The National Library of Australia is archiving online conspiracy, anti-vaccine and freedom movement content as part of its collection about the COVID-19 pandemic.
State Library Victoria confirmed to Crikey that it was capturing the content as part of its contribution to the National Library: “The State Library Victoria aims to provide a complete and unbiased record of online publishing relating to the pandemic.”
Its collection includes subcollections of web page snapshots from government services, businesses, cultural institutions and sporting organisations.
The subcollection “news, media, Twitter and opinion and protest sites” contains 198 archived snapshots featuring captures of news websites (including Crikey), app store listings for the COVIDSafe app and forum discussions about COVID.
It also includes a range of misinformation and conspiracy theory content. Some of this includes:
- The website and Twitter account of Harrison Mclean, an organiser of the Melbourne freedom protests who wanted to use the rallies to introduce attendees to radical anti-Semitic conspiracy theories
- The website We Are The Voice, an anonymous campaign calling to unban the use of the disproved treatment ivermectin run that Crikey reported was run by an anti-vaccine couple were also behind campaigns for a vote of no confidence in Premier Dan Andrews and to stop the pandemic bill
- The website of Cafe Locked Out, an anti-lockdown, anti-vaccine Facebook online show that’s been part of protests against children’s vaccines and op-shops for vaccine requirements
- The website of Discernable, another anti-lockdown, vaccine-sceptical online show whose owner, Matt Wong, posted on Instagram about his content being included in the SLV as “strong confirmation of the historical significance of our work”
- The website and Facebook pages for a number of other anti-vaccine groups and protests including the People’s Revolution, sovereign citizen group The Australia Project and various Melbourne freedom protests.
Archivist and historian Dr Mike Jones said including conspiracy and misinformation materials could be important in representing a period of time like the pandemic.
“That means capturing the good things, the bad things, the problematic,” he said. “It means the untruths and lies as well as the things borne out by evidence.”
Jones said capturing periods still requires “integrity” and not just “bringing all that stuff together”. He gave the example of archiving the climate movement: capturing it could include climate denialist materials — but also material that rejects that, preferably material of the time.
“It’s about capturing the records, understanding context and the relationship of what was created at that time,” he said.
It’s amazing that anyone finds this odd or of significance. It’s exactly the purpose of archiving. If people want to know the truth of vaccines, we have peer reviewed science journals for that. It’s not the library’s job to be that arbiter of scientific truth, and quite pathetic that anti-vaxxers would claim it as a source of legitimacy for their nonsense.
Suppose if you don’t have the science on your side, you take anything as vindication irrespective of whether it is. Pathetic people with their pathetic delusions…
I can see why the other side needs preservation, vaxers tend to be strongly opiniated and an element would like total compulsion, including jail or psychological compulsion, yet when Omicron first came to Australia, a group of researchers at the well known Kirby institute in Sydney, tested all the vaccinations available at that time as to whether or what effect that they had on the new Omicron. despite a bit of opiniation that it was a ‘tricky’ disease, the effect on the omicron cultures was nil, no effect could be found, except on one or two a slight effect at 13 times the concentration, – This was printed by the ABC, although after longer than I expected, the link broken.
The logical thing was to stop all the insistence on vaccination except when the earlier virus was detected, but no such commonsense prevailed, only yet more hysterical exhortation to Vacinate vaccinate Vacinate, like Dalecs with their “Exterminate” getting louder and more hysterical. It would certainly still have been appropriate to continue other elements protecting against social spreading, if required, but just wasting time and money vaccinating with vaccines proved not to work seemed to me quite bizarre.
To censor validated research simply to not rock the current paradigm is bad enough, but to remove all traces of any divergent views prohibits us from learning about such mistakes, just to protect certain peoples ego’s who will probably not live any where near as long as those entries in the archives.
“vaccinating with vaccines proved not to work seemed to me quite bizarre.”
Which vaccines have been proved not to work? From what I’ve read, studies show that vaccination reduces the risk of severe COVID and death. I’d love to see the research that shows no effect from vaccination.
This is the original article, restored, but somewhat modified, it takes out the hard conclusion, but it is still there if youlook
.https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-12/omicron-coronavirus-inside-the-research-lab-vaccines/100690964
It is worth remembering that early reports from Africa, and now from most people in Australia, were and are that the Omnicron virus was much less harmful, but the hard line vaxers claimed that that was due to the no effect vacinations, – it is called Rationalising, your argument has disappeared so you find another that sort of fits, now that is tricky, not the omnicron.
Lots of words, not much sense.
If you can’t make sense out of something you don’t agree with, you need to practice arguing from both or several sides to truly understand anything, – once the old brain gets those rail tracks cemented in, freedom diappears, – at least for the victim.
Trouble is Kel, Queensland has just passed a law to be implemented nationally which can see AHPRA take action against doctors who discuss medical papers with patients, as part of informed consent, which support a view contrary to the agreed public health messaging.
It’s funny that the deniers think this supports them, to me, it is likely evidence to future researchers as to how ‘incorrect’ ( to put it politely) they were.
It’s a sad indictment on people’s inability to accept/understand science and possibly, a failing basic education system.
Social media is not an effective source of primary information – research skills are sadly lacking & effectively trolled by other parties for unfriendly purposes.
The argument about Deniers and The Science, is a straight lift from Climate Deniers versus Climate science, it is not a correct analogy, anti vaxers come from quite a large variety of places, including serious science, Vaxers are really only using the vaccination successes from the past, – the which, whilst wonderful in their way, do not include MRNA etc. modern vaccination.
Modern vaccination for Covid seems to be more to do with politics, than science, imho.
It is good that the SLV is collecting across the Covid spectrum (if I could put it that way), and that is also true of many other smaller and local collecting bodies, and State bodies in others states/territories. Compare this with the paucity of materials in public collections relating to the Spanish Flu of 1919/20, and indeed many other epidemics and pandemics – there is not much available in public collections from the mid-20th century polio epidemic, for instance. My only concern is that all these institutions have limited resources to collect, preserve and curate materials, including e-materials, and there will be an opportunity-cost with not collecting in other areas that are not currently ‘fashionable’.
Thanks for this article, Cam. It’s the sort of news I like to read, and can’t get elsewhere.
I’m curious how you got onto this story?
Dear Cameron,
Everyone now knows that the “V” doesn’t, didn’t and won’t stop the transmission of the Covid virus.
Is that a conspiracy theory too? As for the archiving of certain websites and commentary, well, it’s sad day for some to have their illusions stripped away and placed on record. All the best.