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The couple in the web site movies may very well be hawking any variety of merchandise.
“You’re going to like proudly owning the platinum package deal,” Charlene Bollinger tells viewers, as an image of a DVD set, booklets and different merchandise flashes on display. Her husband, Ty, guarantees a “director’s minimize version,” and over 100 hours of extra footage.
Click the orange button, his spouse says, “to hitch in the combat for health freedom” — or extra particularly, to pay $199 to $499 for the Bollingers’ video sequence, “The Truth About Vaccines 2020.”
The Bollingers are a part of an ecosystem of for-profit corporations, nonprofit teams, YouTube channels and different social media accounts that stoke worry and mistrust of COVID-19 vaccines.
An investigation by The Associated Press has discovered that the couple work carefully with others distinguished in the anti-vaccine motion — together with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his Children’s Health Defense — to drive gross sales by affiliate marketing relationships.
The Bollingers have stated they’ve bought tens of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} of merchandise by varied ventures and paid out $12 million to associates. Tens of hundreds of individuals ponied up money for an earlier model of their vaccine video sequence, they stated.
“This is a disinformation trade,” stated Dorit Reiss, a professor at the University of California Hastings College of the Law, who specializes in vaccine coverage. Reiss stated that in contrast to different multi-stage marketing companies, in which merchandise are bought by low-stage sub-sellers, the anti-vaccination trade is sustained by grassroots activists.
“They have many, many passionate believers that function gross sales individuals of the misinformation on the floor,” she stated. “For the high, it is a product. For the individuals beneath, they passionately imagine it. They’re very honest. And it comes throughout.”
The Bollingers and others have been already in the enterprise of promoting anti-vaccine data earlier than the coronavirus started its inexorable march throughout the globe. But the pandemic offered the couple and others an enormous alternative to broaden their attain.
The Bollingers aligned themselves with supporters of former President Donald Trump — establishing a Super PAC to push what they name “medical freedom.”
On the afternoon of Jan. 6, the Bollingers held a rally just a few blocks from the Capitol. As emergency autos screamed previous, responding to the invasion and the ransacking of the constructing, Charlene Bollinger celebrated from the stage. She known as it an “wonderful day” and led a prayer for the individuals she known as “patriots.” Meanwhile, Ty Bollinger stood at the doorways of the Capitol, ready to get in.
The Bollingers have greater than 1 million followers on Facebook, and Charlene Bollinger stated in a video dialog with Kennedy posted final yr on their Super PAC’s web site that their electronic mail checklist has “a pair million” individuals on it.
The Center for Countering Digital Hate stated that from December 2019 to May 2021, 5 of the Bollingers’ largest social media accounts gained 117,273 followers.
Public health specialists say the unfold of anti-vaccine data undermines the effort to immunize sufficient of the inhabitants to cease the pandemic. A latest AP-NORC ballot reveals about 1 in 5 Americans are hesitant to get vaccinated. U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy stated final month that misinformation and disinformation circulating on-line about COVID-19 current a “clear and current hazard” to individuals who should be protected and who might get vaccinated.
The Bollingers declined interview requests and didn’t reply to a listing of questions emailed to them by the AP about their enterprise and political actions and backgrounds. Ty Bollinger later complained on an Internet present that “journo-terrorists” and “mainstream media whores” have been about to launch a “hit piece” on him and his spouse.
Ty Bollinger started their enterprise a number of years in the past with books and DVDs resembling “Cancer: Step Outside the Box” and “The Truth About Cancer,” which medical specialists say included unproven details about alternate options to chemotherapy and most cancers prevention. The firm even sells a sequence that purports to point out “the fact” about pet most cancers.
Ty Bollinger describes himself as a “medical researcher” on bios posted on his web site and in at the least one guide. He holds levels in accounting and taxation from Baylor, however the AP might discover no indication that he has any scientific or medical coaching, and he declined to reply questions on his credentials.
In 2017, in what Ty Bollinger has known as a “pure development,” the enterprise expanded its work into vaccines. The couple styled themselves as “vaccine security advocates,” whereas they concurrently minimized the risk of illnesses resembling measles. They additionally revealed articles questioning whether or not life-saving vaccines work and claimed unvaccinated kids are more healthy.
When coronavirus hit, the enterprise pivoted once more, producing and marketing details about COVID-19.
The Tennessee couple has been selling “The Truth About Vaccines 2020” at the least since April 2020, and up to date it in the fall. Their claims about the virus and its vaccines run the gamut, from assertions that COVID instances are overreported and adversarial reactions to vaccines are underreported, to theories about 5G wi-fi alerts being linked to the virus.
