Anti-vaxxers seize virus moment to spread fake news


June 26, 2020

rfi logo

The vaccine will inject you with an electronic chip, poison you, make you sick, they say.

There's no vaccine yet for treating the novel coronavirus, and scientists are multiplying efforts to find one.

But already anti-vaxxers -- a small but vocal group of people who don't believe in vaccinations -- have taken advantage of the pandemic to multiply disinformation on social media...

The extent to which the pandemic has altered the misinformation landscape is not yet clear, according to David Broniatowski, from George Washington University in DC. "We are still investigating the question of whether vaccine opponents are more active because of the pandemic, or whether they are just more visible because of the increased attention given to the pandemic," he said.

Read more