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.
