Did the Illuminati or the Masonry pay influencers to "promote" and talk about COVID-19? No, that's not true: There is no evidence to suggest that such a ploy was ever orchestrated. Noteworthy personalities have promoted COVID-19 vaccines as part of information campaigns run by the Romanian Health Ministry to raise awareness on the importance of getting vaccinated following the rollout of the COVID vaccines.
The claim originated in a video (archived here) on TikTok by user @rustracid68 on December 6, 2023. The caption (translated from Romanian to English by Lead Stories staff) was:
Influencers with lots of followers have been paid by the Masonry and the Illuminati to promote COVID-19. Here is the price list.
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Wed Dec 20 09:18:52 2023 UTC)
There is no evidence to suggest that celebrities and influencers have been paid or have gained financially from talking about or "promoting COVID-19." Romania's vaccination campaign aimed to inform people (archived here) about the importance of getting vaccinated, the benefits of receiving the vaccine and the role that vaccines play in protecting those around us.
As part of this public information campaign (archived here), coordinated by the Romanian Health Ministry and spearheaded by the president of the COVID-19 vaccination campaign, Valeriu Gheorghiță, (archived here), noteworthy personalities, such as TV presenter Andreea Esca, actor and comedian Mihai Bobonete and media personality and journalist Lucain Mîndruță, among others, have talked about the importance of receiving the vaccine.
To raise awareness, Florin Cîțu, prime minister at the time, had launched a "challenge," (archived here), similar to those popular on social media platforms, asking public personalities to answer the following question: "What does the vaccine mean to you."
There is no evidence to corroborate the idea that any shadowy figure was involved in any conspiracy to convince people to get vaccinated by having paid influencers or celebrities promote this "agenda." The video on TikTok also mentions an alleged price list, offering no sources or details about its origin, or any other element that might indicate its authenticity. A Google News search, conducted on December 21, 2023, using the following keywords: "romanian influencers paid covid-19 price list" (archived here), did not return any relevant results.
Theories about organizations and elites being puppet masters and behind-the-scene masterminds of the world have been debunked numerous times by Lead Stories. Other Lead Stories fact checks on the Illuminati can be read here and here.
