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resident Donald Trump is not really sick with coronavirus. It is just a political strategy. Or just a small part of a grand plan to arrest Hillary Clinton, who is leading Democratic politicians and Hollywood’s elite in a global child trafficking ring, as followers of QAnon would have you believe. That being said, we have also heard that the pandemic is in fact a ‘plandemic’, created by Bill Gates and Big Pharma so that they can implant trackable microchips on a global scale under the guise of a vaccine. Or, the pandemic is real but coronavirus symptoms are actually caused by the toxic effects of bird-killing, tree-felling and cancer-causing electromagnetic radiation emitted from the erection of the 5G network. To some, this may sound ludicrous and laughably far-fetched, but fake news and conspiracy theories have promulgated throughout social media with breathtaking speed as of late, garnering widespread attention. The World Health Organisation has aptly titled this overabundance of misinformation and conspiracy theories an ‘infodemic’, adding that fake news spreads faster than the virus and is equally dangerous. Accordingly, a recent study found that of 112 million public social media posts related to the pandemic, 40% came from unreliable sources. A survey conducted in the US showed that 29% of respondents believed that the threat of COVID-19 was exaggerated to damage Donald Trump’s reputation and 31% thought the virus was purposefully created and spread. In April this year, nearly half of the British population believed that COVID-19 was man-made in some way.
This whirlwind of lies and misinformation is also perhaps a feature of our ‘post-truth’ world, in which objective fact yields to emotion and personal belief.” 14 | The Brief
Lockdown-induced boredom and the uncertainty posed by the pandemic have created the perfect storm for this. This whirlwind of lies and misinformation is also perhaps a feature of our ‘post-truth’ world, in which objective fact yields to emotion and personal belief. However, the advent of social media has undoubtedly played a significant role in accelerating both the reach of conspiracy theories and the speed at which they can spread. Individuals tend to be influenced by the media that they consume, particularly where they see others promoting or sharing this information. On social media, this means that the number of shares or retweets on a post is often treated as a proxy for credibility. This can have harmful effects in that it not only polarises certain groups and creates echo chambers, but it also has little basis for being used as a measure of its veracity. For example, ‘virtue signalling’ involves sharing or retweeting information to indicate membership of a group, regardless of whether its contents have been read and endorsed. Bots can also share and circulate information to falsely promote a piece and create fake ‘grassroots’ movements. Trending information, perceived as synonymous with credible information, can therefore be accepted as truthful by consumers. Clickbait, hyperboles and misinformation thus can distort the media landscape through these ‘engagement’ metrics. What are conspiracy theories and how are they harmful? Conspiracy theories attempt to explain significant social or political events involving secret plots by two or more actors perceived to be powerful and malevolent. These theories often give oversimplified, illogical accounts in the face of major events which create uncertainty or unease. They can change beliefs and drive actions, sometimes with insidious effect. Conspiracy theories are linked to negative attitudes and prejudice against certain groups, particularly by reinforcing a ‘them’ Ed.3 2020
