Infodemic: German Covid conspiracists and a very intimate financial probe in Brazil
Welcome, and a very special greeting to our new subscribers! We are tracking how disinformation is shaping the world during the pandemic. This week, doctors are under new pressure in Hong Kong, surprises in Kenyan schools and a look at what was found hiding down the trousers of a Brazilian politician. Here are the narratives — both real and fake — that have caught our attention and deserve yours.
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It’s no secret that the Chinese government regularly issues propaganda directives to the media, but it is not often that the rest of us get to see them. A rare leak, verified by the China Digital Times, offers a glimpse of how Beijing handled messaging around the pandemic:
- In early January, as the Wuhan outbreak gathered pace, China’s state reporters and editors were cautioned: “Do not individually gather or compose news, do not hype. Conjecture is strictly prohibited.”
- When Russia closed its border with China at the end of January, journalists were instructed to “not report without approval, no exceptions.”
- More recently, when President Donald Trump tested positive for coronavirus, the directive from China’s Cyberspace Administration was: “Do not hype it, do not rejoice in the misfortune of others.”
And here’s a developing story from Hong Kong that also gives a taste of what life is like under Beijing’s watch. Back in February, thousands of hospital workers, doctors and nurses went on strike to demand that the government close its border with China in order to impede the spread of the virus. Eight months on, the city’s Hospital Authority has launched an inquiry to chase down those workers. One institution is resisting: a radiology manager at Princess Margaret Hospital refused to hand over the names of those who went on strike – and now the inquiry’s efforts are focused on that department. Hong Kong’s Hospital Authority has sent letters to all of its 20 radiologists – even those who were not working there at the time of the strike – demanding that they explain their absence. Doctors have been encouraged by the city’s Hospital Authority Employees Alliance to not respond to “unreasonable requests.” Meanwhile, online activists have branded the inquiry as “cultural revolution 2020.”
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The government of Uzbekistan is installing surveillance cameras that will track and identify people not wearing masks. The program is being piloted in the country’s restive Ferghana Valley, and it should give privacy and human rights advocates, as well as people of Uzbekistan, plenty of reason to worry. In a region ruled by oppressive governments, the pandemic has given authorities a perfect excuse to increase surveillance and spending on new technologies. In August, Kazakhstan started surveilling public transportation, dispatching people whose job is to let drivers know if passengers are not wearing masks. A Kazakh journalist based in the capital, Almaty, told me recently: “The problem is, we’ll eventually get rid of Covid-19 but it will be much harder to get rid of the surveillance it introduced”. This could well apply far beyond Central Asia.