YouTube, whether unwilling or unable, is enabling dubious sellers to push face masks and fraudulent “vaccines” to the public on edge with fear from the coronavirus pandemic, researchers from the Digital Citizens Alliance (DCA) and Coalition for a Safer Web (CSW) found over the past three weeks.
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Researchers found multiple examples of videos on YouTube offering medical masks and vaccines that sellers claim will protect buyers from the coronavirus. The “vaccines” are clearly false because there is no coronavirus vaccine. In follow-up conversations the research team initiated with sellers, there was ample reason to believe the offers for masks were dubious as well, as highlighted by interactions with representatives from some of the sellers.
“At a time when most of us want to help our small businesses simply to survive, YouTube is enabling the worst elements of our society to keep their illegal and/or illicit businesses humming along,” said DCA’s Executive Director Tom Galvin. “Millions of Americans are dealing with massive disruptions – job loss, kids without school, worries about elderly relatives – and we’re all making adjustments to our way of life, but YouTube refuses to change the way it does business even when society is in crisis.”
Researchers found posts that were so obviously deceptive that it would be comical if this was not truly a life or death situation. Other sellers didn’t even try and pretend to be legitimate. One seller who simply goes by “Real ID Card Fake Passport Producer” used YouTube to offer “Covid 19 Drugs.”
“How does a guy calling himself ‘Real ID Card Fake Passport Producer’ even get a page on YouTube?” asks Eric Feinberg, lead researcher for the Coalition for a Safer Web. “It’s all too easy to get ahold of these guys. We called some of them. Once you contact them, they are relentless. They’ll call you back at all hours and hound you until you buy something. They’ll call you in the middle of the night. They are predators looking to capitalize on our fear.”
Researchers were also concerned that YouTube is including a link to CDC information on these videos from shady operators. Official CDC banners are being placed under any coronavirus related material on YouTube – from news stories by trusted media outlets to the more troubling videos from operators making outlandish claims.
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“YouTube also mixes trusted resources with sites that shouldn’t be trusted and that could confuse consumers – especially when they are scared and desperate,” said Galvin. “It’s hard enough to tell who’s legitimate and who’s not on YouTube.”
Digital Citizens did order some of the products offered by some of the mysterious sellers that researchers found. The researchers are still waiting for the products and will update the report if any do arrive. DCA also sent a letter to the Justice Department with the report to alert authorities about this dangerous activity.
