President Trump "largest driver" of Coronavirus misinformation globally, claims report

A study conducted by researchers at Cornell University, which analysed 38 million articles about the pandemic in English-language media around the world, concluded that President Trump was the “largest driver of the infodemic” - making up 38 percent of overall misinformation.

The study identified 11 major themes and topics of misinformation, including various conspiracy theories - for example in January, conspiracy theories began to circulate that the pandemic was manufactured by the Democrats to coincide with President Trump’s Impeachment trial as a political ploy, with another somewhat racist theory suggested that the outbreak originated from Wuhan, from people who ate ‘bat soup’.

By far the most prevalent topic of misinformation were certain “miracle cures” for those who contracted the virus, which also included President Trump’s promotion of anti-malarial drugs (including Hydroxychloroquin) and disinfectants has potential treatments - which led to a frenzy across the country for these relatively untested drugs, after 30,000 articles began to appear across the internet.

In addition to these misinformation campaigns pertaining to the pandemic, President Trump has not shied away from spreading falsified information and fabrications simply for political gain, as in the midst of a heating up Presidential campaign, he has widely spread conspiracy theories that mail-in ballots would inevitably lead to voter fraud (orchestrated by the Democrats).