Richard Taylor

A Man<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> was targeted with hundreds of abusive Messages<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> after being featured in a year-end Bbc News<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> report. The Source<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> ? Anti-vaccine activists who falsely believed he was a so-called " crisis actor" pretending to be sick with Covid-19.

A few days after Christmas, Henry Dyne nonchalantly checked his phone while ordering a couple of drinks at a bar. As he unlocked it, he was greeted by More Than<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> 600 notifications.

He began to Despair<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> - it was something he'd experienced before - But , says the 29-year-old from Surrey, This Time<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> was " a hundred times worse".

The Messages<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> were nasty, abusive, even threatening.

" Next time you're in a hospital bed, " one read, " it won't be with Corona. "

Dyne's misfortune began when he contracted The Virus<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> in summer 2021. He hadn't been vaccinated, He Said<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> , thinking that his relative youth would make any infection pretty mild.

But the IT Consultant<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> - who also enjoys posting jokes on his Instagram account - was unlucky.

" Every Time I<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> 'd sleep, I'm not sleeping. I'm all over The Place<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> . And Then<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> One Day<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> , I just woke up at about six in The Morning<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> and said I'm calling an ambulance, " he says. " The scariest part was The Fever<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> and the hallucinations. "

In July<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> , he ended up in hospital, Hooked Up<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> to an oxygen tank, and spoke to BBC journalists who were visiting to report on a rise in Covid cases in Young People<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> <Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> for the News at Six.

" I just thought it probably would be quite good to Go On<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> record and say 'this is my experience, it is a lot worse than I thought, so get the vaccine', " he says.

He didn't think he'd soon find himself the focus of a group of anti-vaccine activists. It was the start of allegations that he was a so-called " crisis actor".

The idea of " crisis actors" - People<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> who pretend or are hired to act out some particular tragedy or disaster - is part of Many<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> contemporary Conspiracy Theories<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> .

The concept was notoriously used to allege that parents of dead children in the Sandy Hook<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> shooting were. The idea allows motivated activists to explain away Real<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> suffering by pretending it was somehow staged.

Of course, Bbc News<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> does not use " crisis actors" and does not pay interviewees. Dyne was not paid for his contribution.

But that did not stop committed anti-vaccine activists from Making Up<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> false information and going on The Attack<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> .

" How much did The Bbc<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> pay you to pretend you had Covid-19? " one message read. Another said: " You're a dirtbag, mate. Karma is Real<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> My Friend<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> . "

There were much worse comments as Well - Many<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> too explicit to share here.

Wild theories spiralled further out of control as activists trawled through his online accounts. Some discovered his LinkedIn profile, which listed one of his former employers, a Company<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> that had secured government contracts providing laptops to schools during the pandemic.

The Detail<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> was true, But he was no longer employed by The Company<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> <Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> - The Connection<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> was both tenuous and coincidental.

After The Initial<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> wave of abuse tailed off and Dyne was on The Road<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> to making a full recovery, he tried to joke about it on his Instagram bio, sarcastically describing himself as a "1x Academy Award Winning Crisis Actor".

" Humour is My Way<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> of coping, all you can do is laugh, " he explains, " Little did I know this joke would get me in so much trouble. "

Round two came after a Bbc News<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> Special broadcast on 27 December, called Review 2021: The Coronavirus Pandemic. It included the clip of Dyne's original interview.

Someone posted a Video<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> of themselves watching the special, googling Henry Dyne's name, finding his Instagram bio and reading the phrase " crisis actor".

It's unclear who made the original Video<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> - But it was quickly reposted in anti-vaccine circles on YouTube and Facebook<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> , before really Taking Off<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> on Twitter.

One of the main drivers of the Twitter storm was an aspiring Welsh politician, Richard Taylor<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> . He posted the Video<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> on Facebook<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> and racked up thousands of reactions with a tweet.

Taylor received 20% of the vote in Blaenau Gwent<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> standing for the Brexit Party<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> in the 2019 General Election. He recently Set Up<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> a crowdfunding campaign that raised £61,000 for a after breaching Covid regulations.

Taylor's posts read " We see you" along with the Video<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> , But when contacted said via email: " In my original post, I was not implying Anything<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> . . It us up To My<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> Social Media<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> followers to draw a conclusion from what they see or read.

" It is unfortunate that Mr Dyne decided to reference himself sarcastically in his Social Media<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> accounts, " Taylor wrote, " I have lived believing that when someone tells you who or what they are, believe them, so I would have taken Mr Dyne at Face Value<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> when he referenced himself as a crisis actor. "

He also condemned the abuse and threats.

" I would never intentionally contribute to abusing or threatening another individual, having spent a large part of my vocation life helping and serving others, " he wrote.

But the viral Video<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> did result in Dyne receiving hundreds more abusive and threatening Messages<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> - he estimates Three Times<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> as Many<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> as in The Initial<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> wave In July<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> , including several death threats and fake accounts Set Up<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> in his name.

Taylor's post on Facebook<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> was been labelled as false by fact-checkers. A Video<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> on YouTube remains live, as do several viral tweets showing the Video<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> on Twitter.

Meta - which owns Instagram and Facebook<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> - has since Taken Down<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> The Fake<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> accounts.

" We apologise to Henry for the distress that this must have caused, " a Meta statement said.

" Accounts that impersonate Someone Else<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> are not allowed on Instagram and we have removed the accounts reported to us. "

Twitter said in a statement: " We continue to continue to take enforcement action on content and accounts that advance demonstrably false or misleading claims about Covid-19 and that may lead to significant risk of harm. "

YouTube is investigating the Video<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> in question.

All three Social Media<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> companies condemned Online Harassment<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> and say they have rules and tools to protect against it.

While lamenting the repeated rounds of abuse, Henry Dyne has continued to poke fun at his accusers, joking that he's available to " fake" other disasters.

" That's literally all you can do, " he says. " Something does need to happen with Social Media<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> . It's just so obvious that it's blown so Far Out<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> of control. "

While he would consider a career in stand-up comedy, he says his bout with Covid-19 wasn't very funny - and was all too Real<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> .

Source of news: bbc.com