The Federal Trade Commission has sent nearly 400 warning letters to groups and individuals marketing false COVID-19 treatments, including one missive, in April, telling a Texas medical practice to вЂњimmediately ceaseвЂќ promoting ivermectin or face steep fines. Gold, the groupвЂ™s founder, through her lawyer were unsuccessful.ДЇederal authorities are cracking down on coronavirus-related telemedicine schemes. On its Telegram channels, moderators have blamed user error and overwhelming demand for the ivermectin delays and promised refunds for customers who fail to receive the consultations with doctors that they paid for. вЂњAnd in the case of ivermectin, itвЂ™s extremely dangerous.вЂќДЄmericaвЂ™s Frontline Doctors declined repeated requests for comment on this story. вЂњTheyвЂ™re the 21st century, digital version of snake-oil salesmen,вЂќ says Irwin Redlener, a physician who directs the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University. In the process, AFLDвЂ™s reach has spread beyond to mainstream sites like Instagram and TikTok, making it a leading purveyor of medical disinformation that erodes public confidence and hinders efforts to get the pandemic under control, experts say.

Its website traffic has quadrupled since April, according to an analysis by the web-analytics company SemRush, which estimates it drew nearly half a million visitors in July. AFLDвЂ™s Telegram channels have rapidly grown to more than 160,000 users. The groupвЂ™s profile has soared amid the rise of employer-imposed COVID-19 mandates and the emergence of ivermectin as an alternative treatment of choice for the broader anti-vaccine community. Created as a political project to support the Trump AdministrationвЂ™s economic reopening push, it ricocheted from promoting skepticism about COVID-19 to launching a national RV tour to denounce вЂњmedical censorship and cancel culture.вЂќ It promoted hydroxychloroquine as a miracle drug and billed itself as a provider of legal services for people who refuse to be vaccinated or to wear a mask, or who want to stop vaccinations for children. Capitol, AmericaвЂ™s Frontline Doctors has nurtured medical conspiracies popular in right-wing circles. Simone Gold, a Los Angeles physician who was later arrested during the Jan. вЂњAFLDS has not returned a call or message to her and theyвЂ™ve taken over $500 out of her account!вЂќ 12 on the groupвЂ™s channel on the messaging app Telegram. вЂњMy mom has now been admitted to the hospital with Covid,вЂќ one user wrote Aug. In more than 3,000 messages reviewed by TIME, dozens of people described their or their family membersвЂ™ COVID-19 symptoms worsening while they waited for an unproven вЂњwonder drugвЂќ that didnвЂ™t arrive. Others said they were connected to digital pharmacies that quoted excessive prices of up to $700 for the cheap medication. Some customers described being charged for consultations that did not happen. Over the past three months, a TIME investigation found, hundreds of AFLD customers and donors have accused the group of touting a service promising prescriptions for ivermectin, which medical authorities say should not be taken to treat or prevent COVID-19, and failing to deliver after a fee had been paid. After it failed to submit its annual report in Arizona, where the group is registered under the name вЂњFree Speech Foundation,вЂќ the state recently downgraded the organizationвЂ™s charitable status to вЂњpending inactive.вЂќ ItвЂ™s hard to pin down how many people the group employs, how much money itвЂ™s taking in, or how that money has been spent, in part because the non-profit has failed to file required disclosures. Its followers arenвЂ™t the only ones with questions about AFLD. Its name implies the group consists of physicians on the frontlines of the pandemic, but itвЂ™s not clear how many of its members have spent any time treating patients with COVID-19. But it originated as a right-wing political organization, and since its founding has consistently spread medical misinformation. The group describes itself as a вЂњnon-partisanвЂќ group of medical professionals.

Similar stories have flooded anti-vaccine forums and messaging apps in recent weeks as some customers and donors raise doubts about AFLD.

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