Inoculating Against An #Infodemic - Don't Be Fooled by Covid-19 Misinformation
As health officials around the world grapple with a pandemic caused by a new coronavirus, COVID-19, they are also facing a deluge of misinformation about the virus online. The World Health Organization is calling this phenomenon an “infodemic” – “an overabundance of information—some accurate and some not—that makes it hard for people to find trustworthy sources and reliable guidance when they need it.”
To help stem the tide of COVID-19 misinformation, our team of computational social scientists, communications professionals and developers are developing various real-time information dashboards to keep track of false COVID-19 claims. Our various misinformation dashboards track and visualize debunked coronavirus claims from 100s of trusted fact-checkers from around the world.
Tracks and visualizes debunked coronavirus claims from 100s of trusted fact-checkers from around the world. [Comprehensive List – Updated Daily]
1 – Use the drop down menu to narrow your search parameters or click on any of the data points on any of the interactive charts.
2 – Hover your mouse over the tree map to examine the various pieces of COVID-19 misinformation that are circulating around the web.
3 – Click on any of the rectangles in the tree map to explore different claims grouped by rating type.
4 – Scroll down to the bottom to find the URL(s) linked to each of the debunked claims.
5 – To go back, click on the little back arrow button 
in the upper left corner of the chart.
6 – To reset the entire dashboard, use the reload page button 
in your browser.
For example: If you want to see all of the debunked claims from Donald Trump: (1) go to the drop down menu “Source of the Claim”, (2) locate the source of the claim, in this case it’s “donald trump”, (3) click the “Only” button and then, (4) click on any of the rectangles in the tree map, finally (5) click on any of the URL(s) for more info.
Tracks and visualizes debunked coronavirus claims referencing a specific geographical location. [Filtered List – Updated Daily]
1 – Mouse over the timeline, then left-click on your mouse and drag it to select a time range.
2 – Click on the map to view COVID-19 claims mentioning or associated with a specific geographic location. (Optional: you can also filter the results by clicking on a claim type.)
3 – Scroll down to the bottom to find the URL(s) for all of the debunked claims mentioning that country/geolocation.
4 – To go back, click on the little back arrow button 
in the upper left corner of the chart.
5 – To reset the entire dashboard, use the reload page button 
in your browser.
A Simplified Fact-checking Rating System
As a way to standardize ratings received from multiple fact-checkers on claims featured in our COVIDGlobal and COVIDGeo Misinformation Dashboards, we adopted a simplified four-category fact-checking rating system with four mutually exclusive categories/labels:
- “True” – a fact-checker reviewed a claim and deemed that it’s truthful in its entirety;
- “False” – a fact-checker reviewed a claim and deemed that it’s false in its entirety;
- “Misleading” – a fact-checker reviewed a claim and deemed that a claim contains some level of falsehood (e.g., partially false, questionable, or misleading);
- “Unproven” – a fact-checker reviewed a claim and deemed that a claim is not possible to prove currently either due to the lack of scientific knowledge or other reasons (e.g., unproven, unsupported, or unfounded).
> Flatten the Curve Digest: An accessible source for COVID-19 information
> Snopes’ Collection of Debunked Claims
> Doubt It news literacy resources
For up-to-date information and additional resources on COVID-19, visit the Public Health Agency of Canada.
