plandemicmovie.

com
The website for an upcoming documentary called “Plandemic,” which
Proceed with caution: This
promotes false and unsubstantiated claims about the COVID-19 website severely violates basic
pandemic. standards of credibility and
transparency.

Score: 35/100
Ownership and PlandemicMovie.com does not disclose its ownership.
Financing
The documentary that the website is promoting, Does not repeatedly publish
 false content (22points)
“Plandemic,” was produced by a man named Mikki
Willis, according to his Facebook page. Willis’ LinkedIn Gathers and presents
 information responsibly (18)
profile states that he is the owner and founder of
Elevate Foundation, a non-profit production company Regularly corrects or clarifies

registered in Ojai, California. In a May 2020 article, fact- errors (12.5)

checking organization PolitiFact named Elevate as the Handles the difference between
producer of the documentary.  news and opinion responsibly
(12.5)
The foundation’s U.S. Internal Revenue Service records
Avoids deceptive headlines (10)
indicate that its tax-exempt status was revoked in 2017,
after the foundation failed to file required forms with the Website discloses ownership
 and financing (7.5)
IRS for three consecutive years.
Clearly labels advertising (7.5)
No advertising appears on the site.
Reveals who's in charge,
 including any possible conflicts
Content The site is devoted to promoting the “Plandemic” of interest (5)

documentary. The “About the Film” section states,

The site provides names of
“Plandemic will expose the scientific and political elite content creators, along with
 either contact or biographical
who run the scam that is our global health system,
information (5)
while laying out a new plan; a plan that allows all of
humanity to reconnect with healing forces of nature.”
Criteria are listed in order of
The site states that the documentary will be released in importance.
More information.
“a series of vignettes” prior to the completion of the full-
length film. As of May 2020, only the first 25-minute
segment was available on the site.

Along with an embedded video, the site offers a link to

download the first part of the documentary, stating, “In
an effort to bypass the gatekeepers of free speech, we
invite you to download this interview by simply clicking
the button below, then uploading directly to all of your
favorite platforms.”
Credibility The first part of “Plandemic,” released on the site in
May 2020, consists largely of an interview between
Willis, the filmmaker, and Judy Mikovits, a molecular
biologist and anti-vaccine activist. Mikovits was co-
author on an October 2009 study, published in the
journal Science, that claimed that a virus found in mice
was linked to chronic fatigue syndrome. Subsequent
studies could not replicate her findings, and the original
study was retracted in December 2011, with the
retraction notice stating, “Science has lost confidence in
the Report and the validity of its conclusions.”

According to a 2011 article in Science magazine,

Mikovits was fired from her job as director of research
at the Whittemore Peterson Institute for Neuro-Immune
Disease in Reno, Nevada. The Chicago Tribune
reported in November 2011 that Mikovits
was subsequently arrested on charges alleging that she
stole lab notebooks and a computer from the institute
after being fired. The charges were later dropped,
according to a 2012 article in Science magazine.

At the beginning of the interview posted on the site,

Mikovits claimed that these charges were part of a
government setup. “I was held in jail with no charges,”
she said. “I was called a fugitive from justice. No
warrant, literally dragged me out of the house.” She
also claimed that the notebooks that she was alleged to
have stolen were “planted in my house” and she
accused investigators in the case of being “paid off” at
the direction of Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S.
National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
(NIAD). She offered no evidence to support these
claims.

A NIAD spokesperson, asked to comment on Mikovits’

claims by fact-checking organization PolitiFact in May
2020, said, “The National Institutes of Health and
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases are
focused on critical research aimed at ending the
COVID-19 pandemic and preventing further deaths. We
are not engaging in tactics by some seeking to derail
our efforts.”
In the segment, Mikovits makes numerous false and
unsubstantiated claims about the COVID-19 virus. For
example, she said, “It's very clear, this virus was
manipulated, this family of viruses was manipulated and
studied in a laboratory where the animals were taken
into the laboratory. And this is what was released,
whether deliberate or not, that cannot be naturally
occurring.”

There is no evidence to support the claim that the virus

was manipulated. A March 2020 study published in the
journal Nature Medicine concluded that the virus “is not
a laboratory construct or a purposefully manipulated
virus.” An earlier study, published in February 2020 in
the journal Nature, found that the COVID-19 virus is
“96% percent identical at the whole-genome level to a
bat coronavirus.”

In an April 2020 statement, the U.S. intelligence

community said that it “concurs with the wide scientific
consensus that the COVID-19 virus was not manmade
or genetically modified.” It later said that the intelligence
community “will continue to rigorously examine
emerging information and intelligence to determine
whether the outbreak began through contact with
infected animals or if it was the result of an accident at
a laboratory in Wuhan.”

Mikovits also falsely claimed that “flu vaccines increase

the odds by 36 percent of getting COVID-19.” She said
her source for this claim was a January 2020 study,
published in the journal Vaccine, that studied rates of
respiratory illness among U.S. military personnel,
comparing their illnesses to whether they received a flu
vaccine during the 2017-18 flu season.

While the cited study did report higher rates of

coronavirus infection among individuals who received
the flu vaccine, it was referring to coronaviruses known
to infect humans at the time the study was conducted,
such as those that cause the common cold. The
COVID-19 virus did not emerge in China until late 2019.
 According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, existing scientific evidence suggests “that
influenza vaccination does not, in fact, make people
more susceptible to other respiratory infections.”

Mikovits also claimed in the segment that, “If you’ve

ever had a flu vaccine, you were injected with
coronaviruses.” In fact, there are no coronaviruses in a
flu shot. According to the CDC, flu vaccines contain
either an inactivated or partial influenza virus, which is
in a separate family of viruses from coronaviruses.

Because the documentary segment posted on the

site contains false and unsubstantiated claims,
NewsGuard has determined the site has repeatedly
published false content and that it fails to gather and
present information responsibly.

Because no headlines appear on the site, only a single

video, NewsGuard has determined the criterion for
avoiding deceptive headlines does not apply.

None of those false claims on the site have been

corrected. Therefore, NewsGuard has determined that
the site does not meet NewsGuard’s standard for
having effective corrections practices.

The “About the Film” section on PlandemicMovie.com

describes the documentary’s perspective, saying the
film “will expose the scientific and political elite who run
the scam that is our global health system, while laying
out a new plan; a plan that allows all of humanity to
reconnect with healing forces of nature.”

Because of this disclosure, NewsGuard has determined

the site does not handle the difference between news
and opinion irresponsibly.

NewsGuard did not receive a response to a phone call

to the Elevate Foundation’s California office, as well as
a message sent through the website’s contact form,
seeking comment on the false and unsubstantiated
claims in “Plandemic.”

Transparency PlandemicMovie.com does not provide any information

 about its ownership or financing of either the website or
the film. No credits are included in the film itself.

Mikki Willis is identified as “Father / Filmmaker” in the

documentary. Since the clip on the site identifies Willis
as the filmmaker, NewsGuard has determined the site
meets the standard for revealing who is in charge of the
content. The site provides a general contact form.

The site does not run advertisements.

NewsGuard did not receive a response to a phone call

to the Elevate Foundation’s California office, as well as
a message sent through the site’s contact form, seeking
comment on the lack of information about its ownership
and the content creators involved in creating the
documentary.

History The site’s domain name was registered in May 2020.

Written by: John Gregory

Edited by: Eric Effron

Send feedback to NewsGuard:Click Here

Sources
Ownership and https://www.facebook.com/mikki.willis/videos/27712808
Financing
26316191/
https://domainbigdata.com/plandemicmovie.com
https://web.archive.org/web/20200507195208/https://w
ww.facebook.com/mikki.willis/posts/2751138374997103
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikki-willis-b3722311/
https://apps.irs.gov/app/eos/displayAll.do?
dispatchMethod=displayAllInfo&Id=5262616&ein=2086
42976&country=US&deductibility=all&dispatchMethod=
searchAll&isDescending=false&city=&ein1=&postDateF
rom=&exemptTypeCode=al&submitName=&sortColum
n=orgName&totalResults=2&names=elevate+foundatio
n&resultsPerPage=25&indexOfFirstRow=0&postDateTo
=&state=All+States
http://rct.doj.ca.gov/Verification/Web/Details.aspx?
result=191ea588-2dea-4799-b12a-40e506d197a0
 http://rct.doj.ca.gov/Verification/Web/Details.aspx?
result=54ff51c5-de59-425d-bbab-8938154eb93e
http://archive.is/rDcTC
https://www.politifact.com/article/2020/may/08/fact-
checking-plandemic-documentary-full-false-con/
https://web.archive.org/web/20200508152047/http://ww
w.elevatefoundation.org/team/

Content http://archive.is/rDcTC

Credibility http://archive.is/rDcTC
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2011/12/updated-
rare-move-science-without-authors-consent-retracts-
paper-tied-mouse-virus
https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-flu-
vaccine-causes-new-coro/false-claim-the-flu-vaccine-
causes-the-new-coronavirus-idUSKCN21X2LT
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2012/06/criminal-
charges-dropped-against-chronic-fatigue-syndrome-
researcher-judy-mikovits
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2011/11/controversial
-cfs-researcher-arrested-and-jailed
https://www.politifact.com/article/2020/may/08/fact-
checking-plandemic-documentary-full-false-con/
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2012-7
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-0820-9
https://www.dni.gov/index.php/newsroom/press-
releases/item/2112-intelligence-community-statement-
on-origins-of-covid-19
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264
410X19313647?via%3Dihub
https://www.cdc.gov/flu/prevent/misconceptions.htm
https://www.factcheck.org/2020/04/no-evidence-that-flu-
shot-increases-risk-of-covid-19/
https://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/07/health/fallout-
from-fatigue-syndrome-retraction-is-far-and-wide.html
https://retractionwatch.com/2011/12/22/chronic-fatigue-
syndrome-xmrv-paper-retracted-by-science-completely-
this-time/
https://retractionwatch.com/2011/12/22/chronic-fatigue-
syndrome-xmrv-paper-retracted-by-science-completely-
this-time/
 https://science.sciencemag.org/content/334/6063/1636.
1.full
https://www.chicagotribune.com/nation-world/ct-xpm-
2011-11-22-ct-nw-chronic-fatigue-scientist-arrest-
20111122-story.html
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2011/10/chronic-
fatigue-syndrome-researcher-fired-amidst-new-
controversy

Transparency http://archive.is/rDcTC

History https://domainbigdata.com/plandemicmovie.com