COVID-19 Vaccine Information Disclaimer / He Can Crook Pretty Much Anything

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About

COVID-19 Vaccine Information Disclaimer refers to an automatic disclaimer in Facebook and Instagram images that contains a recommendation to visit a COVID-19 Information Center. The disclaimer, applied automatically to any image post containing the trigger words such as "vaccine" and "COVID-19" and displayed to users in the United States and some other countries, has become a subject of memes, most notably in memes that anticipate the disclaimer being shown and incorporate it in their design.

Origin

Starting in early April 2021, an automatic disclaimer containing a recommendation to visit a COVID-19 Information Center (other iterations of the disclaimer in previous months) started being shown to users in the U.S. and some other countries under image posts containing trigger words such as "vaccine" and "COVID-19."

Visit the COVID-19 Information Center for Vaccine Resources.

In April 2021, a number of memes mocking the ubiquity of this iteration of the disclaimer were posted on Facebook. For example, on April 4th, Facebook^[1] page MemeCapistan posted a Girl Putting Tuba On Girl's Head meme that gained 11 reactions and 21 shares in two months (shown below, left). On April 24th, Facebook^[2] page Perpetual Suffering: Apotheosis reposted an NPC Wojak meme that received over 350 reactions and 36 shares in the same period (shown below, right).

On May 1st, Facebook^[3] page Malarkey posted an I'm Tired of Pretending It's Not meme that incorporated the disclaimer as a part of its intended design, intentionally triggering the algorithm so that the disclaimer is shown (post and screenshot shown below, left and right). On May 3rd, alt-right political activist Lauren Southern reposted^[4] the meme, with the repost gaining over 8,900 reactions and 1,500 shares.

Spread

On May 3rd, 2021, an unknown page posted a two-panel Full Metal Jacket meme that incorporated the disclaimer in its design (post and screenshot shown below, left and right). On May 3rd, Facebook^[5] page The weird side of the internet made the earliest found repost of the image, with the post gaining over 350 reactions and 50 shares in two months. A same-day repost by Facebook^[6] page Definitely Not Conspiracy Memes received over 1,200 reactions and 630 shares.

On June 2nd, Instagram^[7] user what.i.meme.to.say posted a Wojak Comic that incorporated the disclaimer, with the post gaining over 2,500 likes in one month (post and screenshot shown below, left and right). In the following weeks, the post received viral spread on Instagram and Facebook through multiple reposts.

In June 2021, more similar memes were circulated on Instagram and Facebook, including a viral version^[8] in which a person skates on the disclaimer. Additionally, posts with multiple disclaimers in them, which were accumulated through the post being screen-capped and reposted, gained further spread.^[9]