Politics Plus

The world is dealing with an unprecedented health crisis caused by a new virus. With new insights in the way COVID19 spreads, in the way the virus behaves and in the way to deal with the pandemic every day, it is now more important than ever to safeguard the information we share is accurate and fact-based. We have to inoculate ourselves against the fake news and misinformation that infect our newsfeeds and timelines at this crucial moment by fact-checking.

For the duration of the pandemic, I will try to give you an overview of the main issues in CoronaCheck, an Australian email newsletter with the latest from around the world concerning the coronavirus.*

INACCURATE LOCKDOWN INFORMATION

Image source: Facebook

A post of an unhappy Facebook user argues that the restrictions are overreach by claiming the unverified COVID-19 survival rate is 98.54 per cent, while others put the death rate at 0.1 per cent or even as low as 0.004 per cent.

Fact-checkers at PolitiFact found that although a 98.54 per cent survival rate wasn’t too far off the current figure for the US, the numbers were preliminary, likely to change and not as promising as it sounds. PolitiFact noted “Even a 1 per cent mortality rate (99 per cent survival rate) would mean that a disease is 10-times more lethal than the seasonal flu.”

Meanwhile, Full Fact looked into that same figure when it was shared in the UK when the true survival rate [in the US] or in the UK is not yet known.

In the US, Lead Stories looked into a claim that a “22 Trillion dollar economy” had been shut down to stop the spread of a virus with a 0.1 per cent death rate. However, this is roughly the death rate of the seasonal flu, while figures at the time showed about 5.8 per cent of confirmed coronavirus patients were dying.

Fact-checkers at Reuters, AAP, USA Today and AFP have all debunked similar claims.

QUEEN HASN’T ANNOUNCED CHILDREN TO BE TAKEN AWAY FROM HOMES

Image source: YouTube/Ricco Chie

The title of a YouTube video viewed more than 230,000 times suggests the World Health Organisation and Queen Elizabeth II are conspiring to remove children from their homes amid the coronavirus pandemic.

However, as Reuters points out, the title does not represent the footage it shows — neither the Queen nor the WHO have made any announcements regarding the evacuation of children from coronavirus-infected homes.

The video shows a WHO senior adviser saying that because people were quarantining at home to comply with lockdown laws, some vulnerable and sick people may be removed from homes so they could be isolated, but at no point mentions children.

Meanwhile, the Queen’s special broadcast amid the pandemic saw her reflecting on her first-ever broadcast in 1940, where she spoke of children being evacuated from cities during World War II. Referring to current lockdown measures, she noted that “once again, many will feel a painful sense of separation from their loved ones”.

WRONG QUOTE ATTRIBUTION

Image source: Facebook

“Once the herd accepts mandatory forcible vaccination, it’s game over,” the quote attributed to former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger, which has spread on Facebook, begins. “They will accept anything — forcible blood or organ donation — for the ‘greater good’.”

While the image has been circulating since at least early 2019, i.e. before the start of the pandemic, it has gained traction in recent months despite the ongoing efforts of fact-checkers around the world as scientists work to produce a COVID-19 vaccine and authorities urge people to get a flu shot so as not to put added strain on healthcare systems during the pandemic.

Fact-checkers from PolitiFact, Snopes and Africa Check last year found no evidence of Dr Kissinger having ever made such a claim. Since the coronavirus outbreak and re-appearance of Kissinger’s image, Reuters and Full Fact have also dismissed the claim, with representatives of Dr Kissinger telling Reuters that the quote is a “complete fabrication”.

5G BIOSHIELD

Image source: Twitter/@TheKenMunroShow

A video claiming that 5G radio waves “penetrate red blood in the lungs, making them easy prey for COVID-19 to enter and cause oxygen starvation” has been debunked by Lead Stories.

“Scientists have proven that 5G broadband can’t enter the body because skin protects the internal organs,” the fact-checkers said.” A study cited in the video as evidence for the danger was found to relate to Wi-Fi, rather than 5G, and had been widely criticised by scientists.

Meanwhile, scams used the fear these claims invoke; a device marketed as a protective measure against the supposed harm of 5G has been found by IT experts to be nothing more than a cheap USB drive with a sticker on it.

