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US President Donald Trump has been the world’s largest driver of Covid-19 misinformation during the pandemic, according to a Cornell University study.
A team from the Cornell Alliance for Science evaluated 38 million articles published by traditional media in English around the world between January 1 and May 26 of this year.
The database they used aggregates coverage from countries like the United States, Great Britain, India, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and other African and Asian nations.
They identified 522,472 news articles reproducing or amplifying misinformation related to the coronavirus pandemic, or what the World Health Organization has called the “infodemic.”
These were classified into 11 main subtopics, ranging from conspiracy theories to attacks on prominent scientist Anthony Fauci and the idea that the virus is a biological weapon unleashed by China.
But the most popular topic was what the study authors called “miracle cures,” which appeared in 295,351 articles, more than the other 10 topics combined.
The authors found that President Trump’s comments sparked major spikes on the topic of “miracle cures,” led by his April 24 press conference, where he reflected on the possibility of using disinfectants within the body to cure the coronavirus.
Similar spikes were seen when promoting unproven treatments such as hydroxychloroquine.
“We conclude, therefore, that the President of the United States was probably the biggest driver of the COVID-19 disinformation ‘infodemic’,” the team wrote.
Sarah Evanega, who led the study and is director of the Cornell Alliance for Science, said: “If people are misled by unscientific and unsubstantiated claims about the disease, they are less likely to follow official guidance and therefore run the risk of spreading the virus. “
Co-author Jordan Adams, data analyst at Cision Insights who provided the database, added: “One of the most exciting aspects of the data collection process was discovering the staggering amount of misinformation coverage directly linked to public comments from a small number of individuals. “
After miracle cures, the second most prevalent misinformation topic was that the pandemic was created to promote a “new world order.”
Then came the claim that the pandemic was a hoax for political gain by the US Democratic Party, followed by conspiracies alleging that the virus was a biological weapon dropped by a laboratory in Wuhan, China.
Then came the conspiracy theories linking the pandemic to philanthropist Bill Gates, then the hoax that Covid-19 symptoms are caused by 5G phone networks, anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, and the notion that the virus is a form of population control.
Attacks on US government scientist Fauci, references to the discredited “Plandemic” video, and blaming the virus on Chinese who consume bat soup completed the list.
The study authors found that there was some effort to correct misinformation in the form of fact-checking articles, appearing 183,717 times during the study period.
They also tracked how the stories were shared on social media, and found that the posts sparked 36 million interactions, three-quarters of them on Facebook.
The research was supported in part by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
ia / ft
