Confirmers cooperate internationally for coronavirus claims

Three weeks ago, China officially reported the first death found to be due to the coronavirus that occurred in 2019. However, there has not been enough information from the Chinese government about the origin of the new disease or the steps taken by the authorities to find a cure.

This knowledge gap has caused disinformation that is too large for a single verifier to cope with. For this reason, last week, the confirmers from more than 30 countries came together and decided to share information. Under the leadership of the International Integrity Control Network, with the help of simple tools such as Slack and Google Sheets, members of this community began to publish their content frequently to read each other’s confirmations, translate content into different languages ​​and prevent the spread of false claims.

As of last week, the community identified 86 examples of misleading information that need international attention. Many of these were alleged to be “coronavirus patents”, which was not difficult to refute.

China suggesting that the new virus is actually the Facebook posts, the United States, Canada, India, France, Turkey and Brazil appeared almost simultaneously. Some of these posts were accompanied by frantic conspiracy theories about the existence of biosafety laboratories. Other posts have been used by the anti-vaccine movement to “prove” that the health industry is causing panic just to develop and sell vaccines.

Unfounded claims about coronavirus spread faster than the virus itself

On Monday, the World Health Organization released a list of measures that can help prevent people from catching the virus. However, this did not prevent internet users from sharing false information about protection. The list of ingredients that do not prevent illness has so far been brine and a magic spray. Others recommend “drugs” such as grape vinegar, steroids and ethanol. There is no doubt that even more will come.

At the same time, affiliates are considering publishing their coronavirus contents in formats that can spread to as large a audience as possible. BuzzFeed keeps a list of new items constantly. MediaWise shares stories on Instagram and re-publishes them on YouTube.

At the same time, according to The Washington Post news, major technology platforms are struggling to stop conspiracy theories and false information about the virus. This is a difficult situation for Facebook, Twitter and Google, but it is probably even more difficult for platforms such as Line, KakaoTalk and Weibo, which are not widely used in the West.

You can reach the coronavirus claims examined by the confirmation under the label “coronavirus”.