"Hoaxes about coronavirus spread faster than the virus itself Three weeks ago, China officially reported the first death caused by the 2019 coronavirus. But since then there has been a distinct lack of quality data from the Chinese government about the origins of the new disease and the official steps authorities are taking to find a cure for it.
The information void has led to widespread disinformation that is too much for any one fact-checker. For this reason, last Friday, fact-checkers from more than 30 countries decided to band together and share information. With the coordination of the International Fact-Checking Network and the help of simple tools like Slack and Google Sheets, members of the collaborative started to read each other’s fact-checks, translate the content into different languages and republish it as often as possible as a way to prevent hoaxes from spreading.
As of Wednesday, the community had detected 86 instances of misleading information that deserved international attention. Many involved a false coronavirus patent, which wasn’t hard to debunk. False Facebook posts claiming that the Chinese virus wasn’t really new surfaced almost at the same time in the United States, Canada, India, France, Turkey and Brazil. Some of these posts were accompanied by wild conspiracy theories about the existence of biosecurity labs. Others were picked up by the anti-vaccination movement to “prove” that the health industry is just causing panic so it can develop and sell a vaccine.
The World Health Organization on Monday issued a list of prevention tips to help people avoid contracting the virus. But that didn’t keep internet users from sharing hoaxes about how to protect themselves. A list of ineffective substances to prevent the disease includes, so far, salty water and a magic spray. Others suggested remedies like grape vinegar, steroids and ethanol. There will no doubt be more to come.
Fact-checkers are also aiming to deliver their coronavirus content in formats that allow them to reach the widest possible audience. BuzzFeed is keeping a running list. (Poynter-owned) MediaWise is doing stories on Instagram and republishing them on YouTube.
Meanwhile, The Washington Post reported that the big tech platforms are themselves scrambling to contain conspiracy theories and other misinformation about the virus. This is a tough situation for Facebook, Twitter and Google, but perhaps even tougher for platforms not commonly used in the West, like Line, KakaoTalk and Weibo."--Poynter & American Press Institute 1/30/20