Confusing a Critical Issue at a Critical Time

"I think that people should be enormously concerned."

"This is a Canadian challenge. People across levels of education, across age groupings, across political ideas, all are susceptible to misinformation online."

"This is not a phenomenon that is unique to a particular community."

Aengus Bridgman, political science PhD candidate, McGill University

"When you're scared, when you're frustrated, you want someone easy to blame ... We want to point to somebody and say, 'Aha! You're the one -- there's a bad guy here that did it', as opposed to, 'This is just how these pandemics actually work."

"All of those things are coming together right now to make these conspiracy theories a real public health crisis that's getting more and more difficult to deal with."

"People are dying because of these conspiracy theories and we've got to stop them."

Alison Meek, history professor, Western University

Protesters gather outside the Ontario Legislature in Toronto, as they demonstrate against numerous issues relating to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Chris Young/The Canadian Press)

According to researchers, conspiracy theories relating to COVID-19 are on the rise and at an extremely concerning rate across the country. Misinformation shared online, they warn with real concern, may lead to consequences that prove to be devastating, influencing Canadians to turn away from vital coronavirus avoidance safety measures promulgated by health authorities and government agencies.

Aengus Bridgman co-authored a study that has seen recent publication, highlighting the urgency of recognizing and combating COVID-19 misinformation, currently making the social media platform rounds with growing public insistency resulting claiming that freedoms are being eroded in a monstrous plot to control society.

This pernicious situation is of particular concern in that it leads to community suspicion of public health figures whose updates on the COVID situation and issuing of ongoing and updated public health safety guidelines influence government decision-making and the process because of paranoia being instilled in people, could be deleteriously impacted.

The more people rely on social media to inform them about issues surrounding COVID-19 health guidelines that are incorrect and misleading, the greater their belief, with constant reinforcement that what they see and hear on social media platforms is the correct version to influence their decision making. Which leads to complete disregard of vital guidelines related to social distancing, avoidance of interior crowds, mask wearing and other official health measures meant to protect society against viral infection spread.

An estimated 16 percent of Canadians make use of social media for their primary source of information on the virus. Mr. Bridgman's research team surveyed close to 2,500 people, examining 620,000 English-language Twitter accounts to determine how influential misinformation generally is among the public. COVID-19, he pointed out, is spread on other social media platforms, such as Facebook, YouTube, Reddit, Instagram and Tumblr, as well.

As, for example, a Facebook group calling themselves "Against mandatory mask-wearing in Quebec" has a following of 22,000 members, and another group with a like mission has garnered close to 21,000 members. They post questions about the science behind mask wearing, hold Quebec's public health director Horacio Arruda to task for the mandatory mask rule and accuse the World Health Organization of bias.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates comes under particular scrutiny as the creator of the virus.

A Carleton University study published several months earlier found that 46 percent of Canadians believe at least one of four unfounded theories on COVID-19; that the virus was engineered in a Chinese lab; the virus is being spread to mask the effects of 5G wireless technology; drugs like hydroxychloroquine represent a cure for COVID-19; or rinsing your nose with saline solution protects against infection.

Protests have gone on across the country ever since lockdown measures were put in place; from Vancouver, to Toronto and Quebec City, seeing hundreds of people rally at provincial legislations, vociferously railing against mandatory mask wearing. The anti-COVID-19 measures are now being compared to the anti-vaccination movement that arose in the United States and began to gain prominence in Canada as well.

Just recently, the U.S. State Department revealed that the origins of some of these social platform missions to mislead people lead directly to actors in Russia. Russia is using a well-developed online operation, according to the State Department, which includes a loose collection of proxy websites to confuse people and draw them away from conventional medical advice given to prepare the public for best practices in coronavirus avoidance, through the device of amplifying conspiracy theories promoting misinformation.

Pages from the U.S. State Department's Global Engagement Center report released on Aug. 5, 2020, are seen in this photo. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick)