Abstract
Focussing in detail on one key component of the infodemic surrounding COVID-19, this article traces the dissemination dynamics of rumours that the pandemic outbreak was somehow related to the rollout of 5G mobile telephony technology in Wuhan and around the world. Drawing on a mixture of quantitative and qualitative methods including time-series analysis, network analysis and in-depth close reading, our analysis shows the dissemination of the rumour on Facebook from its obscure origins in pre-existing conspiracist groups through greater uptake in more diverse communities to substantial amplification by celebrities, sports stars and media outlets. The in-depth tracing of COVID-related mis- and disinformation across social networks offers important new insights into the dynamics of online information dissemination and points to opportunities to slow and stop the spread of false information, or at least to combat it more directly with accurate counterinformation.
Highlights
The novel coronavirus pandemic that has spread from its origins in Wuhan, China, around the globe since late 2019 has been accompanied by a global ‘infodemic’, as the World Health Organization (WHO) has pointed out (Ghebreyesus, in United Nations, 2020b)
Focussing in detail on one key component of the infodemic surrounding COVID-19, this article traces the dissemination dynamics of rumours that the pandemic outbreak was somehow related to the rollout of 5G mobile telephony technology in Wuhan and around the world
We focus in this article on the dissemination of the rumour on Facebook as the most widely used global social media platform; subsequent work will supplement this study with analyses of similar processes on Twitter and coverage in mainstream and fringe online news media outlets
Summary
In modern times, such infodemics are aided by the ease with which misinformation – ‘misleading information created or disseminated without manipulative or malicious intent’ (UNESCO, 2018: 7) – from alternative sources can be accessed and shared, especially online. We focus on the COVID/5G rumour for the purpose of this article because, of the various COVID-related misinformation stories, it has arguably generated the most immediate and most visible impacts – in early April 2020, several mobile phone towers in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and other countries, as well as some of the technicians servicing them, were attacked by believers in the rumour (Osborne, 2020). This demonstrates that such mis- and disinformation does not necessarily remain limited to online circulation, but can result in substantial offline harm. Drawing on a mixture of quantitative and qualitative methods including time-series analysis, network analysis and in-depth close reading, our analysis shows the dynamics of the rumour from its obscure origins in pre-existing conspiracist groups through greater uptake in more diverse communities to substantial amplification by celebrities, sports stars and media outlets
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