antivax stories are popular, because insane people who spend all their time online (no not us, the other ones) will FB message them to their friends and family to prove how right they are about fauci being a satan worshiping pedocrat.

media consumers have the freedom to shop from a wide selections of realities, and the market for this one is underserved by major news orgs. these consumers might imagine that they see through the lies of the "mainstream media," but if CNN started running stories about how joe brandon is chinese and he made the virus in his gothic castle in china, they'd share that too.