White Rose (disinformation group)

The White Rose is a group that runs a stickering campaign to distribute disinformation and conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 pandemic.[1] Its name is an appropriation of that of the anti-Nazi White Rose group, to which it is unrelated.[2] Stickers distributed by the group include anti-vaccine and anti-mask messages, denials that the COVID-19 pandemic exists, and conspiracy theories about a New World Order.[3] [4]Their tactics have been compared to those of the anti-immigration Hundred-Handers group.[5]

A White Rose sticker that disputes the existence of asymptomatic carriers, on a lamppost in Cornwall, UK, in February 2021

The group is organized around a Telegram group that is used to distribute templates for stickers, which followers print out using label printers and post in public places.[2] The stickers in turn contain URLs which lead back to websites controlled by the group, drawing in new members in a feedback process. Other downloadable templates mimic the appearance of official documents and carry QR codes linking to websites controlled by the group.[6]

The group primarily operates in the United Kingdom and the United States but also has local groups for Australia, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland and Israel.[3][5] In Australia some of their stickering activities have been directed at Jewish communities.[7] By January 2022, their Telegram group had nearly 60,000 members.[8]

A variety of other conspiracy theories are associated with the group's Telegram chat, including links to sovereign citizen ideology and white supremacist groups,[9] and antisemitic tropes about "powerful globalists".[2]

In April 2021, a woman in Wythenshawe, England, was arrested on suspicion of criminal damage after posting White Rose stickers in the town's centre.[10]