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Breaking Down The Disinformation Ecosystem Around Coronavirus

As the coronavirus sweeps across the globe, another kind of contagion is spreading as well — disinformation. Newsy and Bellingcat are here to help.

Breaking Down The Disinformation Ecosystem Around Coronavirus
Newsy / Jennifer Smart
Article by Jake Godin and Jennifer Smart
SMS
March 24, 2020

Is there really a major outbreak in every U.S. election cycle? No, actually. Is there really a silver-based cure for the coronavirus you can buy online? No, there's not. And is the virus a bio-weapon created by the U.S. Army? There's zero evidence of that. 

This is all just a small sampling of the hoaxes and disinformation surrounding the global outbreak of the coronavirus. Some of it is the kind of stuff we'd see in the heyday of the email chain-letter — spreading from one person to the next on social media. 

Other disinformation is a little more nefarious, coming from governments attempting to distract from their own domestic problems by shifting blame for the virus elsewhere. 

As the virus spreads, sorting through disinformation and knowing what to believe is about as important as washing your hands. Newsy and Bellingcat are here to help. 

 This video is part of a collaboration between Newsy and Bellingcat. 

Jake Godin is a reporter with his eye on the Middle East and North Africa, national security, and terrorism. Hailing from a town in central Illinois that you've likely never heard of, Jake joined Newsy in 2012 after graduating from the University of Missouri's School of Journalism. Since then, he's traveled to the Arctic Circle on his motorcycle, covered Canada's mass resettlement of Syrian refugees and moved to Newsy's Washington, D.C., bureau. @JakeGodin

Jennifer Smart is a video editor and motion graphics animator for the Newsy Documentaries team. Prior to joining Newsy in 2018, she was a junior editor in magazine video at National Geographic, specializing in animated explainers and motion graphics. She got her Bachelor of Arts in cinema and media studies at the USC School of Cinematic Arts.