On March 9, back when I could still see my coworkers in person, I inadvertently shared misinformation. “We’re officially in a pandemic,” I texted, relying on a tweet from a verified account that turned out to be wrong. The official pandemic announcement from the World Health Organization came two days later, on March 11.
There’s an overwhelming amount of confusion about the coronavirus. It’s no wonder that even disinformation reporters have fallen for it.
When I started debunking coronavirus misinformation in late January, I saw false statistics, bioweapon conspiracies promoted by people with political motivations, and tasteless jokes about cops testing meth for the virus.
Then the pandemic came to North America, and the hoaxes changed. We began seeing hucksters sell false cures. Bad health advice made the rounds, too, first as a copy-and-pasted text, then as memes, and later as voice messages. Images of tanks were taken out of context and used as (fake) proof of military presence in cities across the globe.
It seems surreal to say I’ve been tracking coronavirus misinformation since January. We’ve been doing running lists of debunks during breaking news events for the last three years or so, and the volume of bad information around the coronavirus makes all others pale in comparison. Like many of my colleagues, I had to step away from the news at times last week for fear of burnout.
An encouraging trend is that academics, reporters, and researchers have formed unofficial coalitions to share information and compare notes. My inboxes are overflowing with tips from people who want to supply their friends and families with good information. Everyone, from high school students to retired seniors, has been forwarding me posts they’ve seen online.
This collaboration is essential because, like the virus itself, the coronavirus misinformation problem is not going away anytime soon. Misinformation works because it plays on our fears, which are abundant right now. But there are things we can do.
Instead of forwarding something unverified on to your group chats out of anxiety, draw a deep breath and pause. Turn the instinct to share into an instinct to search for good information. Look for other news reports and information from local authorities about what you’ve seen.
I have one more thing to ask you. If you see something suspicious, send it my way. You can DM me on Twitter (@janelytv), email me (jane.lytvynenko@buzzfeed.com), or text me on Signal/WhatsApp (+1 613-276-1376). I’ll investigate and drop it into our ongoing list of COVID-19 misinformation.
—Jane
