Bio-weapon, China, Economy, Health, Politics, Lockdown, Italy and Communal Topics Dominates Fake News World During Jan-April  

The topics like Prediction Theory, Bio-weapon, Economy, Health, Politics, Italy, China, Cure/Prevention/Treatment, Lockdown & Communal were trending in the news during January to April.

Indian Observer Post

Mumbai, May 9, 2020: The menace of fake news around the COVID-19 pandemic has been unprecedented, leading to fact checkers and health advisors working round the clock to provide accurate information on the disease.

Since the beginning of the outbreak, BOOM, India’s premier fact-checking website has published 178 fact checks on misinformation/disinformation around the pandemic from January to May, 2020, through data and evidence of viral information, such as trending news topics and types of media through which this information was disseminated.

The topics like Prediction Theory, Bio-weapon, Economy, Health, Politics, Italy, China, Cure/Prevention/Treatment, Lockdown & Communal were trending in the news during January to April.

During January - February rumours mostly about China, with some false prediction theories and cures/prevention/treatments to COVID-19; in March Fake news on Italy and lockdowns went viral; and during April, communally charged disinformation targeting Muslims became more frequent, especially after several members of the Tablighi Jamaat – an Islamic missionary group – tested positive, Islamophobic rumours around them purposefully spreading the virus became viral on the internet.

Other trends also witnessed in April were: spike in fake news related to politics; more lockdown related misinformation; more misinformation around Italy; rumours related to the economy.

BOOM recently released a data-driven study titled “Fake News in The Time of Coronavirus: A BOOM Study”.

While BOOM did its first COVID-19 fact-check on January 25, 2020, February saw major events like the Delhi Elections, Donald Trump's India visit and the Delhi riots dominate the fake news cycle.

There was a drastic change of topic in March, as more COVID-19 related misinformation went viral online.

BOOM also found evidence suggesting that the number of fact-checks published by them had a positive correlation with the number of COVID-19 cases in the country. During this period, as the number of cases grew, so did their number of pandemic-related fact-checks.

An analysis of BOOM’s stories revealed that a bulk of the COVID-19-related fact checks were on communal rumours, most of which were false allegations against Muslims, of purposefully spreading the virus.

These messages appeared in April, after several members of the Tablighi Jamaat - an Islamic Missionary group, tested positive for the virus following a massive congregation in Delhi in March.

TOP 10 FAKE NEWS TOPICS BETWEEN JANUARY – APRIL, 2020:

Topics like Prediction Theory, Bioweapon, Economy, Health, Politics, Italy, China, Cure/Prevention/Treatment, Lockdown & Communal were trending in the news between the months of January to April:

·  During January-February: saw mostly rumours about China, with some false prediction theories and cures/prevention/treatments to COVID-19.

·  During March: Fake news on Italy and lockdowns went viral; conspiracy theories regarding the virus being a Bioweapon became viral

·  During April: a new trend was observed – communally charged disinformation targeting Muslims became more frequent. After several members of the Tablighi Jamaat – an Islamic missionary group – tested positive, Islamophobic rumours around them purposefully spreading the virus became viral on the internet.

Other trends also witnessed in April were: spike in fake news related to politics; more lockdown related misinformation; more misinformation around Italy; rumours related to the economy.

FAKE NEWS BY TYPE OF MEDIA:

Most of the false or misleading claims were circulated with videos (35%) with a spike in April and surge in videos targeting Muslims vendors with allegations of spitting on food items to spread the virus. There was also a significant number of text messages (29.4%) being shared with fake cures, treatments or quotes from celebrities, along with images (29.4%) that were either misrepresented or doctored. These spiked in March, as false notifications and lockdown guidelines became viral. They also noticed a small number of audio clips (2.2%) going viral with false contexts. A few of their fact-checks were on news reports (4%) by mainstream media organisations. Most of these stories were found to make false claims against a particular community.

A full article of BOOM’s study can be viewed here: https://www.boomlive.in/fact-file/fake-news-in-the-time-of-coronavirus-a-boom-study-8008

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About BOOM:

BOOM is an independent digital journalism initiative with a mission to fight misinformation and make the internet safer. They are India’s premier fact checking website, committed to bring to our readers verified facts rather than opinion. BOOM also writes pro-active fact files which serve to educate readers on key issues they might have questions about. Subjects that BOOM actively fact checks range from political, social, communal and health & medicine to products and services and even history. Our approach involves a whole bunch of simple technology and tools but the foundation of our work is journalism, classic, old-school and robust. They speak to people, we check and verify and do not publish until and unless we have got formal clarifications on posts or stories where individuals and organisations are involved. BOOM is presently available in three Indian languages, English, Hindi and Bengali with dedicated on ground teams working on all three. BOOM also broadcasts daily on Facebook and YouTube with live updates and checks on the latest news material being worked upon. They can be found on Twitter (@boomlive_in) and on Facebook. Starting March 2020, BOOM has expanded its fact checking network overseas, to Myanmar and Bangladesh, with experienced local teams leading the initiative. https://www.boommyanmar.com/about-us/ They were the first fact checker to launch a WhatsApp helpline where you can send in your posts & forwards to be fact checked. Our WhatsApp helpline (+91 7700906588) receives thousands of serious queries every week.  BOOM has been in existence since 2014 as a broad investigative journalism effort and as a full-fledged fake news busting and fact checking initiative since November 2016. BOOM is a part of Outcue Media Pvt Ltd and is based in Mumbai, India. Outcue Media Private Limited is a for-profit entity and gets its income from social platforms as well as contract work, media literacy, training as well as media content creation contracts in the non-fact-checking space. For more detail, you can check their website: https://www.boomlive.in