There has been one dominant topic on social media in recent days: the coronavirus. It didn't matter whether it was on Twitter, WhatsApp, Instagram or YouTube, supposed information about it appeared everywhere.

The most important thing in brief about the viral information about the coronavirus:

  • There are disinformative viral videos and content about the virus
  • Political motivations exploit protective reflexes
  • Difficult symbolic images in the boulevard

It was almost annoying how often videos were sent and what we were currently receiving via messengers or other portals. Videos in which a voice claims that they have received secret information about the virus. All the media would lie, the world was under a conspiracy.

Of course, these types of videos do not cite credible sources, but rather stir up fear and panic. We published several articles about these viral videos this past weekend:

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An article about this is about the patent number of the coronavirus. Various websites believe they have discovered a scandal because there is a patent number for the virus. We explain why this is the case in our article “The patent on the coronavirus – what’s behind it?” ( HERE ).

A no less well-known video from someone calling himself “Odysseus” bills itself as “breaking news” and talks about how the information about the coronavirus “was leaked” and the press (whoever “the press” is supposed to be) conceal this information. This video is not so much about facts, we checked it in our article “The Coronavirus Video Fact-Checked” ( HERE ).

Coronavirus: What does this misleading information do?

The question is, why is such content shared and what do the uploaders want to do with it? We do not have a new phenomenon here, the coronavirus is simply a variable.

Protection

In the past, we have often observed that users on social media have repeatedly been tempted to share false reports if, in their own opinion, they can warn or even protect others. Various examples can be given here, starting with the narrative of the “white vans” with which children are kidnapped and taken to Eastern Europe ( example here ), or the horror stories about a Bluewhale Challenge ( see here ) and its offshoot the Momo Challenge ( compare ). .

Authorities, media and schools have also jumped on the last two examples in particular and published warnings, even though these challenges did not exist and only free riders appeared sporadically.

Nevertheless, it is precisely this protective effect that is at stake: “It is better to have more than too little” as the reasoning behind it. Your own environment, your friends, acquaintances, people you like should be warned and protect yourself.

Most of the distributors of the current disinformative videos and content about the coronavirus do not want to manipulate other people with fake news; they are usually not even aware that they are sharing false reports, but are subject to a kind of protective reflex.

manipulation

In contrast, it's about the goal: What purpose should disinformative videos or contributions serve? This is where things get exciting and also political, because this is about a consciously created uncertainty that ultimately paralyzes and creates mistrust.

Here too, the coronavirus itself only plays the role of a variable; there are a number of examples that have the same goal in mind. You can mention the manipulative representations about 5G ( here one of several examples ) or vaccination myths that are thrown around again and again ( one example ).

In all of these cases, something happens unconsciously: trust in state structures is disrupted. An oversized global danger is being built (5G = we will all be irradiated; vaccination = we should all be made sick; coronavirus = secret weapon / population control). According to the theories, governments are either powerless against it or are simply puppets in a much larger game and must lie to the population. That is the tenor that resonates in a manipulative way.

Disinformative content about the coronavirus plays a role in destabilizing political systems. And in order to have a viral effect, they use the protective reflexes of the distributors. Even if they may act apolitically in their own eyes, at this point they are subject to politically motivated disinformation.

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Media and images

Finally: This type of manipulation does not have to take place via anonymous websites or non-transparent videos. An example: Last weekend there was various media information about a suspected case of coronavirus in Vienna.

In short: A Chinese flight attendant was taken to the isolation ward at the Kaiser Franz Josef Hospital in Vienna. The suspected case has not been confirmed ( see here ).

However, this incident received a very special note in tabloid reporting. To visualize a patient, a major Austrian tabloid media used a symbolic image and depicted a woman wearing a headscarf. It can certainly be assumed that the person with the suspected case neither wore a headscarf nor is a Muslim, as one can primarily conclude from the representation of the symbolic image.

Manipulative reporting not welcome!

We urge you to be careful! In the wake of information about the coronavirus there is politically motivated content, some of which spreads purely virally, but also publicly uses framing that is not helpful in this context.

Nobody wants the dangers to be underestimated, and that is not helpful either. However, exaggerated misrepresentations with political motivation are the last thing you need in this context. Just remember:

Whenever someone claims that the real truth has been secretly leaked to them and that the press (whoever "the press" is in this context) is collectively hiding something, and the person himself does not provide sources, only allegations, one should be skeptical and cautious.

An overview of the facts about the virus can be found in our article “Coronavirus: What you need to know about it” ( HERE ).

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Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )