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The year 2020 is marked by two pandemics that are broadcast simultaneously: on the one hand, that of Covid-19, which forced us to close down at home, to redefine work routines, to recreate the way we relate to each other and, in the most extreme cases, to live with the sudden departure of loved ones; on the other, the so-called infodemic, the disinformation pandemic resulting from the thousands of lies circulating about the new coronavirus since the first case was reported, in the Chinese province of Wuhan.
OR Polygraph considered this second pandemic as the 2020 National Lie, after having chosen in 2019 the accusation to António Costa according to which the Prime Minister would be on vacation during the Pedrógão Grande fires as the biggest falsehood of the year.
Especially on social media, the phenomenon has spread out of control. In Portugal and around the world. In a global database coordinated by the International Fact-Checking Network (a global alliance that brings together, at the Poynter Institute, more than 90 organizations dedicated to fact-checking), we have already been featured more than 8 thousand lies or manipulations on the subject – and the trend, now that vaccines have arrived, clearly points to exponential growth. During this year, Polígrafo joined other international collaborative journalism projects around Covid-19, such as the cases of Latam-Chequea, made up of fact-checkers from the Latin universe and Corona Verified, made up of projects. fact check in Portuguese.
In addition, Polígrafo participated, on August 4, in the launch of the Portuguese version of the IFCN chatbot for WhatsApp, developed to face the challenge of disinformation, especially during a Covid-19 pandemic.
A imagination promoters of misinformation proved particularly fertile. Suddenly we learned that dolphins they had invaded the waters of Venice, supposedly because, as a result of the confinement of the Italian population, they had suddenly become pristine. We were also surprised by the impressive images: almost always fake or manipulated – exhausted doctors sleeping in hospital corridors, corpses in the streets, mass graves supposedly opened to house thousands of dead. Purpose: spread fear among a lost population between what the health authorities told them (sometimes in a disorganized and contradictory way) and what the social networks showed them.
Between fact and fiction, fear was the fuel necessary for falsehoods and conspiracy theories to gallop at the speed of light: fundraising campaigns organized by WhatsApp would be true to help Healthcare professionals? Would it be wise to eat in Chinese restaurants, given the origin of the virus? And the swimming pools, what security would they offer to those who frequent them? Will the vaccines be reliable? Should we vaccinate our children or are we at risk of die for the cure instead of the disease?
At last, Doubts: It will not be hell that we live the best history conspiracies, thoroughly woven by the world’s greatest tycoons, such as the American billionaire Bill Gates, to enrich and control humanity? Believe me, there are many thousands of people who guarantee it – and who have invested the last year of their life to convince thousands more, through endless chains of sharing on social networks, that it is so.
We at the Polygraph know that this is not the case. Because between reality and fantasy we always choose the facts.
Stay with a selection of six lies and manipulations that we identified in Portugal regarding the pandemic of the century.
It was one of publications most shared in Facebook for several days: supposedly Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa would have moved political influences last January towards, in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic that was then abundantly expanding in China, bring your granddaughters in security for Portugal – and that for that he will not have looked at media, competing with the Falcon that is at the disposal of the Portuguese State. The only truth in this rumor is that in fact the President of the Republic has a family and lived in Chinese territory.
The truth is that the photographs were really authentic, but they were not caught in portugal and circulated on social networks at least since the beginning of the year. Through the investigation in the TinEye application, and having access to the images on a larger scale, the Polygraph concluded that at least two of the photographs illustrating the publication under analysis were captured in China.
In an interview with TVI on November 9, Prime Minister António Costa, questioned about failures in the anticipation and planning capacity, responded that “no one predicted that this second wave would arrive so soon.” anticipated in the transition from autumn to winter, no one thought it would come so soon. “It was easily proven that this was a statement based on false facts: either the warning from the WHO regional director for Europe (on 15 May) or forecasted by the DGS expert group (on July 11), clearly noted the Fall as a time reference for the installation of the second wave.
A picture provocative It caused a special stir on social networks, where it was shared extensively in recent days. The image shows what appear to be four healthcare professionals posing with the middle finger raised pointing provocatively at the camera.
Accompanying the unorthodox image is the text as follows: “Message from the service team about the urgency of HUC [Hospitais da Universidade de Coimbra] to the Minister of Health and Director General of Health. We will convey this message to the recipients. “The polygraph investigated the origin of photography and concluded that it is an image true, but totally out of context. We are facing a clear manipulation of a existing photo, having been registered on March 17 in a French hospital by a group of medical technicians.
A News it reached many Portuguese through WhatsApp, through an image that looks like a clipping of a news item, taken from a siteAfter the title and a photograph of the Turin Juventus player, a short and objective text: “Cristiano Ronaldo Hotels will become hospitals starting next week where the infected with Covid-19 in Portugal can be treated totally free. The Portuguese international will also support all costs with doctors and workers. “
The information was disseminated through Portuguese and Spanish social networks, and even the main sports newspapers, such as Marca de España, reported on the alleged decision of the Portuguese footballer. Problem: everything was fake. The newspaper “Marca” removed the news from its site and the Arena Desportiva platform, which provided the information, publicly apologized.
The message began to circulate on social networks, through WhatsApp groups, in the second week of March, and claims to show a text, in verse, by the French writer. Michel de Nostredame (Nostradamus), dated 1555: “And in the year of the twins (20 20) / will appear a queen (crown-crown) / from the east (China) / who will spread her plague (virus) / from the beings of the night (bats) / the land of seven hills (Italy) / turning dust (death) / to the men of twilight (old men) / culminating in the shadow of ruin (end of the world economy) “
OR Polygraph he looked for these verses in the work of Nostradamus, without having found them. The same had already happened with theother international data verification platforms, like the Spanish “Maldito Bulo”, which reached the same conclusion, guaranteeing that the word “plague” does not appear in any of the prophecies or other texts published by Nostradamus.
