'Extorting and intimidating': Victoria business targeted after comparing anti-vaxxers to drunk drivers

Victoria -

A Victoria business owner says his company has come under a "sustained and coordinated attack" by people opposed to COVID-19 vaccine mandates after the business barred anti-vaxxers from its premises, comparing them to drunk drivers.

The owner of Victoria Escape Games says a "vigilante mob" has been targeting the business with negative online reviews in the wake of the management's request that those opposed to vaccines avoid the business.

Victoria Escape Games says children under 12 and those with a medical exemption from being vaccinated are welcome at the business.

"For those who have followed the science and been vaccinated, please rest assured that Victoria Escape Games remains a safe place for you, and an unwelcoming place for those who spread ignorance and disease to the communal detriment of all," the management said in a statement on the company's website.

The message prompted a coordinated backlash among anti-vaxxers, with dozens of negative reviews popping up on Google within the past two days.

"I got the first clue this was starting yesterday morning," owner Derek Madson told CTV News on Tuesday. "It was a deluge. This is not just Google. It’s everything – many voicemails, text messages, emails."

Madson said the anti-vaccine group was organized on Telegram, an encrypted messaging app, and boasts more than 500 members. "These groups are literally extorting and intimidating," Madson said.

Many of the negative Google reviews took issue with the business owner's comparison of anti-vaxxers to drunk drivers. Madson maintains the analogy is appropriate.

"The threat to life and health of anti-vaxx rhetoric is equivalent to drunk driving," Madson said, adding he believes a group like Mothers Against Drunk Driving should organize to combat the dangers of anti-vaccine beliefs.

"Anti-vaxxers put themselves at risk but they also put everyone else around them at risk," Madson said. "My argument from the beginning is that we start treating anti-vaxxers the same we treat drunk drivers."

The business owner said he has been in touch with Google about removing the recent reviews but it appears to be a losing battle.

"They're organized, they're sustained," he said. "Many of these people have said they're going to drive me out of business. That’s their goal."