Trolls hurt everyone.

[a322x1n]

<https://www.newsweek.com/man-who-lost-whole-family-covid-had-trolls-tryi
ng-prove-they-didnt-exist-1670813>

<https://tinyurl.com/45ee8xb2>

Man Who Lost Whole Family to COVID Had Trolls Trying To Prove They
Didn't Exist. BY ARISTOS GEORGIOU ON 1/19/22 AT 1:32 PM EST.

Aman who lost his whole family to COVID-19 said he has faced serious
abuse and threats from online trolls, with some even trying to prove
that his relatives didn't exist.

Francis Goncalves, 43, a resident of Cardiff葉he capital of Wales in the
United Kingdom傭uried his brother, father and mother on the same day in
August 2021 at a cemetery in Portugal where the relatives lived.

The family members were aged 40, 73 and 65 respectively when they passed
away from the disease, which they contracted last summer. The trio had
begun feeling sick in July after having a meal together, and all died
over the course of a seven-day period謡ithin two weeks of their symptoms
appearing.

Shortly after the deaths, Goncalves told WalesOnline that his family
members had not received their COVID-19 shots because they had been
frightened by anti-vaccination misinformation.

Now, nearly six months later, Goncalves told the outlet that "life
hadn't been easy" since the deaths and that he had endured overwhelming
online abuse from anti-vaccine trolls that has only made the situation
worse.

"There were threats from as far away as Italy, then I had private
messages with all sorts of insults from people as far as Australia,"
Goncalves said. "Literally people from all over the world. There was a
lot of negativity and in the initial phases it was overwhelming. You get
accused of being fake. People were looking for evidence that my family
didn't exist."

"Some people would send me one message and nothing else, others would
send me an array of messages or attack my social media feeds."

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In some cases, Goncalves said the abuse got so bad that he had to
contact the police, although he said many people also expressed their
condolences to him.

"It wasn't people who say they don't want the vaccine because it's their
choice, it was people who are hardcore against the vaccine and set on
spreading misinformation," he said.

The 43-year-old said he had been trying to share factual information on
his social media platforms about COVID and vaccinations so that others
could make informed decisions about getting their shots and hopefully
prevent tragedies in their own families.

"I wanted to give people the information they need to make that decision
as opposed to listening to these blatant lies," he said. "The problem is
these people are so confident and so loud and people listen to them
because they expect people with that confidence to be telling the
truth."