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French social media influencers offered money to discredit Pfizer vaccine. Some claim Russia behind it
French YouTuber Léo Grasset said that all the employees said to be working for the agency had “weird” LinkedIn profiles and everyone had worked in Russia in the past.
Several European influencers have claimed that they have been offered money by a communications agency to discredit the Covid-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer-BioNTech. They were asked to create videos for YouTube, Instagram and other social media platforms questioning the safety and efficacy of the vaccine. One influencer told French TV that he was offered about $2,500 for a video.
French YouTuber Léo Grasset, whose popular science channel has nearly 1.2 million subscribers, recently shared the information about the “strange” proposal he received and posted screenshots of the request from his Twitter handle. Grasset said that the agency, posing as based in London, informed him about their “colossal budget” and asked to hide the sponsorship details if he accepts the offer.
“Present the material natively. Act like you have the passion and interest in this topic. Present the material as your own independent thought,” the screenshot read.
The agency, as per the screenshot, requested Grasset to falsely claim that the death rate among those vaccinated with Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine is almost three times higher than those with AstraZeneca vaccine. “Put a question like ‘Why some governments actively purchasing Pfizer vaccine, which is dangerous to health of the people?’” it said.
Grasset later informed his followers that the address of the “London agency” was bogus since there is an “aesthetic laser centre”. He also noticed that all the employees said to be working for the agency had “weird” LinkedIn profiles, which he found had now disappeared, and everyone had worked in Russia in the past.
“Unbelievable. The address of the London agency that contacted me is bogus. They never had premises there, it is an aesthetic laser centre! All employees have weird LinkedIn profiles ... which have been missing since this morning. Everyone has worked in Russia before,” he tweeted.
According to a Wall Street Journal report, French counterintelligence authorities are investigating whether the Russian government is in any way involved in the attempt to create doubt about the vaccine widely used in the United States and Europe. French health minister Olivier Véran slammed the effort to discredit the vaccine, calling it “dangerous” and “irresponsible”.
"I do not know where it comes from, I do not know if it comes from France or from abroad", as Véran on Tuesday.