The “quantum holographic catalyzer technology for the balance and harmonisation of the harmful effects of imbalanced electric radiation” was being sold for as much as £300 ($550).

Despite the myth being busted time again, anti-5G activists continue to push disinformation, with hundreds protesting in Australia over the rollout of the technology, as well as other gripes including vaccination and the coronavirus lockdown (see COVID-19 Fact and Fiction #13).

ANTIVAXXERS STRIKE AGAIN

Image source: Facebook

A Facebook post claiming that no virus harmful to humans “has ever been proven to exist” and that “you can’t make a vaccine for something you can’t even prove exists” has quickly been discredited by Reuters. Its fact-checkers reviewed an article published in the American Society for Microbiology’s Journal of Virology which listed measles, poliomyelitis, rabies, yellow fever and smallpox as viruses which infect and are harmful to humans.

And Lynda Coughlin, a virologist at Mt Sinai Hospital, told Reuters: “The statement that “no virus harmful to humans has ever been proven to exist” is absolutely false. There are numerous examples of viruses which are known to cause disease in humans.”

COORDINATED TROLLING ABOUND

Fact-checkers, researchers and journalists all over the world are piecing together a picture of the networks, groups and individuals spreading coronavirus misinformation, including some who are pushing nationalistic disinformation.

An investigation by the BBC found that a network of more than 1,200 Twitter, YouTube and Facebook accounts was being used to praise Beijing’s handling of the coronavirus crisis and at the same time amplifying negative messages about those who are critical of China’s response.

“Although there is no definitive evidence that this network is linked to the Chinese government,” the BBC said, “it does display features similar to a state-backed information operation originating in China that Facebook and Twitter removed last year.”

In the US, NBC has reported that “troll farms” in North Macedonia and the Philippines have been responsible for coronavirus disinformation on Facebook. A large publisher of fake content, Natural News”, an anti-vaccination news site that frequently posts false coronavirus conspiracy theories about 5G towers and Bill Gates, is already banned from the social media platform after pushing the discredited “Plandemic” video. NBC added that the trolls also posted content from Natural News’ sister sites, NewsTarget and Brighteon.

Meanwhile, new research commissioned by the Australia Institute’s Centre for Responsible Technology and conducted by experts at the Queensland University of Technology has found that pro-Trump and QAnon conspiracy Twitter bots have been responsible for pushing the theory that COVID-19 is a Chinese bio-weapon.

“The coordinated efforts to promote the bioweapon conspiracy theory focused on 882 original tweets, which were retweeted 18,498 times and liked 31,783 times, creating an estimated 5 million impressions on Twitter users,” the researchers found.

“Similar research in January suggests there is a sustained, coordinated effort to promote this theory by pro-Trump, Republican and aligned networks of accounts.”

FROM WASHINGTON, D.C.

The Washington Post’s Fact-checker, having analysed thousands of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube posts and advertisements from US President Donald Trump, his campaign team and “a long list of surrogates”, has found that together they are creating an online “alternate reality” around the coronavirus.

“The data revealed the backbone of a five-point strategy to tell their version of the coronavirus story,” the fact-checkers determined. “Rewriting mistakes, highlighting achievements, deflecting blame, declaring victory and creating distraction.” (emphasis mine)

After downplaying the threat in the early stages of the virus outbreak, according to the Post, Mr Trump cum suis have pivoted to more self-promotional tactics in early March. By mid-April to early May, “[Mr] Trump and his team appeared to all but claim victory over the virus”, before moving on to discuss new topics online, including launching attacks on his political adversaries and presumptive election opponent Joe Biden.

“All presidential campaigns try to portray their candidate in the best possible light,” the fact-checkers concluded. “But what is notable about the Trump campaign is that its social media reach allows the campaign to rewrite even the most recent history.”

Things that don’t cure and/or prevent COVID-19

#29: Exposing yourself to the sun or temperatures higher than 25C
“You can catch COVID-19, no matter how sunny or hot the weather is. Countries with hot weather have reported cases of COVID-19.” –  World Health Organisation

*The facts in this article are derived from the Australian RMIT ABC Fact Check newsletters which in turn draw on their own resources and those of their colleagues within the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN), of which RMIT ABC Fact Check is a member.

The world is dealing with an unprecedented health crisis caused by a new virus. With new insights in the way COVID19 spreads, in the way the virus behaves and in the way to deal with the pandemic every day, it is now more important than ever to safeguard the information we share is accurate and fact-based. We have to inoculate ourselves against the fake news and misinformation that infect our newsfeeds and timelines at this crucial moment by fact-checking.

For the duration of the pandemic, I will try to give you an overview of the main issues in CoronaCheck, an Australian email newsletter with the latest from around the world concerning the coronavirus.*

MORE MISINFORMATION ON FLU VACCINES

Image source: Facebook

Inaccurate claims about the flu vaccine and its relationship to the novel coronavirus continue to circulate, despite the best efforts of fact-checkers.

This week PolitiFact, factcheck.org and Reuters have checked inaccurate claims suggesting that the seasonal jab for the flue leads to false positives in coronavirus tests or even that the jab contains the virus itself. Both suggestions are incorrect.

According to PolitiFact, a Facebook post stating “If you have had a flu shot in the last 3-5 years, you will probably test positive” for COVID-19 was labelled “nonsense” by Davidson Hamer, a global health and medicine professor at Boston University.

A claim that the flu vaccine “has been biologically weaponised to cause coronavirus” was debunked by Reuters, whose fact-checkers noted: “There is no evidence to suggest that the influenza vaccine contains the novel coronavirus or causes COVID-19.”

HYDROCHLOROQUINE AND 5GL

Image source: Facebook

Again a claim linking 5G mobile technology to the coronavirus outbreak is being spread on Facebook, this time concerning another controversial item in the disinformation folly, hydroxychloroquine.

“Hydroxychloroquine cures this ‘virus’,” a Facebook post states. “It just so happens this is the treatment used for radiation sickness!! Let that sink in!”

Opponents of 5G have called out radiation sickness as one of the adverse health effects associated with the technology.

Fact-checkers at Full Fact and PolitiFact found there was no clear evidence that hydroxychloroquine was an effective treatment for COVID-19 and it is not used to treat radiation sickness either.

INFODEMIC

Fact-checkers and misinformation researchers around the globe not only try to correct the record on false and inaccurate claims around COVID-19 but also attempt to understand and track the spread of the “infodemic”.

On the one hand, researchers found that a quarter of the most viewed COVID-19 videos on YouTube, viewed by millions of users worldwide, contained misleading information and “may play a significant role in successfully managing the COVID-19 pandemic,” the researchers said.

On the other hand, social media investigators found that nearly half of all Twitter accounts posting about the virus were likely to be bots, twice as much bot activity as predicted based on previous natural disasters, crises and elections, according to Kathleen M Carley, a researcher with Carnegie Mellon University.

In Australia, the misinformation campaigns seem to be rather successful, with one in five surveyed young people (18-34) reporting that they think 5G mobile technology is spreading the coronavirus.

And a brand-new Australian report suggests that theory has been amplified on Twitter through the “coordinated” efforts of clusters of Pro-Trump, QAnon and Republican partisan accounts (emphasis mine).

 “The whole idea of bots is really quite contentious at the moment, but there’s really no other conclusion that we can draw from this, other than some of these accounts are using some sort of automation,” Dr Timothy Graham said, one of the authors of The Australian Institute’s Centre for Responsible Technology report released today (June first 2020).

 “They might be semi-controlled by humans but how they’re behaving in these networks, at least in some clusters, is text-book bot-like behaviour. We can’t know for sure but there’s overwhelming evidence based on this approach, where groups of accounts repeatedly retweet the same content within one second of each other.”

INTERPRETING STATISTICS IN ITALY

Image source: Facebook

A claim made by an Italian politician that 96.3 per cent of more than 32,000 COVID-19 deaths in his country were actually from other causes is false, according to Full Fact.

The source of the claim turned out to be a report from the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (Higher Institute of Health) on April 20 which had found that of 21,551 Italians who had died with COVID-19, just 3.7 per cent had no co-morbidities.

“This means that 96.3% of the people who had died in Italy after testing positive for the new coronavirus had also suffered from at least one condition,” Full Fact noted. “It does not mean that the virus did not cause their death.”

HISTORY REWRITTENImage source: Facebook

A quote shared widely on Facebook reads “The best way to take control over a people and control them utterly is to take a little of their freedom at a time, to erode rights by a thousand tiny and almost imperceptible reductions,” and is said to have come from Hitler’s Mein Kampf. “In this way, the people will not see those rights and freedoms being removed until past the point at which these changes cannot be reversed.”

A caption accompanying the post (dated May 12) states: “This is what’s happening to us now … little by little.”

But fact-checkers at PolitiFact and Reuters note that comparing current coronavirus restrictions to Hitler’s ideology is based on misattribution. The Leibniz Institute for Contemporary History, which studies 20th-century German history, told Reuters the words were misattributed and had “never been written in Mein Kampf”. PolitiFact noted that the quote also misrepresents Hitler’s beliefs and actions. “Instead of small changes that slowly eroded the rights of the German people, Hitler made large changes over a short period.”

FROM WASHINGTON, D.C.

This week, an official fact-check warning label by Twitter appears to have been a tipping point for Mr Trump who responded to having his tweets about postal voting labelled by the social media platform by signing an executive order intended to challenge protections provided by US law that prevent social media companies being sued over what gets posted to their sites.

“In a country that has long cherished the freedom of expression, we cannot allow a limited number of online platforms to hand pick the speech that Americans may access and convey on the internet,” Mr Trump defended his order.

Mr Trump then went on to claim the warning label placed on his tweets were done in a matter “that clearly reflects political bias”.

“As has been reported, Twitter seems never to have placed such a label on another politician’s tweet,” he said, “As recently as last week, [Democratic] Representative Adam Schiff was continuing to mislead his followers by peddling the long-disproved Russian Collusion Hoax, and Twitter did not flag those tweets.”

But as factcheck.org has covered the assertions that it is a “hoax” to suggest his presidential campaign had ties to Russia are not quite correct, with the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller establishing “multiple links between Trump Campaign officials and individuals tied to the Russian government”. Ultimately, however, “the investigation did not establish that the Campaign coordinated or conspired with the Russian government in its election-interference activities.”

Meanwhile, Mr Trump has doubled down on his claims that led to the Twitter warning and a slew of fact checks, tweeting in all caps:

“MAIL-IN VOTING WILL LEAD TO MASSIVE FRAUD AND ABUSE. IT WILL ALSO LEAD TO THE END OF OUR GREAT REPUBLICAN PARTY. WE CAN NEVER LET THIS TRAGEDY BEFALL OUR NATION.”

PLANDEMIC INFODEMIC

The New York Times has tracked how the coronavirus misinformation spouted in the movie “Plandemic” spread online, comparing the viral video to other conspiracies as well as moments in pop culture.

This graph shows how the video garnered nearly 2.5 million reactions, including likes, shares and comments, in less than two weeks, while a Taylor Swift concert and reunion of actors from “The Office” captured a fraction of that attention.

SOME HELP WITH RECOGNISING FAKE NEWS

*The facts in this article are derived from the Australian RMIT ABC Fact Check newsletters which in turn draw on their own resources and those of their colleagues within the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN), of which RMIT ABC Fact Check is a member.

The world is dealing with an unprecedented health crisis caused by a new virus. With new insights in the way COVID19 spreads, in the way the virus behaves and in the way to deal with the pandemic every day, it is now more important than ever to safeguard the information we share is accurate and fact-based. We have to inoculate ourselves against the fake news and misinformation that infect our newsfeeds and timelines at this crucial moment by fact-checking.

For the duration of the pandemic, I will try to give you an overview of the main issues in CoronaCheck, an Australian email newsletter with the latest from around the world concerning the coronavirus.*

COVID LINK to 5G CELL TOWERS DEBUNKED

Image source: Instagram

The stream of misinformation surrounding 5G technology and the coronavirus seems to be exponentially increasing, so much so that it has prompted Australia’s chief medical officer, Brendan Murphy, to address the issue at a recent press briefing where he noted there was “absolutely no evidence about 5G doing anything in the coronavirus space”. Dr Murphy added, “I have unfortunately received a lot of communication from these conspiracy theorists myself it is complete nonsense.”

It prompted the UK government to seek partnership with Twitter; users searching for 5G conspiracy tweets will see a pop-up with the text “the UK government has said there is no evidence of a link between 5G and coronavirus (COVID-19)” and directing them to further information.

Recent 5G misinformation consists of a video, viewed thousands of times, which shows a supposed telecoms engineer who is erecting 5G masts in the UK holding up an electrical circuit board and claiming it is “a piece of kit that has COV-19 on it”.

Reuters found that this video was staged; the circuit board isn’t used in 5G technology but was taken from a Virgin Media box for cable television. Virgin Media told Reuters the board was from a “very old set-top box” and had never been inscribed or imprinted with “COV-19”. Virgin maintained
“[The board] has absolutely no relation with any mobile network infrastructure, including that used for 5G.”

Another claim that “radiation pneumonitis”, allegedly caused by 5G, was being misdiagnosed as COVID-19 was also found to be false by Reuters.

REMDESIVIR FACTS

Remdesivir is an experimental antiviral drug, manufactured by the pharmaceutical company Gilead and recently approved as a COVID-19 treatment in the US. In Australia, the drug is not yet being used in any clinical trials, although it is expected some hospitals are to receive doses of the drug for use with COVID-19 patients.

Misinformation around many COVID-19 treatments, including remdesivir, has spread rapidly throughout the pandemic. For example, a Facebook post claimed that hydroxychloroquine, another touted COVID-19 treatment mentioned here before, was “91 per cent effective” and cheap, while remdesivir was effective in just 50 per cent of patients and cost US$1,000. “Why is Fauci pushing Remdesivir? It was invented by Fauci and Gates. Its stock is now soaring. Always follow the $$$$$$$.” the post stated, pointing to US infectious diseases expert and White House adviser Anthony Fauci and the much-maligned Bill Gates.

But as USA Today found, neither hydroxychloroquine nor remdesivir had been proven effective against COVID-19, with clinical trials ongoing. Further, Gilead Sciences is the only organisation that could profit from the sale of remdesivir and neither Mr Gates nor Dr Fauci had any involvement in the development of the drug.

Another Facebook post imagines a remdesivir conspiracy centred around Unitaid, which it suggests is Gilead’s “drug patent sharing subsidiary branch”. According to the post, Unitaid has an office in Wuhan and is backed by Bill and Melinda Gates, billionaire investor George Soros and the World Health Organisation. Hillary Clinton, Dr Fauci and Wuhan’s Institute of Virology are also mentioned.

Snopes found these claims to be false. Unitaid is not linked to Gilead and does not have an office near Wuhan. And while the organisation, which invests in innovations to prevent, diagnose and treat several global health issues, is supported financially by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, it has no ties to Mr Soros or Dr Fauci. Unitaid is a “hosted partnership” of the WHO but receives no financial support from the organisation.

PNEUMONIA VS THROMBOSIS

Image source: AP/Zhang Yuwei Via Xinhua

Some news stories lately have raised concerns that COVID-19, which has been viewed mainly as respiratory disease, may also have patients die through thrombosis (the formation of blood clots).

Full Fact took a look at claims posted on social media that COVID-19 patients were being misdiagnosed with pneumonia when in fact they were suffering from thrombosis. The posts propagated to fight the disease is with “antibiotics, antivirals, anti-inflammatories and anticoagulants”.

The fact-checkers found that patients were not being “misdiagnosed” with pneumonia. Rather, both pneumonia and Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation (DIC), which leads to thrombosis, was present in COVID-19 cases. Indian-based BOOM also found that respiratory failure rather than thrombosis was the leading cause of COVID-19 deaths with thrombosis of the lungs “a factor that can further complicate the course of pneumonia in COVID-19 patients,” they said.

Full Fact found that antibiotics were not recommended for treatment, as they are effective for bacterial infections only and no specific antiviral has been shown conclusively to be effective against COVID-19. Anti-inflammatories such as ibuprofen could help treat COVID-19 symptoms at home, and there was evidence to suggest anticoagulants facilitated the treatment of some patients.

EXERCISE

Many are turning to exercise to relieve boredom and stay fit and healthy during the coronavirus restrictions. Some online claims, however, have suggested that exercise may weaken the immune system. One advertisement linking to an article claims that a “window of opportunity” exists in the hours after strenuous exercise which can leave people vulnerable to infection from viruses.

USA Today’s fact-checkers found that the “window of opportunity” theory has been around for decades, supported by at least one study that found “vigorous workouts could have a temporary negative effect on the immune system”.  But as to the long-term effects of exercising, several scientific studies suggested regular exercise promotes good health and reduces the risk of infections.

John Campbell, of the University of Bath’s Department of Health, told USA Today that “People should not fear that their immune system will be suppressed by exercise, placing them at increased risk of coronavirus.”

FROM WASHINGTON, D.C.

As the US grapples with soaring numbers of COVID-19 cases and the highest number of deaths in the world, Republicans are blaming former Democratic president Barack Obama for having left the current administration poorly placed to cope with the pandemic.

During an online discussion hosted by President Trump’s re-election campaign, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said it may no longer be that pandemics are a once-in-100-year occurrence, and he wanted to be ready for the next one.

“Clearly, the Obama administration did not leave to this administration any kind of game plan for something like this.”

But fact-checkers at the Washington Post, CNN’s Fact First and Politifact found that claim to be false, and that the Obama administration had left behind a 40-page National Security Council “playbook” on fighting pandemics.

“McConnell is wrong to say the Obama administration left “no game plan” to deal with a pandemic,” the Washington Post concluded. “The Obama team crafted a detailed document setting forth questions and policies that should be considered, as well as put in place programs that might have helped spur action sooner.”

Senator McConnell later conceded in a Fox News interview: “I was wrong.”

Things that don’t cure and/or prevent COVID-19

#26: Brown sugar
“There is no official cure for COVID-19 as of May 21, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). There are several clinical trials being conducted to test potential cures, but consuming brown sugar is not one of them.” – Rappler

*The facts in this article are derived from the Australian RMIT ABC Fact Check newsletters which in turn draw on their own resources and those of their colleagues within the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN), of which RMIT ABC Fact Check is a member.

The world is dealing with an unprecedented health crisis caused by a new virus. With new insights in the way COVID19 spreads, in the way the virus behaves and in the way to deal with the pandemic every day, it is now more important than ever to safeguard the information we share is accurate and fact-based. We have to inoculate ourselves against the fake news and misinformation that infect our newsfeeds and timelines at this crucial moment by fact-checking.

For the duration of the pandemic, I will try to give you an overview of the main issues in CoronaCheck, an Australian email newsletter with the latest from around the world concerning the coronavirus.*

WORLD HEALTH ACCORDING TO ANTI-VAXXERS

A tweet, believed to have been posted by a user named VaccineTruths on May 3, contains a screenshot of a page from the website WorldHealth.net and alleges that a 2017 study showed that people who had received a flu vaccine would be the “first to die” in a global pandemic. The page on the website appears to have been deleted, but an archived version exists.

WorldHealth.net Internet has been included NewsGuard’s list of websites publishing false coronavirus information the site “violates basic standards of credibility and transparency”.

The text screenshot contains comes from an article headlined “BOMBSHELL: Flu Shots Scientifically Proven to Weaken Immune Response in Subsequent Years”, which cites a 2017 study conducted by Lisa Christian of the Ohio State Medical Centre. This study, however, looked into the effect of flu vaccinations on pregnant women and newborns and makes no mention of a person’s likelihood of dying in a pandemic.

According to RMIT Vice-Chancellor’s Research Fellow Kylie Quinn, who has researched vaccines, there was no evidence in the paper that a flu vaccine made people more susceptible to influenza.

In general, there was no evidence at all that people who had received flu shots would be the first to die in a pandemic. Dr Quinn said that she knew of no credible evidence to support other claims contained in the post, such as people who received a flu jab in 2008 “experienced a 250 per cent increase in influenza infections in subsequent years”.

THAT BILL GATES AGAIN

Image source: Snopes

More misinformation, or should we say disinformation, regarding Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates, appeared as a photo, shared on social media, which showed a crop circle in the UK featuring the Microsoft logo.

“Amazing crop circle arrives overnight near Stonehenge, UK… Think they are trying to tell us something…? Microsoft Bill Gates made the Corona Virus?” one tweet featuring the photo reads.

