Russia-linked obscure communications agency tried to campaign with influencers against Pfizer vaccine

Let’s say that the death rate among the vaccinated is “Three times higher with Pfizer than with AstraZeneca” was the strategy that a communication agency with suspicious outlines tried to launch in France and to project it throughout Europe.

Get them to manipulate this fake information with various influencers, with a total of over 1.5 million subscribers on YouTube. They revealed on Monday that were contacted by a mysterious broker inviting them, for a fee, to post videos and messages unlike Pfizer and BioNTech’s anti-Covid development.

According to what emerges from the survey, and revealed by the Numerama site, all the influencers received an email entitled “An information campaign.” The stated objective: “To talk about vaccines offered to Europeans, in particular AstraZeneca and Pfizer “. While his presentation reflected an informative engagement, he then focused on messages to denigrate development with messenger RNA technology.

On Monday, May 24, the YouTuber and the science communicator Leo Grasset, known as “Dirty biology”, surprised on the Twitter network by commenting to have received a proposal from a strange communications company, offering you excellent commercial support for “Destroy the Pfizer vaccine on video“On behalf of a” client who wishes to remain incognito “.

In addition to the scientific communicator on the net, Two other influencers from the French video network accompanied the complaint on Twitter, claiming to have received a request for action of the same type.

“Dirty biology”, with 1.2 million subscribers, he had to upload videos that sounded like advice to his followers, without linking those posts to advertisements or sponsored videos. Hired influencers were expected to act as if they were giving their personal take on the vaccine to be interviewed.

French newspaper The world, was also involved in the deception. In a document sent to Léo Grasset, and which I can verify that morning, it is also clearly mentioned that the video must state that the product of Pfizer / BioNTech it has a significant death rate and the statement should be based on a table and other studies.

“It’s rare. I received a partnership proposal which consists of breaking down the Pfizer vaccine into a video. Huge budget, client who wants to remain incognito and you have to hide the sponsorship. Ethics / 20. If you watch a video, you will know that this is an operation, then “

Among these sources is an article in The world, published on January 16, linked to documents stolen from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) during a hack, whose authors have not yet been identified.

The other sources cited by the communication agency add notes published on sites, with plagiarized information, articles produced without specifying any source, messages aiming to accuse Europe of endangering its citizens by using development the most applied in the block, and one of the most recognized in the world.

The French Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, spoke on the subject on Tuesday: “I don’t know where it comes from, I don’t know if it comes from France or from abroad,” he commented, referring to the suspicions that point to Russia. “It’s ugly, it’s dangerous, it’s irresponsible and it doesn’t work. “replied the official.

An obscure communication agency with Russian employees

The same influencers, knowledgeable about the medium, proceeded to search for the recruiting consultant’s fingerprints. Identified as “Fazze”, the agency had almost no data.

According to research on public radio Franceinfo, the tracks lead to Russia. “In an exchange of emails that Franceinfo was able to consult, the communications agency asked another influencer to assert that the media are concealing information from the public and that the European Union has promoted the Pfizer vaccine. These messages are signed by the Fazze agency, domiciled in the United Kingdom but not registered in the country. His London address is fake and his few employees, Russian or Russian, have deleted their social media accounts since the news broke.“, He says.

“The agency Fazze, on its website, describes itself as an ‘influencer marketing platform’, to which it offers various tools. It is based in the UK, but is not a UK registered company. His address in London is false and in 2018 he was domiciled in the British Virgin Islands, in the Caribbean, ”reports Daniel Postico, RFI correspondent in London.

The French Ministry of Health has been informed of these requests and “is following this issue closely”, denouncing “clear attempts at disinformation” . For now, the exact origin of these requests to French YouTubers is unknown.

The other two influencers, Sami Ouladitto, an actor with 400,000 YouTube subscribers and the channel “And that is said to be a doctor” or “And he says Doctor,” directed by a doctor, who had the same offer, describes the same situation.

With an open investigation, the LinkedIn accounts of people posing as “Fazze” employees have transformed their profiles into private information or even deleted, reveals the daily Le Monde. Additionally, the company’s difficult-to-reach CEO profile revealed that the company operates in Moscow, Russia, not London.

So far, the Pfizer company has not commented on this complaint.. While the sources cited, blogs and publications that wanted to support the criticism disappear.

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