Do the ‘Disinformation Dozen’ still matter?

The “Disinformation Dozen” are back—kind of. The year 2025 has been good to a group of controversial influencers once widely criticized for causing national harm during the Covid-19 pandemic — stoking concerns about vaccines, discouraging masking, and questioning the severity of the disease. Dubbed the “Disinformation Dozen” by the nonprofit Center for Countering Digital Hate, they were the impetus for President Joe Biden’s fiery claim that major platforms were “killing people” by failing to adequately moderate pandemic content. Every member of the Disinformation Dozen was removed or heavily suppressed by one or more major platforms—and now they’re being let back in. With social media companies continuing to loosen their content rules, much of the group is eligible for reinstatement to the platforms, and a lot of them are back.