Social Media Misinformation on German Intelligence Reports: 'Coronavirus Misinformation Weekly Briefing 18-05-2020'   [open pdf - 0B]

From the Summary: "Given the evolving nature of the coronavirus pandemic--and public understanding of the crisis--we provide a weekly briefing about the spread of coronavirus misinformation across multiple social media platforms. For the seven days prior to 14-05-2020 we find: [1] Of all the junk news that social media users engaged with last week, 33% of it came from state-backed news agencies, and 83% of engagement with state backed agencies involves media outlets from Russia and China. [2] In total, articles produced by junk health news sources were engaged with four million times this week. On average, articles from state-backed media sources nonetheless stimulated the most engagement. [3] Thematically, prominent junk health news narratives this week included (1) misinformation around German intelligence reports alleging the WHO [World Health Organization] withholding information on Chinese request, and (2) attacks on Democrats over the HEROES [Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions] Act."