Among the supplies they’ve produced is a 78-web page “Coronavirus Field Guide” with claims that COVID-19 is “man-made.” In addition to books and DVDs, a few of which price a whole bunch of {dollars}, they promote an “Insiders Legacy Membership” that prices $5 monthly, or $47 per yr, for a “premium month-to-month publication.”
The Bollingers’ more moderen Facebook posts focus on topics resembling ketogenic diets and the dietary advantages of mangoes, whereas their most strident anti-vaccination content material is reserved for the messaging app Telegram or their very own web site.
On Telegram, they unfold the declare that the COVID-19 vaccine “is a killer” — and hyperlink public health efforts to combat COVID-19 to the “Deep State.”
On their “Truth About Cancer” web site, to which their vaccine web site typically hyperlinks, they just lately posted an article, which made the declare that “it seems to be as if the new vaccines are 67% MORE LIKELY to kill you than the virus itself.”
In research of a whole bunch of hundreds of individuals, the vaccines have been confirmed to be secure and efficient at stopping extreme illness and dying, and people outcomes have been confirmed as tens of hundreds of thousands of vaccines have been administered.
“We do not belief these vaccines,” they stated in the submit. “We do not belief the ‘authorities’ who’re working so arduous to manage a whole bunch of hundreds of thousands of doses over the subsequent 2 months. And we’re 100% prepared to gamble that the vaccine is rather more harmful than the virus.”
Below the submit, commenter after commenter stated they have been swayed.
“Thank you a lot for all the data you present us! I can’t get the vaccine!” one commenter wrote. Another stated she had obtained the first dose and requested for counsel on the best way to refuse the second. A third shared that she was being handled for most cancers and her physician stated she shouldn’t be afraid, however that she was “terrified to get the vaccine.”
While the Bollingers describe themselves as “advocates,” they’re working a for-profit enterprise. It’s not clear how a lot cash they’ve constituted of their vaccine-related marketing efforts, or from their enterprise extra broadly, however there are some clues.
The Bollingers’ firm, TTAC Publishing LLC, filed a trademark infringement lawsuit final yr in which it said that TTAC had secured over $25 million in buyer transactions since 2014. The lawsuit, which calls the firm an “trade chief specializing in the marketing of data referring to health care” and most cancers, doesn’t say how a lot of that was revenue.
Dun & Bradstreet, which gives estimates for firm revenues, has two listings for TTAC Publishing. The first, at its former handle in Nevada, estimates gross sales and income at $2.9 million final yr. For the one listed at TTAC’s present handle in Tennessee, Dun & Bradstreet estimated $76,000 in gross sales in 2020. Experian reported in 2020 that the firm had $179,000 in gross sales from its Nevada company handle. In February, Experian reported TTAC’s income at $202,000.
On purposes for authorities loans throughout the pandemic, TTAC Publishing stated it had 16 workers in May 2020. That quantity stood at 27 when their second mortgage was accredited in February 2021.
On their web site, the Bollingers defined that they make a few of their cash through affiliate marketing. In “The Truth About Vaccines Affiliate Center” web page, which was taken down this month after the AP requested about data posted on it, the couple laid out how they paid individuals to drive followers, which they check with as leads, and gross sales on their web site.
Affiliate marketing is a extensively used apply in which individuals are recruited to unfold the phrase a few product. Affiliates are granted distinctive IDs, which can be utilized in hyperlinks to trace who referred a buyer to a web site, and who deserves the fee if the buyer buys one thing.
People who signed up as an affiliate for the “Truth About Vaccines 2020” video sequence would obtain a novel affiliate ID, which might then be used in a hyperlink to share in social media posts or mailing lists.
“We suggest sending at the least 3 emails to get the highest conversions and commissions,” stated the web page, which was part of the Truth About Cancer web site as just lately as May 7. “The earlier you mail and share on social media, the extra you may make.”
The AP took screenshots earlier than it was taken down, and the web page continues to be accessible in the Internet Archive.
In an October contest for the launch of latest episodes of their vaccine movies, the couple stated they have been “gifting away $40,000+ in prize cash!” For one a part of the contest, solely those that generated at the least 2,500 complete leads would qualify, whereas for one other, those that generated at the least $10,000 in gross sales certified. First prize for each was a $5,000 bonus.
According to the web page, associates “earn 40% commissions on all digital merchandise and 30% on all bodily product gross sales.”
