"I'm not an antivaxxer, but...": Spurious and authentic diversity among vaccine critical activists

Florian Cafiero, Paul Guille-Escuret, Jeremy K. Ward

Abstract: Highlights•Vaccine critical activists seem to form a cohesive community.•Yet, using the contents of a large sample of websites, we show this milieu is fragmented.•The most prominent activists only criticize some vaccines, and disassociate themselves from radical antivaccinationists.•Some appear as moderate while being deeply embedded in the community of radicals.•This indicates that their “moderate” stance is a communication strategy.