Coronavirus Misinformation Lives Online, Despite Efforts to Stamp It Out – The Wall Street Journal

A review by The Wall Street Journal found dozens of pages and groups that have sprung up on Facebook to offer virus-related news and places to talk, some rife with comments or posts stoking fear about the virus or circulating unproven information.

False virus information could be more damaging than false content related to political discourse that has received attention in recent years, according to academics who study misinformation, because it might lead people to make misinformed decisions about their health or cause unwarranted panic.

Health-related misinformation “is certainly more dangerous than just pushing ideologies,” said Darren Linvill, a misinformation researcher at Clemson University, adding that those tactics aim to undercut science and confidence in institutions. The consequences of health-related misinformation, Mr. Linvill said, “are real and immediate.”

The personal Facebook account of Mike Adams—who founded news and natural-health advocacy website Natural News—includes a link to an article from his news site that said the coronavirus’s fatality rate is far higher than official figures. That post was tagged by Facebook fact-checkers for false information. Facebook has suspended Natural News in the past for misleading content. Mr. Adams and Natural News declined to comment through a spokeswoman.

Mr. Adams’s Facebook account also includes a link to a website that contains a video whose description refers to the virus as a “bioengineered weapon system.”

Similar Natural News content claiming that the virus was engineered has appeared on other people’s Twitter accounts.

Twitter Inc. said that, like Facebook, it has directed users toward recognized and authoritative medical sources when they search “coronavirus,” and the company said it is stopping any auto-suggested search results that might lead users to “non-credible content” on the platform, although it didn’t provide specific examples.

Other people have claimed in videos posted on YouTube that the coronavirus was bioengineered, which scientists and fact-checkers have vehemently refuted. The website SGT Report, which has more than 570,000 subscribers on YouTube, published a now-unavailable video claiming the virus is an “engineered pandemic” and questioning the official number of people killed by the illness the virus causes.

After publication, SGT Report in a statement defended its claim and said that reporting about the virus being engineered “is not ‘misinformation,’ it’s called investigative journalism.”

A spokeswoman for Alphabet Inc.’s Google, which owns YouTube, said the company has promoted content by trusted health organizations in searches and is quickly removing videos that mislead users about the virus.

Experts in misinformation say virus-related content will play a more prominent role in the political world as 14 states and two territories held primary elections on Tuesday.

One video posted to YouTube claimed that the Central Intelligence Agency has used the coronavirus as part of an “attack on Bernie,” referring to Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Democratic presidential candidate.

A spokesman from Mr. Sanders’s Senate office said he couldn’t comment on campaign-related matters, and campaign representatives couldn’t be reached for comment. A spokesman for the CIA said the agency “does not comment on such outlandish and offensive misinformation.”

U.S. State Department officials and health organizations have warned about the spread of misinformation related to the virus, including the narrative that the U.S. is responsible for the outbreak. Officials have said there are groups of people coordinating efforts on social media in an attempt to promote conspiracy theories.

A Facebook spokeswoman said if a group repeatedly shares false news, the company may reduce that group’s distribution by showing that group’s content lower in its news feed.

Among those leading the push for factual information has been the World Health Organization. The organization is tracking the latest outbreak figures and other facts, and it has partnered with Google, Facebook, Twitter and other tech platforms to feature its information at the top of search results.

WHO recently created an account on the video-sharing platform TikTok. The first video featured Benedetta Allegranzi, the organization’s technical lead of infection prevention and control, describing precautions people can take related to the virus.

Misinformation about the coronavirus, however, persists online.

“We are probably at the tip of the iceberg,” said Hany Farid, a digital forensics expert at the University of California, Berkeley. “These things typically start on 4chan and other fringe sites, and by the time they are on Facebook, things are getting bad. It’s going to continue to spread.”

Write to Sebastian Herrera at Sebastian.Herrera@wsj.com