But fact-checkers at Snopes were able to track down the original image of a 2004 crop circle altered to feature the Microsoft logo.

ANOTHER WRITER WRONGLY ATTRIBUTED

Image source: Facebook

A passage of text quoting an imaginary exchange between Satan and Jesus has been misattributed to the Chronicles of Narnia author C.S. Lewis, written supposedly during WWII, circa 1942.

The text quotes Satan as saying he will “shut down business, schools, places of worship, and sport events” and “cause economic turmoil”, while Jesus retorts: “I will bring together neighbours [and] restore the family unit.” Jesus continues: “I will help people slow down their lives and appreciate what really matters.”

Reuters found the real author to be a social media user named Heidi May, who told the fact-checkers she wrote the post on a day she was feeling overwhelmed in early March.

INTERNATIONAL CORONAVIRUS FACT-CHECKING

The International Fact-Checking Network’s database of coronavirus fact checks, created to combat misinformation about the virus, has already hit a milestone 5,000 fact checks.

The five most popular fact checks:

1. An investigation by Spanish Maldita.es into a WhatsApp message claiming that Pope Francis had instructed believers to put a white cloth on their doorsteps to protect them from the plague. They found no evidence of any such advice in the Pope’s public appearances and statements.
2. The same Spanish outlet also debunked several of the coronavirus-related claims made by disgraced virologist Judy Mikovits in the viral video “Plandemic”, as noted in COVID-19 Fact and Fiction #6
3. The Mexican fact-checking network Animal Politico looked into claims that COVID-19 is a thrombosis which should be treated with antibiotics. They found that while some Italian researchers found pulmonary thrombosis to be linked to the coronavirus, the virus was essentially a respiratory illness, and was not treatable with antibiotics.
4. In India, FactCrescendo debunked a video which purported to show bodies of coronavirus victims being thrown into the sea. The video actually showed the bodies of African migrants who had been trying to get to Europe washed ashore in Libya in 2014.
5. Bothes and India Today debunked the claim that Harvard Professor Charles Lieber was arrested for creating the coronavirus and selling it to China. Lieber was certainly arrested but in reality, charged with concealing a foreign conflict of interest from investigators according to a US Justice Department statement.

SAFE TO FLY

Reuters: Kham

In the US, with some states are relaxing lockdown rules and summer holidays approach, the CEO of Southwest Airlines claimed in an appearance on CBS that an aeroplane is “as safe as an environment as you’re going to find”.

Fact-checkers at PolitiFact noted that planes had air ventilation systems that circulate purified air and that airlines were taking substantial steps to protect travellers. Experts said flying would be relatively safe as long as everyone onboard wore masks and wiped down surfaces but also noted passengers would be unable to maintain distance from each other inside the aircraft.

There would still be risks despite protective measures being taken by the airlines. “Is an airplane potentially carrying an infectious passenger safer than your own home, where the only contact with a stranger you have is grabbing the takeout dinner order left on your porch by a delivery person?” PolitiFact posed. “Clearly not.”

FROM WASHINGTON, D.C.

Barack Obama has criticised his successor, calling President Donald Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic “an absolute chaotic disaster“.

The critique led Mr Trump to retweet a claim that “Barack Hussain Obama is the first Ex-President to ever speak against his successor, which was [a] long tradition of decorum and decency.”

He tagged the post: “He got caught, OBAMAGATE!”

But PolitiFact found that, in fact, a long line of former presidents had offered their successors “improvement suggestions”.

Herbert Hoover, for example, railed against Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal and liberalism “from the time he left office in 1933 until his death in the mid-1960s”. Historians contacted by PolitiFact also pointed out that Jimmy Carter’s policies were ridiculed by predecessor Gerald Ford.

“Carter carried on the tradition. In November 1982, he said President Ronald Reagan had undermined confidence in America’s global leadership,” PolitiFact noted.

Things that don’t cure and/or prevent COVID-19

#24: Palm oil

“No, palm oil will not stop the coronavirus.” – Africa Check

*The facts in this article are derived from the Australian RMIT ABC Fact Check newsletters which in turn draw on their own resources and those of their colleagues within the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN), of which RMIT ABC Fact Check is a member.