AIDS dissidents in the Internet – a real threat

Laboratory for Internet Studies fellow Peter Meylakhs gave a paper at the annual readings CISR in January, 2014 his study of a group on the Russian social networking site VKontakte supported by so-called AIDS dissidents - people who deny the existence of HIV and support refusal to treat and prevent the disease from spreading.

The Laboratory for Internet Studies fellow Peter Meylakhs gave a paper at the annual readings CISR in January, 2014 on his study of a group on the Russian social networking site VKontakte supported by so-called AIDS dissidents - people who deny the existence of HIV and support refusal to treat and prevent the disease from spreading.

In his analysis of the largest group of AIDS dissidents in Vkontakte (about 15,000 people) Meylakhs identified several reasons why people come to the group. Usually it is because their personal experience of the illness differs from what doctors tell them is 'typical', combined with the rudeness and lack of information they find in AIDS centers and the severe side effects from treatments.

Newcomers who speak in favor of the theory of AIDS dissidence, are received warmly by the group and immediately get a large number of likes, while doubters or those expressing ‘orthodox’ views get the cold shoulder, and their messages are often moderated. The group has posted a mass of ‘scientific’ materials proving that HIV doesn't exist. There are lawyers and doctors, among the active users who conduct consultations on the subject.

The group is constantly growing in numbers. If you search for ‘AIDS’ and ‘HIV’ in Vkontakte the group consistently comes up in second place in the search results and a similar search on the main search engines will bring up AIDS dissident resources among the Top-10. There is reason to believe that the spread of AIDS dissident views, along with other anti-medicine views, is a social problem that requires attention.