The White Rose is a group that runs a stickering campaign to distribute

disinformation Disinformation is false information deliberately spread to deceive people. It is sometimes confused with misinformation, which is false information but is not deliberate. The English word ''disinformation'' comes from the application of the L ...

and conspiracy theories about the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. Its name is an appropriation of that of the anti-Nazi White Rose group, to which it is unrelated. Stickers distributed by the group include anti-vaccine and

anti-mask During pandemics, some people have opposed requirements by governments and private establishments to wear face masks as a public health measure against disease. Such rules typically follow recommendations of health experts to reduce the spread o ...

messages, denials that the COVID-19 pandemic exists, and conspiracy theories about a New World Order. Their tactics have been compared to those of the anti-immigration Hundred-Handers group. 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. 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 code A QR code (an initialism for quick response code) is a type of matrix barcode (or two-dimensional barcode) invented in 1994 by the Japanese company Denso Wave. A barcode is a machine-readable optical label that can contain information about th ...

s linking to websites controlled by the group. 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. In Australia some of their stickering activities have been directed at Jewish communities and include stickers bearing swastikas. By January 2022, their Telegram group had nearly 60,000 members. A variety of other conspiracy theories are associated with the group's Telegram chat, including links to sovereign citizen ideology and

white supremacist White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other Race (human classification), races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any Power (social and polit ...

groups, and

antisemitic Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

tropes about "powerful globalists". In April 2021, a woman in

Wythenshawe Wythenshawe () is a district of the city of Manchester, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in Cheshire, Wythenshawe was transferred in 1931 to the City of Manchester, which had begun building a massive housing estate there in the ...

, England, was arrested on suspicion of criminal damage after posting White Rose stickers in the town's centre.

References

Disinformation operations Telegram (software) COVID-19 conspiracy theorists COVID-19 misinformation {{advertising-stub