COVID-19, 5G ANTENNAS AND THE NON-EXISTING CHIP



Disinformation is one of the most serious problems globally, this has been made even more evident by the COVID-19 pandemic. Both the WHO and UNESCO have identified disinformation as a serious and urgent problem that currently affects the collective health.

Meanwhile, disinformation persists as a daily but misunderstood phenomenon. For now, it is correct to point out disinformation as a source of problems, but there have been failures while trying to study it. This visualization shows a series of reflections based on the analysis of a year and a half of pieces of disinformation identified by Fact-checkers in Colombia.

This visualization seeks to show the trajectory of two of the disinformation discourses that have circulated the most on social media and in messaging systems in the last year and a half: 5G antennas and the chip in relation to COVID-19.

These pieces of disinformation have been very effective in casting doubt on the nature of the pandemic and on medical solutions like vaccines. In this visualization, 5 characteristics of disinformation are shown and it is explored why they have been effective in staying in time and in the memory of users.














Adaptability


March 26, 2020:

The first publication identified about 5G antennas in Colombia that had a significant impact was posted in Cali at the beginning of the pandemic and shows civil works as an alleged installation of 5G antennas. The first important characteristic to highlight here is that disinformation has a transnational nature; the idea of ​​5G as a catalyst for COVID-19 was not created in Colombia, but it is effectively adapted to local modes. This post was shared on Twitter, reaching a remarkable virality.












Twitter
______

Social Media




193
______

# of
likes




77
______

Retweet




9
______

# of
replies





Mutability


For an idea to be fixed in the minds of readers it is necessary to repeat it, but it is much more effective if it is repeated with small variations, with changes that adapt to the use of the language of a specific place and even better if it refers to a phenomenon known in the local context. In this way, more than 80% of the content is actually identical. An example are the WhatsApp chains on the alleged case that COVID-19 is not caused by a virus but by a bacteria activated by 5G antennas.
















































Agglomeration


Many studies on disinformation focus on following the path of a message, a tweet, a Facebook post, which shows a historical study of the phenomenon of disinformation. However, it is actually very important to broaden the gaze and visualize the trajectory of many pieces of disinformation that happen synchronously and that are positioning an idea and undermining credibility.

In this timeline we see how 5G has traveled around the world and when did it arrive to Colombia:





The following graphs show the agglomeration of google searches about 5G, the chip and Bill Gates in this year and a half of the pandemic:









Articulation


May 4, 2020:

The narrative nature of disinformation allows various pieces of disinformation to be added together to create a grand narrative that, as far-fetched as it may seem, can put Bill Gates, the Pope, 5G and chips in the same scene. Each of these characters operates as a piece of collective creation that at the same time evolves like a snowball and advances in its path to position mistrust, fear, and doubt over any origin of the pandemic or any type of treatment.








Facebook
______

Social Media






+800
______

Shared






Persistence


August 20, 2021:

In the last weeks of August, a new series of disinformation pieces have been evidenced that question the vaccines implemented to contain COVID-19 and that based on the chip issue are now presented as a global plot articulated to a literary creation such as the illuminati.




Twitter
______

Social Media




1400
______

# of
likes




766
______

Retweet




716
______

# of
replies






Conclusions


In Colombia, the social media that is presented as the greatest carrier of disinformation in relation to 5G and the chip is Facebook, followed by Twitter, with the following data. The fact that Facebook is a privileged vehicular social media for the circulation of this type of disinformation tells us something very concrete about the age of those who are exposed and active in this information, in Colombia the disinformation of COVID-19 is an adult phenomenon. This is also corroborated by the most cited characters in the pieces that were important in the 90s.




When talking with health personnel who work at the vaccination points, it has been found that speeches about disinformation, and in particular the issue of the chip, are one of the faces of the fear of getting vaccinated. Because of this, it can be seen that the progress of these pieces has been effective in positioning doubts and casting doubts on everything, which is the end of a disinformation process. Now the question is what is the thread that we must find to get out of this labyrinth of the XXI century.







Sources

Colombia check, Colombia check method, La Silla Vacía, La Silla Vacía method, Source code, Dataset.



Credits

COLEV - Museo de la Desinformación.
This piece was developed by the team of the master's degree in Design at Universidad de los Andes, namely: Isabela Ortiz, Ángela Mora, Camila Padilla, and Andrés Burbano.