‘I will die free’: On Telegram, opinions guide medical perception on COVID treatment

Although healthcare systems in the U.S. have not been strangers to public mistrust,  researchers who track social media platforms are not surprised by the accusations of medical malpractice related to COVID-19 treatments. 

On Telegram, a social media platform that has grown in popularity among supporters of former President Donald Trump, major conservative figures such as Lin Wood and former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, have often expressed opinions and made unsubstantiated claims about vaccines. Both Wood and Flynn have a considerable following in South Carolina.

More:Misinformation, political motivations put overburdened South Carolina hospitals in crossfire

These claims are often re-circulated and elicit reactions in local Telegram groups in the Upstate. On Sept. 13, one group had a user who posted: 

“Hospitals are being allowed to think they have way more power than they have!! I’m at a point now that, no matter what happens I’m not going to the hospital. I will die free.”

Wood’s channel, with nearly 800,000 subscribers, is full of messages that have referred to COVID-19 as a bio-weapon, vaccines as an agent of catastrophic population decimation and blamed remdesivir for patient deaths in hospitals. Claims that have been debunked by several researchers and fact-checked by USA TODAY and the Associated Press.

More:Fact check: 6 of the most persistent misconceptions about COVID-19 vaccines

Greenville GOP leader Pressley Stutts’ death due to COVID-19 proved to be a turning point for several Republican workers, who were growing increasingly agitated with doctors and their unwillingness to prescribe ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine. 

In a recent Senate hearing in Columbia, Stutts’ son, Pressley Stutts III, who is not associated with any political affiliation, said that he fought with doctors at Spartanburg Regional Medical Center over ivermectin. Stutts has accused the hospital of overstepping its authority and members of the local GOP have accused the hospital of “medical malpractice.”

In a statement about COVID-19 treatment, Spartanburg Regional said it individualizes care depending on the specific needs of the patient and offered no other specifics.

Dr. John Ropp, president of the South Carolina Medical Association spoke to The News to shed some light on treatment plans.

“Whenever a patient is diagnosed with COVID, one of the first things we ask ourselves is what are the risks?” Ropp said.  Factors like age, comorbidities and vaccination status help inform medical decisions, he said.

As of now, standard treatments for COVID-19 include oxygen therapy, steroids and recently, monoclonal antibodies. Then there is Remdesivir, an anti-malarial drug that is the only other FDA approved COVID-19 treatment option, apart from the Pfizer vaccine.

Stutts’ final days were marked by a host of posts that said his family did not want him to be treated with Remdesivir and put on the ventilator.

On Aug. 16, a few days before his death, Wood posted: “my lay advice is to avoid hospitals at all costs. Seek proper treatment at home. Avoid medical prisons.” 

Wood declined an interview for this story.  

“Telegram is, in particular, a fairly siloed form of social media,” said Darren Linvill, associate professor at Clemson University who researches social media platforms and misinformation, and is known for his work in tracking accounts associated with the Russian Internet Research Agency among others. 

Telegram users, Linvill said, are unlikely to get alternate perspectives.

So when a trusting source in a social network puts a piece of information out there, it’s far more likely for people to support that perspective without questioning it, he explained.

Last year, ever since Twitter and Facebook started flagging unsubstantiated claims, many conservatives switched to platforms like Gab and Telegram.

Telegram specifically has had a success rate unlike any other. Linvill said it is perhaps because it is a lot more personal in its interface.

Wood, whose claims after the Jan. 6 insurrection led to a Twitter ban, has used Telegram to converse with his supporters about his opinions on vaccines and the November 2020 elections. 

“When it comes to public health, a lot of the most dangerous social media out there isn’t necessarily the spreading of fake news. But it’s the spreading of potentially dangerous opinion,” Linvill explained.

“For instance, people who are just expressing a viewpoint like ‘I don’t trust the vaccine’ because it’s a new technology are not entirely wrong relatively speaking. It is true that it’s a new technology.”

It would be inappropriate for social media platforms to police that kind of conversation, he said. “But that doesn’t mean that that isn’t a dangerous viewpoint to take, especially when other people that trust you and internalize that message to their own viewpoint.” 

Several re-shared posts in local groups such as “SC Audit Force,” a group that does not accept the results of 2020 presidential elections, were from Wood’s Telegram channel.

“Messages should be flagged when they’re factually incorrect,” Linvill said. “When you’re spreading information that has a potential direct harm — like you should take this untested medicine to help fight COVID-19 when that treatment might cause direct harm — if you were to do so those are the sorts of messages that should absolutely be flagged.

“Unfortunately, the process of science moves slower than the process of conspiracy theories.”

Devyani Chhetri is the state government watchdog reporter. You can reach her at dchhetri@gannett.com or @ChhetriDevyani on Twitter

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