Several individuals and teams distinguished in the anti-vaccine motion have been listed on the web page as associates. Perhaps finest identified amongst them was Kennedy’s nonprofit, Children’s Health Defense. Kennedy himself was listed as an “knowledgeable” on the web page, and in addition, was listed in a model captured by the Internet Archive in spring 2020 as rating amongst the Top 10 for the sequence’ “Overall Sales Leaderboard.”
Kennedy has been working with the Bollingers for a number of years, stated Laura Bono, government director of Children’s Health Defense. Being an affiliate, she stated, meant solely that the group “shared their supplies” and that “It does not imply there is a enterprise relationship.”
“We shared their data. Then individuals can select to buy, or not, their movies. So we simply shared with our checklist. Like you’ll the rest,” Bono stated.
Still, the AP examined social media posts made by Children’s Health Defense and located a number of situations when it posted hyperlinks to the Bollingers’ web site utilizing a novel “affiliate ID” together with at the least 5 Facebook posts plugging “The Truth About Vaccines 2020” between April and October 2020.
Arunesh Mathur, a pc science knowledgeable at the Center for Information Technology Policy at Princeton University, who research affiliate marketing, confirmed the hyperlinks included codes used in a well-liked affiliate system, Post Affiliate Pro. The Bollingers’ ‘Affiliate Center’ stated they used the platform to trace gross sales.
Bono stated the Bollingers had donated $10,000 to Children’s Health Defense in December 2019. She denied that Kennedy and Children’s Health Defense ever obtained cash from the Bollingers for leads, but additionally stated they’d obtained what she known as a “negligible” quantity in donations from the Bollingers after individuals adopted their hyperlinks to the web site and selected to purchase. She estimated the quantity at about $1,000 and declined to make clear.
“No. 1, I do not understand it, and No. 2, I do not assume it is any of your enterprise,” Bono stated. “I do not assume it is in opposition to the regulation if an organization provides cash if it is a charitable donation, proper?”
She stated Kennedy was possible listed as No. 4 on the “Overall Sales Leaderboard” as a result of he shared the Bollinger’s hyperlink on his Instagram account, which had over 800,000 followers when it was banned in February for spreading what Instagram deemed was misinformation about vaccine security and COVID-19.
“His followers might select to click on on the hyperlink and go watch. Afterward, they might select to buy,” Bono wrote in an electronic mail. The Truth About Vaccines “did present a small stipend to (Children’s Health Defense), to not Mr. Kennedy, for sharing the hyperlink. I’m not sure of that complete.”
Children’s Health Defense paid Kennedy, its chairman and chief authorized counsel, $255,000 in 2019, based on the most up-to-date publicly accessible IRS filings.
If Children’s Health Defense has obtained a “negligible” quantity on its affiliation with the Bollingers, others have obtained substantial quantities. In a lawsuit introduced final yr, Jeff Hays, a former affiliate who promoted “The Truth About Cancer,” stated he earned round $240,000 in commissions from 2015 to 2018.
In an archived model of the Truth About Vaccines Affiliate Center net web page, captured by the Internet Archive in April 2018, the firm states that 25,000 individuals bought its first iteration of the “The Truth About Vaccines” video sequence. It stated that since the firm launched in 2014, it had paid affiliate companions “greater than $12 million for sharing our occasions with their audiences by electronic mail, Facebook, Twitter, and so forth.,” and that “our associates have constantly earned a mean of over $2 per click on.”
Experts say such monetary connections amongst anti-vaccination activists stay largely unknown to individuals who devour their content material, a lot of whom are merely trying for data and find yourself falling down a rabbit gap of misinformation.
Many of the individuals who push anti-vaccine data emphasize that their viewers shouldn’t belief pharmaceutical corporations or “Big Pharma,” as a result of they’re making plenty of cash off of vaccines, stated Erica DeWald, of the advocacy group Vaccinateyourfamily.org. But they’re additionally creating wealth, stated DeWald, who has tracked the Bollingers, Kennedy and others in the trade.
“I positively assume individuals are being misled. They assume that people are doing this out of the goodness of their coronary heart,” she stated. “I believe there’s an assumption that individuals are creating wealth, proper? If you are promoting merchandise, in fact you make cash. But I believe they do not notice how a lot cash they’re making.”
The Bollingers and Kennedy have exploited their relationships with different teams to entry new markets, stated Imran Ahmed of the Center for Countering Digital Hate.
“Once you begin to look at it by the trade lens, it out of the blue begins to make sense as to why they’re doing all these things,” he stated.
