Fake News: A Secondary Pandemic
Tags: covid19, fakenews, osint
Published: 2020-07-06 14:00:13

In the wake of COVID-19, a second, [equally extensive ‘pandemic’ began to spread](https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-01409-2): that of fake news and misinformation.

The concept of fake news is nothing new – the deliberate spread of misinformation has frequently acted as a focal point for discussions and studies in recent years, particularly since the 2016 U.S. presidential election. But the coronavirus outbreak has contributed, indirectly yet highly significantly, to increasing the spread of misinformation. The underlying panic caused by the pandemic and the lack of a cohesive, global narrative in explaining the outbreak has made entire nations all the more susceptible to manipulation.

India, for example, saw large-scale consequences to the spread of COVID-19 fake news. When the BBC collated the results of fact-checking activities on Indian websites, claims around coronavirus turned out to have made [for almost 60% of debunked fake news](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-53165436). Misinformation targeted at Muslims, in light of the religious tensions in the country, led to an economic boycott of Muslim businesses. Meanwhile, misinformed claims that a vegetarian diet would prevent the spread of COVID-19 contributed to the $1.78 billion in losses experienced by the poultry industry. 

The repercussions of widespread misinformation are therefore very real, posing a significant risk to individuals and minority groups alike. And COVID-19 is a special case, as fear and mistrust make us all the more willing to believe in ‘alternative’ explanations and solutions.  

The main challenge in curbing the flow of fake news is the fact that thanks to social media and other online outlets, literally anyone can reach thousands of people within seconds. With traditional publications, each column and news piece is easily traced to individuals responsible. Meanwhile, social media affords a degree of anonymity that complicates the process of tracing and eradicating fake news.

One of the companies paving the way towards tackling fake news dissemination is Social Links, developer of a series of tools for conducting deep searches in social networks. Currently working with approximately half of the EU’s leading law enforcement agencies, the company is leading in the field of open-source intelligence and darknet investigations. As one of the few companies tackling the challenging issue of misinformation, [Social Links](https://www.mtg-bi.com/) has developed tools for finding the identities of those behind the dissemination of fake news.

Interestingly, the company has also decided to build a database of all coronavirus-related posts to serve as a record of this time in global history. “We wondered how to preserve the COVID-19 era for the future because there are a lot of interesting and important things there,” said Andrey Kulikov, Co-founder & CEO of Social Links. “In our COVID-19 database, which is updated live every single day, anyone can find out who, where, and when wrote anything on this topic.”

For regular internet users, a database such as this one constitutes an invaluable tool in verifying the potential truthfulness of online news claims related to COVID-19. The database is free and easy to use and can serve as not only a historical record, but a fact-checking method for each of us to use. We can’t all be conducting our own OSINT investigations for each piece of information we come across, but at the very least, we can make sure we know the source and motivation behind each piece of news before we share it with others.