Nation of Islam member Rizza Islam, 31, has been posting his covid-19 vaccine views on social media and discouraging people from being vaccinated. Now he’s announced on Twitter that he’s under attack by members of Congress who want to silence him.
In March, a virtual congressional hearing was held between lawmakers and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter’s Jack Dorsey, and Google’s Sundar Pichai. The Big Tech leaders testified about misinformation for the first time since the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
When confronted about vaccine misinformation, the CEOs were reluctant to admit fault and offered vague answers, NPR reported.
Islam said he’s proud to be on their radar.
“A week ago Mark Zuckerberg, Jack Dorsey of Twitter, and Sundar Pichai of Google were pressured by Congress & 12 state attorney generals to ban me and 11 others from their media platforms. At just 31 the largest platforms are moving to ban me. Honored,” he wrote.
The Center for Countering Digital Hate, a nonprofit whose goal is to fight against anti-vaccine opinions online, has been tracking Islam. It named him one of the top 12 anti-vaccine voices online, tagged the Disinformation Dozen. The 12 voices are credited with being responsible for up to 65 percent of anti-vaccine content.
Islam “continues to post anti-vaccine messages from his Instagram and Twitter accounts,” the center said. Facebook shut down Islam’s account in February. Islam has promoted, among other things, “the false conspiracy theory that COVID vaccines make women infertile in a tweet last June,” according to the center.
On Twitter, Islam’s message got some support.
“I tried to put like 20 minutes of this live regarding nano-technology, the zombie apocalypse, and vaccines on my YouTube & they deleted it and warned me about going against CDC guidelines etc loll,” wrote one user.
Others encouraged Islam with these messages on Twitter:
Islam has long been a community activist. Since he was 11, he has been tutoring other young people through the World Literacy Crusade, according to his website. The crusade is a nonprofit formed in 1992 by the Rev. Alfreddie Johnson and supported by the Church of Scientology to fight illiteracy.
In 2008, Rizza was flown to Washington, D.C. where he represented the crusade and met with then-presidential candidate Barack Obama at the Congressional Black Caucus.
Islam is a registered member of the Nation Of Islam at Mosque #27, Los Angeles. In July 2016, Islam helped hip-hop artists The Game and Snoop Dogg bring a peace truce between the Bloods, Crips, and the L.A. police department.
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In January 2021, California Rep. Karen Bass awarded Islam the Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition for his community service.
Islam was arrested along with his mother, Hanan Islam, 60, and others in 2019 in a Medi-Cal fraud case. He was released and is awaiting a May trial. The Islams are accused of defrauding the State of California out of millions of dollars with fake insurance claims.
