On Thursday, Nov. 4, the Biden Administration officially rolled out two different vaccine rules that cover 100 million private sector workers. The first rule, issued by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), states that companies with 100 or more employees must ensure that their employees are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by Jan. 4. If employees do not get vaccinated by this deadline, they will be required to test negative for COVID-19 at least once a week.
Under the OSHA rule, employers must pay workers for the time off taken to receive the vaccine as well as sick leave for employees who experience side effects. To encourage employees to choose vaccinations over weekly testing, the rule also states that employers are not required to pay for weekly testing. However, agreements with unions may require employers to pay. Unvaccinated employees are also required to wear face coverings at work.
Companies that fail to comply with the OSHA rule may be subject to serious fines. Some major companies have already mandated vaccines, including 3M, IBM, Procter & Gamble, and others. However, other companies have been more hestitant to issue mandates and have been waiting for government clarification on a number of questions.
We know what the experts are saying, but what has the conversation been like on social media? At the Social Media Listening Center, we used a keyword search for “OSHA” and “Vaccinated,” “OSHA” and “Biden Administration,” and “OSHA.” The term “Biden Administration” has been widely used and is not specific enough to be included in the search. While this search may not be fully extensive, it provides a glimpse into the online conversation.
On Nov. 4 when the news was announced, the search found 250,000+ mentions discussing this topic. By Nov. 6 at 11:59 pm, the search found 329,646 mentions across all platforms. The overall sentiment of the search was 8% positive and 92% negative. To get a better look at the conversation and the sentiment surrounding this topic, we paid close attention to the word cloud capturing the most common words and phrases associated with this search:
To gain even further understanding of the sentiment surrounding the news, we looked at the most commonly used hashtags related to the search. We found that #donotcomply, #osha, #nosha, and #texas were at the top. The hashtag #donotcomply is widely being used in opposition to mask and vaccine mandates. When searching the keyword “OSHA,” we found that some of the top themes of discussion were “Vaccine Mandate,” “Employees,” “Rule,” and “Companies.”
Who exactly is engaging in this conversation? It appears that the majority of mentions surrounding this topic are from male Twitter users in the 18-35 age demographic in the United States. The top influencers on Twitter are primarily news outlets, including Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, and ABC News. Other influencers include journalists and political commentators such as Shannon Bream, Charlie Kirk, and Ben Shapiro.
BREAKING: 5th Circuit temporarily blocks OSHA vaccine mandate.
“Because the petitions give cause to believe there are grave statutory and constitutional issues with the Mandate …” pic.twitter.com/rdhYyiFKml
— Shannon Bream (@ShannonBream) November 6, 2021
Biden’s vaccine mandate is crumbling. Appeals courts in both Texas and Louisiana have temporarily blocked the rule.
They knew it was unconstitutional and they did it anyway. How far will they go to force medical tyranny on all of us?
Keep up the fight. Do Not Comply.
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) November 6, 2021
The keyword search also revealed that Reddit users are engaging in the subreddits r/Conspiracy and r/Conservative. One of the most popular posts in r/Conservative linked to the official rule by the OSHA on www.federalregister.gov and received 1.2K+ upvotes and 460 comments. The comments contained statements criticizing the rule and the Biden Administration. “Pointing a gun at people’s head provides motivation to do just about anything. Doesn’t make it right,” commented one user.
The volume trend of the conversation has steadily declined since the news was announced. However, this conversation is certainly not over. The vaccine mandate for larger businesses was recently halted by federal appeals court and at least 27 states have filed lawsuits challenging the rule. We’ll have to wait and see what happens with the litigation surrounding the mandate in the upcoming weeks. In the meantime, we’ll continue monitoring this topic and others from the Social Media Listening Center.
Author: Kendall Phillips
