Community leaders in a regional centre are urging hundreds of businesses to be cautious of promoting COVID-19 misinformation and disinformation circulating in a social media group.
A Mildura-based Facebook group against vaccine mandates has grown ahead of an announcement on Sunday about Victoria's road map out of lockdown, which is expected to outline greater freedoms for fully vaccinated people.
The Facebook group has almost 2,800 members, and the support of 106 local businesses, according to a post from the group's administrator.
There are 5,362 businesses in the Mildura local government area.
The ABC contacted more than a dozen businesses that posted in the group supporting its cause.
Some declined to comment, while the majority said they were concerned about having to discriminate against customers based on vaccination status.
However, every business contacted by the ABC also shared scepticism about the COVID-19 vaccine.
None of the business owners or managers contacted said they had been vaccinated, nor did any have immediate plans to receive the vaccine.
Risk people will be 'funnelled'
Radical views have also been shared in the Facebook group, including disinformation about COVID-19 and links to unverified news sources.
Ariel Bogle, a disinformation analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute's International Cyber Policy Centre, said the group's administrator had to be more diligent to ensure the page did not promote false information.
Ms Bogle said concerns about mandatory vaccination and the risk of discrimination were not "inherently problematic".
"But because of the tenor of the conversation [in the Facebook group], people are being potentially funnelled toward more problematic parts of the internet," she said.
The administrator of the Facebook group was contacted for comment.
'Corrosive to democracy'
Mildura's state MP Ali Cupper said she was concerned some discourse in the Facebook group was "based on misinformation or disinformation, which is really corrosive to democracy and public health".
"What is important is that when people are making decisions, they're making them on reliable, trusted sources of information," Ms Cupper said.
Federal Member for Mallee, Anne Webster, who has previously argued social media companies should be held more accountable for material published online, said misinformation about vaccination was "very troubling and should not be allowed to remain on Facebook".
"There are reliable sources of health advice, and I would strongly recommend that whoever is monitoring this Facebook page really has a good look at what they are allowing on there," the Nationals MP said.
The latest data from the Federal Department of Health shows 64.8 per cent of the Mildura LGA's 45,044 residents over the age of 16 had received at least one dose of a COVID vaccine.
Dr Webster said she was sympathetic with local businesses who wanted to operate under pre-pandemic conditions but warned them to consider if they wanted their "name attached to the views being expressed".
