Recipes of Infodemic
Who are the people/groups behind the infodemic?
Name: Jair Bolsonaro
Nickname: Corona Captain, The Trump of the Tropics, Bolsomito
Age: 66
Profession: The president of Brazil
My contribution to the infodemic: I have convinced the public that coronavirus is just a simple flu and that social distancing is unnecessary. Do not wear masks. I even wrote on Twitter that coronavirus can be treated with arbitrary malaria medicine such as hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine. I am a living proof of that! I myself caught corona and was treated with this medicine and poof! Cured.
Motto: Economy over healthy population!
Name: Donald Trump
Nickname: Screaming Carrot Demon, Captain Chaos, Mr Right
Age: 74
Profession: Ex president of the USA. Politician, businessman, husband.
My contribution to the infodemic: I have withheld information about the reality of the amount of coronavirus patients in the USA. I promoted injecting disinfectant to the body in order to protect yourself from coronavirus (and drinking bleach!). I also supported the claim that hydroxychloroquin (medicine for malaria) kills coronavirus.
Motto: Fake til you make it! (especially when it comes to news)
Fun fact: Celebrities and politicians where the contributors of 20% of the fake news during the time of the pandemic.
Name: Woody Harrelson
Nickname: Woodleson
Age: 59
Profession: Actor
My contribution to the infodemic: I shared an old piece of video from a documentary of the Hong Kong protests on Twitter (figured no one would know whether its from the pandemic or from the protests). With this I wanted to demonstrate that 5G is the reason why the coronavirus spreads. I even named it “Meanwhile the Chinese are bringing 5g antennas down”.
Motto: 5G is Faulty... (say it aloud)
Name: Bot
Nickname: AI, Interactive agent
Age: Immortal
Profession: I mimic virtually the speech and actions of humans.
My contribution to the infodemic: I have spread conspiracy theories from fake social media accounts regarding 5G and its connection to the coronavirus. Another significant claim that I have generated was that hospitals were filled with mannequins instead of real people who suffer from the disease. I mostly work for countries such as Russia and China.
Motto: Automation is the key to juicy misinformation.
Fun fact: As you can see, most of the spreaders are old men who rule the world with their conservative point of views
Name: Vladimir Putin
Nickname: Botoks (botox) Pootie Poot, Puppet Master
Age: 68
Profession: President of Russia
My contribution to the infodemic: I have added COVID to our propaganda machine. I ensured our Russian media deploy a significant disinformation campaign against the West to worsen the impact of the coronavirus, generate panic and sow distrust. I encouraged the story of the virus manufactured in a US lab and the one about US soldiers bringing the coronavirus to countries in which they were conducting military exercises. (I must undermine NATO!) I like being filmed on horseback and ice skating, but chose not to be vaccinated in public rather behind closed doors.
Motto: Take my word for it!
Name: Xi Jinping
Nickname: Wuhan, China’s Winnie the Flu, Big Daddy Xi
Age: 67
Profession: President of China
My contribution to the infodemic: I initially downplayed the severity of the virus and failed to contain the coronavirus at home. The crisis was almost a month old before making it public. I have been on a charm offensive since and offered our wonderful Chinese vaccine to the poorer countries, not forgetting all the masks and ventilators exported to the world, although I prefer not to wear my mask. I am also staying quiet as to whether me and my team have taken our vaccine.
Motto: Keep schtum for as long as you can!
Name: Q, QAnon (Ron and Jim Watkins)
Nickname: Anonymous Q
Age: Gave birth in 2017
Profession: A disproven and discredited American far-right conspiracy theory and movement
My contribution to the infodemic: I/we have fed the COVID infodemic machine with our "deep state" mindset of global elites as responsible for all the evil in the world, infiltrated COVID deniers’ websites and message boards. I/we have followed Trump’s lead and downplayed the severity of the crisis, amplified medical disinformation and have been originators of hoaxes as we believed the virus was a deep state plot to damage the president’s chance at re-election. I pushed the idea that COVID 19 was a Chinese bioweapon, and that the virus release was a joint venture between China and the Democrats to stop Trump’s re-election by destroying the economy.
Motto: KEEP CALM and QANON!