The Infodemic: Junk science in France; the Uyghur lockdown; rising tensions in Belarus
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And now, from India to Belarus, here are a few narratives — both real and fake — that have grabbed our attention and deserve yours. Today’s Infodemic is brought to you by Coda’s Gautama Mehta
In France, a graph purporting to link lockdown measures around Europe to increased deaths spread far and wide online. The graphic first appeared in an article written by oncologist Gérard Delépine for the web outlet France-Soir on June 5, and has since attracted over a million views on Facebook alone. But researchers say the graph and the article simply got the link between coronavirus deaths and the severity of lockdown rules backwards — instead of deaths being caused by strict quarantines, the restrictions were brought in because of high mortality rates. “This graph inverts the link between cause and effect,” Pierrick Tranouez of Rouen Normandie University told Le Monde.
Last week, Uzkbekistani social media users noticed something strange about photographs of a charity campaign carried out by the city government of Tashkent. Police officers delivering aid packages to low-income, disabled and elderly residents appeared to have masks crudely Photoshopped onto their faces in pictures published online last week. The city’s internal affairs department admitted to editing the images, in order to avoid public criticism of the cops for not wearing masks. Face coverings are mandatory in public places in Uzbekistan’s capital, which has seen a recent spike in coronavirus cases.