Benzinga | Aug 12, 2021 03:16PM EDT

Facebook Blocks Russia Based Ad Agency Behind COVID-19 Vaccine Smear Campaign

* Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) removed multiple accounts linked to a mysterious advertising agency operating out of Russia that sought to pay social media influencers to deride COVID-19 vaccines made by Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) and AstraZeneca plc (NASDAQ:AZN).

* A network of 65 Facebook accounts and 243 Instagram accounts was traced back to Fazze, Russia-based advertising and marketing firm working on behalf of an unknown client.

* The two-pronged smear campaign, outlined in a detailed Facebook report, first waged war on AstraZeneca's vaccine in late 2020 then launched a second attack on Pfizer's vaccine in May.

* The campaign didn't accumulate many followers and failed to recruit influencers to its cause.

* One French and one German influencer refused Fazze's reported offer of (euro)2,000 and instead publicized the campaign, leading to inquiries and investigations.

* The network used fake accounts to spread misleading claims that disparaged the safety of the vaccines. One claimed AstraZeneca's shot would turn a person into a chimpanzee.

* The "Pfizer phase" centered on a 12-page document the campaign claimed was "hacked and leaked" from AstraZeneca.

* It included a phony chart showing higher casualty rates from the Pfizer vaccine.

* The Pfizer disinformation drop began on May 14 with three articles posted on Medium, Reddit, and ethicalhacker.com within 90 minutes of one another.

* Photo by Johaehn from Pixabay