiFact, 200716).

Accurate headline: The headline specifically used the word “Coronavirus” not “COVID-19” (Collective Evolution, 2020). Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses known to cause illnesses ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases, and common human coronaviruses have been identified and described for nearly 60 years (Reviewed in Mulabbi et al., 2021). While the article title may seem misleading to PolitiFact, rating the headline “False” is inaccurate and misleading since the headline is patently not false. The PolitiFact fact-check refers to the Collective Evolution article as “more false information tying COVID-19 to the seasonal flu vaccine.” Yet, the Collective Evolution article explains that viral interference between the flu vaccine and COVID-19 has not been studied.

In their summary bullets (Figure 2), PolitiFact asserts, “The study featured in the article is from 2019 and the data for it was collected in 2017-18, so it doesn’t include COVID-19 information.” This same information is provided by the Collective Evolution article itself. It is also apparent in the title of the featured study: Influenza vaccination and respiratory virus interference among Department of Defense personnel during the 2017–2018 influenza season (Wolff, 2020).

PolitiFact also includes the following in its summary bullets (Figure 2): “In past fact-checks, experts said this connection between the flu vaccine and other viruses is still speculative.” The Collective Evolution article explains that other studies have found no association between the flu vaccine and an increased risk for other respiratory viruses. Again, PolitiFact’s fact-check does not provide the reader with any information that cannot be obtained from reading the Collective Evolution article, and it does not rebut the study’s conclusion that “vaccine derived virus interference was significantly associated with coronavirus and human metapneumovirus.”

Assessment highlights:

• PolitiFact asserts, “The study featured in the article is from 2019 and the data for it was collected in 2017-18, so it doesn’t include COVID-19 information.”
  • This same information is provided by the Collective Evolution article and is included within the cited study’s title: “Greg. G Wolff, an Epidemiologist with the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Branch recently published a study in the Journal Vaccine titled, Influenza vaccination and respiratory virus interference among Department of Defense personnel during the 2017–2018 influenza season” (Collective Evolution, 200416).
• PolitiFact also includes the following in its summary bullets (Figure 2): “In past fact-checks, experts said this connection between the flu vaccine and other viruses is still speculative.”
  • The Collective Evolution article itself explains: “Other studies have found no association between the flu vaccine and an increased risk for other respiratory viruses, but when looking specifically at coronavirus, Wolff’s study found that ‘Vaccine derived virus interference was significantly associated with coronavirus and human metapneumovirus; however, significant protection with vaccination was associated not only with most influenza viruses, but also parainfluenza, RSV, and non-influenza virus coinfections.’” Again, PolitiFact’s fact-check does not provide the reader with any information that cannot be obtained from the Collective Evolution article.
• “While this article did specify that the U.S. Armed Forces study was testing common coronaviruses and not COVID-19,” the PolitiFact fact-check explains, “the headline was ambiguous and misleading. We rate this headline False.”
  • The Collective Evolution article explains, “The study found that virus interference varied among vaccinated individuals for individual respiratory viruses, and found that for coronaviruses in particular, in this study, those who had been vaccinated with the flu vaccine had a 36 percent higher risk of contracting them. This doesn’t apply to the new coronavirus, but instead already existing circulating coronaviruses. … As far as Covid19, it’s a coronavirus but it has not been studied, obviously, so as of now it’s impossible to say that the flu shot would do this for Covid-19.”

CHD filed a lawsuit claiming that Facebook, its CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and associated fact-checking organizations unfairly targeted and censored their content. The lawsuit alleges that this censorship violated CHD’s constitutional rights by collaborating with government entities to suppress free speech, falsely labeling CHD’s content as misinformation, engaging in deceptive and coordinated efforts to discredit their work, and causing significant reputational and financial harm. The following excerpt is taken from CHD’s 2020 complaint document.

Respondent: CHD (CHD vs Facebook Complaint, 201113)

• 4.145 | On or about April 16, 2020 and thereafter, Facebook and Poynter/PolitiFact, its purportedly “independent fact-checker,” blocked CHD from displaying an article concerning a study in the journal Collective-Evolution.com which found a “significantly” greater risk of contracting coronavirus among individuals in the study who received the influenza vaccine, and Facebook and Poynter fraudulently misrepresented to all third-party users that the post was “False Information Checked by independent fact-checkers.” Indeed, the very name “PolitiFact” suggests that the putative “fact-checking” here is more political than scientific.
• 4.147 | Upon clicking-through the “See Why” button, the user is presented with the following purported “fact-check” by PolitiFact, which is a fictitious name registered by Poynter.
• 4.149 | The Politifact “fact-check” misrepresents and fails to rebut two important aspects of the study: (1) coronaviruses existed in 2017-2018 in forms other than COVID-19; and (2) the study’s conclusion that “vaccine derived virus interference was significantly associated with coronavirus and human metapneumovirus.” Receiving the influenza vaccination may increase the risk of other respiratory viruses, a phenomenon known as viral interference. Defendants were aware, or acted in reckless disregard, of these and other specific falsities in the Poynter/PolitiFact opposition “fact-check,” but posted it on CHD’s page nonetheless, in furtherance of their fraudulent scheme.

Highlights:

• The headline specifically used the word “Coronavirus” not “COVID-19” (Collective Evolution, 2020). Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses known to cause illnesses ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases, and common human coronaviruses have been identified and described for nearly 60 years (Reviewed in Mulabbi et al., 2021). While the article title may seem “ambiguous and misleading” to PolitiFact, rating the headline “False” is inaccurate and misleading since the headline is not false.
• By referring to a headline that is patently not false as a “false headline,” PolitiFact is disseminating false information, as is Facebook for promulgating this erroneous verdict on its website (Figure 3).