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The Infodemic: anti-migrant voices in Serbia capitalize on virus; social media platforms play whack-a-mole with 5G conspiracists

Hello, I’m Ilan Greenberg, the publisher and editorial director of Coda. Your usual correspondent Natalia Antelava is taking a short staycation (what else?) and so I’m filling in through next Monday, tracking the global spread of coronavirus disinformation, and what is being done to combat it.

Here are a few narratives — real and fake — that have caught our attention:

A rash of stories are foisting pandemic anxiety into an already hostile environment toward migrants in Serbia. The stories are claiming that migrants are being awarded more government support than citizens during the pandemic. 

• These anti-immigration stories are “spreading like a contagion,” writes the newsroom Raskrikavanje which is running a live blog on Covid-19 disinformation. In at least one case, the country’s Commissioner for Refugees and Migration requested that a Serbian tabloid publish a retraction.

Key regional context: As with a number of other Balkan states, Serbia has been a key crossing point for hundreds of thousands of migrants since 2015.