The current Covid-19 pandemic is the source of many fake news on social networks. If some of them concern protective masks, antivaccines have also embarked on an unprecedented crusade.
In France, wearing a mask is now compulsory in enclosed spaces . This is one of the best barrier measures, the effectiveness of which has been proven in limiting the spread of the coronavirus. And yet, some people on social media continue to spread fake news in order to dissuade others from wearing a mask.
The fact is that this fake news is multiple. One of the most absurd is undoubtedly the one evoking a risk of hypoxia (lack of oxygen), supposedly caused by prolonged wearing of the mask. Recently, a Facebook post (see below) detailed the danger of hypoxia and advised removing the mask every ten minutes in order to breathe better. Obviously, this has no scientific basis , especially since masks let oxygen through!
The other fake news> evoking the wearing of the mask are no more relevant. For some, the mask would be a source of carbon dioxide poisoning. For others, the latter would represent a real virus nest. However, the dumbest fake news is probably the one explaining to Internet users that masks allow the virus to pass through and are therefore useless.
If fake news attacks mask wearing, it also targets current research for the development of a vaccine. For years, anti-vaxxers have been active on the web, but the current crisis gives them a new opportunity to express themselves . A US study published in the journal Nature on May 13, 2020 focused on the internet competition of vaccine supporters and opponents.
Researchers analyzed content and comments left during the 2019 measles outbreak . These searches concerned approximately 1,300 Facebook pages bringing together 85 million Internet users around the world. The study counted 124 strong pro-vaccine pages with 6.9 million subscribers. The anti-vaccine pages, meanwhile, have 4.2 million members, but split into 317 communities. The fact is, some of these anti-vaccine groups have seen their new members increase by 300% between February and October 2019!
The health crisis linked to Covid-19 is a new breeding ground for antivaccines. Thus, the latter do not hesitate to continue their virtual guerrilla warfare, mixing a wide variety of themes and narrative frameworks. This ranges from concerns about side effects of vaccines to various conspiracy theories , through topics such as alternative medicine.
