The Rise of Malinformation
In 2021, a theory began to circulate among opponents of COVID-19 vaccination. They claimed that the shots developed by Moderna and Pfizer were a form of “gene therapy,” a treatment that would alter a patient’s DNA. In corners of the internet already predisposed to distrust the government, speculation linking vaccines to government social control proliferated.1
The claim was based on the novel mRNA technology that enabled the vaccines to be produced with unprecedented speed. The shots contained genetic instructions (mRNA) for producing a SARS-CoV-2 protein, but they do not alter the human genome. Still, the appearance of the word “genetic material” in connection with the vaccine was enough to make some people suspicious. Often, content creators would claim to be “just stating facts” and stick to easily provable but misleading claims. They would rely on their followers to take this decontextualized information and construct larger stories that went beyond the verifiable. The facts were true, the logical leaps between them were not.
Those who advanced this idea were often able to spread falsehoods using the truth. It is true that the vaccines contained genetic material. It is also true that they are based on a technology that had not previously been deployed at this scale. These are not hugely concerning problems on their own, but when presented to people who are already looking for reasons not to get vaccinated, they can seem highly ominous. Audiences made the leap from “genetic material” to “gene therapy,” and social media facilitated the spread of the harmful theory rapidly around the world.2
This is a serious risk for public-facing organizations. AI, social media, and a lack of trust in institutions have allowed ominous suggestions of wrongdoing to hurt just as much as clear misdeeds. For organizational leaders today, it is no longer enough to just counter the spread of false information. Partial and distorted truths can be just as damaging to reputations.
References
- Islam, M. S., Kamal, A. M., Kabir, A., Southern, D. L., Khan, S. H., Hasan, S. M. M., Sarkar, T., Sharmin, S., Das, S., Roy, T., Harun, M. G. D., Chughtai, A. A., Homaira, N., & Seale, H. (2021). COVID-19 vaccine rumors and conspiracy theories: The need for cognitive inoculation against misinformation to improve vaccine adherence. PloS one, 16(5), e0251605. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0251605
- Armstrong, B. (2021, June 11). Why mRNA vaccines aren’t gene therapies. Genomics Education Programme. https://www.genomicseducation.hee.nhs.uk/blog/why-mrna-vaccines-arent-gene-therapies/
- Purdy, E. (2025). Yellow journalism. EBSCO. https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/communication-and-mass-media/yellow-journalism
- Luscombe, R. (2025, August 6). FBI report disproves Trump’s claim of a Biden-era out-of-control crime wave. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/06/fbi-report-trump-biden-crime-wave
- 2022 Exit Polls. (n.d.). CNN. Retrieved 10 November 2025, from https://www.cnn.com/election/2022/exit-polls
- Bond, S. (2025, October 17). A GOP attack ad deepfakes Chuck Schumer with AI. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2025/10/17/nx-s1-5578279/ai-schumer-gop-attack-ad
- Schumer says “every day gets better for us”. (2025, October 9). John Barrasso. https://www.barrasso.senate.gov/schumer-says-every-day-gets-better-for-us/
About the Author
Zakir Jamal
Zakir Jamal is a writer and researcher based in Montreal. He holds a BA in Philosophy from the University of Chicago and is completing his MA in English Literature at McGill. He is currently working on a novel about how we understand chance. In his spare time, he enjoys photography and cross-country skiing.
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