For instance, Ahmed stated, Kennedy has labored to enchantment to African Americans, whereas the Bollingers have focused the MAGA motion and much proper.
“It’s an incredible market of those who additionally distrust the authorities,” Ahmed stated of the MAGA motion. “Once somebody follows one conspiracy idea, they’re prone to comply with one other.”
With COVID, a disparate group of radical, fringe conspiracy theorists have come collectively round the concept that authorities cannot be trusted, is attempting to kill you and is utilizing the vaccine to do it, Ahmed stated.
The Bollingers final yr based a political motion committee known as United Medical Freedom Super PAC, which raised greater than $60,000 in donations, based on stories Ty Bollinger filed with the Federal Election Commission. A chiropractor who has been featured as an “knowledgeable” in their movies donated a number of instances, twice in the quantity of $1,776 — a phrase that later grew to become a rallying cry for protesters as they stormed the Capitol. Super PACs can elevate limitless cash from people and firms to spend on unbiased political actions
In a video posted on the Super PAC web site 10 months in the past, Charlene Bollinger defined to Kennedy that anti-vaccine influencers should band collectively, “Because we all know the different facet, they’re working collectively. They’re very environment friendly. They’ve obtained their agendas,” she stated.
“And we’ll be supporting particularly you, Children’s Health Defense. We imagine in what you are doing Bobby,” she stated. “And so, we’ll proceed to focus on you. Highlight Children’s Health Defense and assist you to in any method that we will. So that is how we win.”
Bono declined to say whether or not Kennedy agrees with the Bollingers’ help of the Jan. 6 rally or whether or not he regrets aligning himself with the couple, however stated that Kennedy has “chosen peaceable and considerate strategies of offering data” to lawmakers and others. Children’s Health Defense, she stated, “does not condone any lawbreaking or violence of any variety.”
Bono informed the AP that she did not assume Children’s Health Defense had ever obtained a donation from the United Medical Freedom Super PAC, saying “I’ve by no means heard of it.”
One individual it has supported is Roger Stone. United Medical Freedom paid the conservative political marketing consultant, lobbyist and adviser to then-President Donald Trump greater than $11,000 on Dec. 18. Stone informed the AP that the cash was for an look he made at a rally in Nashville in October.
Stone additionally was billed as the keynote speaker for the occasion the Bollingers held close to the U.S. Capitol the afternoon of the Jan. 6, promoted as the “MAGA Freedom Rally D.C.,” which blended anti-vaccine “health freedom” activism with “Stop the Steal” rhetoric. Stone stated he was supposed to talk at 3:40 p.m. however determined to not go due to the violence at the Capitol that day.
“I had no curiosity in going as much as the capitol beneath these circumstances,” Stone stated, including that he was by no means speculated to be paid for talking at the Jan. 6 occasion.
Video of the occasion was livestreamed however has since been made personal. However, video posted on-line in varied locations reveals it lasting for hours. Charlene Bollinger was emcee, calling for Congress to “Stop the Steal” as the rally kicked off following Trump’s speech that day.
Several individuals distinguished in the anti-vaccine motion spoke, together with Mikki Willis, who made the film “Plandemic.” He informed the crowd he had simply left the chaos at the Capitol.
“Our proud patriots simply pushed by a line of riot police peacefully, as peacefully as that might occur, and at the moment are at the stairs, at the doorways of the Capitol,” Willis stated from the stage. “And it was a stupendous factor to see.”
Charlene Bollinger cheered the Capitol breach.
“The Capitol has been stormed by patriots, we’re right here for this motive, we’re profitable.” She added: “We are at conflict.”
Later that day, Ty Bollinger informed the on-line “Robert Scott Bell Show” that he had been “maced” that day and had been amongst the individuals who crowded at the doorways of the Capitol in an try to get inside, although he stated he didn’t enter.
He known as then-Vice President Mike Pence a “traitor,” known as the individuals who obtained inside the constructing “patriots” and stated “at this time, individuals’s true colours are being made identified.”
The Bollingers present the convergence of “proper-wing world with anti-vaccine and different kinds of anti-COVID, COVID conspiracy idea, anti-public health, health freedom all in one,” stated Richard Carpiano, a professor of public coverage and sociology at University of California, Riverside, who research vaccine disinformation campaigns.
“At the finish of the day, you’ve these activists attempting to win over followers,” he stated. “For them, it is cash-making.”
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Associated Press investigative researcher Randy Herschaft and AP medical author Mike Stobbe contributed to this report.
