Highlights:
- Droplets and aerosols: Rumours related to airborne transmission
- Facts and facemasks: April saw an increase in rumours related to facemasks
- The search for a cure: Rumours about the use of hydroxychloroquine
- Analyst Extra: Want to know what we use to analyze data? Check out this blog post from our Data Analyst Camille Fasset
Internews is working with Translators without Borders and Standby Task Force to collect and analyse rumours and misinformation related to the SARS-CoV-2 virus and COVID-19 disease. Data is being collected in six languages across Asia including: Simplified Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Thai, Bahasa Indonesia and Urdu. We will also begin monitoring of rumours shared in Khmer, Hindi and Bangla languages in the coming weeks.
This analysis is based on 1,599 rumours collected between January 23, 2020, and April 24, 2020. Facebook and Twitter are the main platforms where this information was collected, but we have also recorded rumours from Weibo, WeChat, Line, Tiktok, Instagram, and Kwei.
This bulletin relies on social media data collected by monitors working for Internews and partner organisations. Data is collected both manually and with the use of specialist monitoring platforms. Content will focus based on key trends in social media data collected in our target language groups and aims to provide tools and resources to help journalists and community workers to respond to misinformation in their work.
If you would like us to analyse social media posts related to a specific category of COVID-19 misinformation, would like resources for your newsroom, or would like to provide any feedback on our service, please contact us: .
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