The face of a Cape Coral business that tops the city’s economic development success stories topped another list this week, placing it at the center of a COVID-related controversy.

Dr. Joseph Mercola, a board-certified physician and best-selling author who runs a prominent popular natural health website and brought its corporate headquarters to Cape Coral in part to an economic development incentive four years ago, was ranked the No.1 spreader of COVID-19 and vaccine disinformation by The Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), a not-for-profit non-governmental organization, in its report titled “The Disinformation Dozen.”

City records show in August of 2019, Cape Coral City Council, based on a recommendation from the EDO, approved 6-1 a job creation incentive to Joseph Mercola, who had acquired the Mid-Cape Corporate Center in 2016 for “a new world headquarters for his business.”

The company brought nearly 100 jobs, paying an average salary of $60,000 annually, to the city, according to city audit documents related to the incentive.

According to city officials, Economic Development Manager Ricardo Noguera requested a job creation incentive of $1,500 per job relocated and created over a period of three years, retroactive to May 29, 2018, with the total not to exceed $132,000. Mercola created a total of 88 jobs receiving the full amount in incentives from the city. As of July 2021, Dr. Mercola employs nearly 140 people with an average annual salary of $67,000.

According to the “Disinformation Dozen” report published in March, “The Disinformation Dozen are twelve anti-vaxxers who play leading roles in spreading digital misinformation about Covid vaccines. They were selected because they have large numbers of followers, produce high volumes of anti-vaccine content or have seen rapid growth of their social media accounts in the last two months.”

The report calls Mercola a “successful anti-vaccine entrepreneur, peddling dietary supplements and false cures as alternatives to vaccines.” In an April follow-up report titled “Disinformation Dozen: The Sequel” the CCDH targets Mercola (who has 3.6 million followers across social media platforms) and his new best-selling book, “The Truth About COVID-19,” pointing to Mercola’s claims that the virus was lab engineered in China.

While the possibility of lab engineering was once widely discounted, it is now being investigated as a possible source of the virus.

A representative from Mercola Media via email called the UK-based CCDH (which also has a Washington D.C. office) “an unregistered foreign agent influencing politics in the U.S. funded by dark money.” They added, “The (CCDH) report states that the theory of the virus being engineered in a Wuhan lab and anticipated by Global Elites, like (Bill) Gates, is a conspiracy; however, the lab-leak theory is widely supported, and Event 201 is a documented rehearsal that specifically anticipated a global coronavirus outbreak.”

The Mercola official went on to say, “The Disinformation Dozen report by CCDH is not validated by anyone or published with peer review — nowhere does the report define what is meant by ‘vaccine misinformation.’ The report also indicates that it was written in partnership with ‘antivaxwatch.org,’ yet this group does not contain any information about who they are or how they are funded.”

The CCDH is headed by Chief Executive Officer Imran Ahed, a United Kingdom native who now lives in Washington D.C. that “advises politicians in the US, UK, Europe and elsewhere on policy and legislation.” The report states platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are failing to act on those listed in the “Disinformation Dozen.”

“This is an extension of platforms’ failure to act on vaccine misinformation,” the report stated. “Research conducted by CCDH last year has shown that platforms fail to act on 95 percent of the Covid and vaccine misinformation reported to them, and we have uncovered evidence that Instagram’s algorithm actively recommends similar misinformation.”

The report claimed that that up to 65% of anti-vaccine content on social media originates from just 12 individuals. That issue was raised with social media company CEOs at a Congressional hearing on March 25. The findings of the report were also reported to Twitter, Facebook and Instagram by Senators Amy Klobuchar, Ben Ray Luján, Mark Warner and 12 state attorney generals.

CCDH in its Disinformation Dozen sequel stated, “In the month since publication of the Disinformation Dozen report, 105 posts from the accounts remaining on social media have breached the platforms’ stated policies for disinformation. They include posts falsely linking Covid vaccines to thousands of deaths, conspiracies claiming COVID was lab-engineered, posts describing masks on youngsters as ‘child abuse,’ and posts suggesting that the vaccine makes women infertile.”

The CCHD estimates that anti-vaccine “disinformation” posted by the 12 individuals they cited and their organizations in the past month has been seen up to 29 million times.

The analysis garnered national attention this past week when The New York Times and other major outlets picked up the report. According to the Mercola Media representative, Dr. Mercola has sent legal notice to the Times pertaining what he says are false and defamatory statements.

The Times article claimed Dr. Mercola has been fined “millions” by the FDA. The representative told The Breeze, “The claim about FDA fines is deliberately false, as there is no source for that information, and Dr. Mercola has never been fined a penny by the FDA.”

Mercola’s first-ever retail store the Mercola Market & Cafe at 125 S.W. 3rd Place opened in spring 2021 and offers Dr. Mercola products, including supplements, organic cotton clothing and home goods, biodynamic and organic foods and more. The cafe also offers biodynamic coffees, espressos, cold brew, iced coffees, smoothies, green drinks and a variety of teas. Dr. Mercola also owns the online store mercolamarket.com, “providing the highest quality supplements, biodynamic and organic foods and personal care products for health, home and pet.

“Mercola is dedicated to empowering people to take care of their health through research-driven nutrition, lifestyle and exercise principles, while supporting regenerative practices and informed consent principles. This mission not only reaches the people and communities we serve globally but also starts right here with our team who share this vision.”

According to Mercola Media, Dr. Mercola has shared his expertise over a range of controversial topics over the years, including the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.

“It’s crucial to provide all details of scientific debate, allowing people to make informed decisions for themselves and their families,” the representative said. “Dr. Mercola often exposes pharmaceutical influences affecting our everyday lives in his articles…”

–Connect with this reporter on Twitter: @haddad_cj