Popular Coast anti-vaccine Facebook group ‘vanished without warning.’ What happened?
A popular Mississippi Gulf Coast Facebook group made up of residents who opposed COVID-19 vaccine mandates was deleted by the platform just before Christmas, according to the page’s administrator.
Gulf Coast Against Mandates, which had up to 14,000 followers when it was disabled, was a chief venue for Coast residents to connect about their concerns over workplace vaccine mandates, plan rallies and disperse information from elected officials about the issue.
The page, created in October, was also a place where Coast residents discussed the vaccine, often spreading misinformation about the safety and efficacy of the shots.
Nolan Mann, the group’s administrator, said Facebook did not inform him of the page’s deactivation.
“No notification or anything. I could still see the page on my history but it would just open a black screen then eventually that disappeared,” he said.
Mann said he had received two to three messages from the platform indicating that the group had been violating community guidelines. Facebook ultimately deleted some posts but never threatened to delete the entire group.
“Liberal Facebook decided they had enough of the mandate page it has vanished without warning,” Mann said in a Facebook post after the page was removed.
The group was a place where much of the planning for large scale rallies against workplace vaccine mandates occurred on the Coast. It included employees of Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Stennis Space Center and other federal contractors in Hancock County, along with health care and private business employees who were subject to federal vaccine mandates in the fall.
Elected officials like anti-vaccine champion in State Sen. Chris McDaniel, R-Ellisville, and Gulf Coast State Sen. Jeremy England, R-Vancleave, would post in the group.
Mann, who is leaving Ingalls Shipbuilding to expand his family kettle corn business, said the work environment at Ingalls has shifted and some people had left following the ongoing vaccine mandate saga with the federal contractor.
“I had a few message me that they [left]. If the page was still up I’d have a idea how many,” Mann said.
COVID vaccine misinformation has been targeted by the Mississippi State Department of Health as a real deterrent to getting the state their shots.
In July, the department began blocking comments on its own Facebook posts that relate to COVID-19 because of a “rise” in virus and vaccinations misinformation.
State Medical Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs has said the coronavirus misinformation is “poison” for the vaccine-hesitant Coast.
The Biden administration has before highlighted the threat of COVD vaccine misinformation online, most of which falsely claim that the shots are ineffective, harm fertility or carry microchips.
Facebook banned misinformation about all vaccines in August, removing over three dozen pages, groups and Facebook or Instagram accounts linked to 12 individuals who spread vaccine misinformation.
“We have also imposed penalties on nearly two dozen additional Pages, groups or accounts linked to these 12 people, like moving their posts lower in News Feed so fewer people see them or not recommending them to others,” Facebook wrote.