Lesson Overview
Featured Article: “Covid Test Misinformation Spikes Along With Spread of Omicron”
In the wake of Omicron, additional testing and breakthrough Covid infections among vaccinated people have created the perfect recipe for misinformation about the coronavirus.
In this lesson, you will think about rumors you have heard and learn about some of the ways that falsehoods have been able to grow during this stage of the pandemic. Then, you will have several choices for thinking more about misinformation, whether by reading the related “Annotated by the Author” version of this article, by fact-checking Covid information you come across, or by considering one recent issue with misinformation and deciding what should be done.
Warm-Up
On TikTok, Instagram and other social media recently, have you seen videos of at-home Covid-19 tests displaying positive results after being soaked in drinking water and juice?
If so, how did you react when you saw them? If you were suspicious of these viral posts, how could you have investigated them?
These viral videos pushed the false narrative that rapid coronavirus tests don’t work, and are just part of a spike in misinformation about Covid-19 tests that has surged because of the highly infectious Omicron variant.
Here are four quick steps to stop the spread of misinformation from the News Literacy Project. How helpful might they have been if applied when you saw one of the viral videos mentioned above?
In general, how do you get your Covid information? What sources do you trust? Why do you consider them trustworthy?
Questions for Writing and Discussion
Read or listen to the article, then answer the following questions:
1. How did people on TikTok and Instagram try to make it look as though coronavirus rapid tests don’t work? How have health experts responded to these false claims?
2. How have far-right websites created, and helped to spread, misinformation about Covid testing?
3. What role does misinformation play in efforts to keep the pandemic under control?
4. What are the primary categories of Covid misinformation ? Have you seen or heard of falsehoods in recent weeks or months?
5. Why does Kolina Koltai, a researcher at the University of Washington, say we are in an “opportune moment” for false narratives about the virus?
6. How have web companies, like YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok, responded to questions about misinformation on their platforms? What is your reaction to their responses? Do you think they are doing enough or do you think they should take a more active approach to dispelling falsehoods?
7. According to the Food and Drug Administration, what is the actual risk for a false positive or a false negative result? How can these inaccuracies be avoided?
8. How does John Gregory, deputy health editor at NewsGuard, describe the “misinformation industry’s pattern” during the pandemic? Have you witnessed this? Give an example.
9. The article ends with several paragraphs describing viral Facebook posts claiming that the Centers for Disease Control had withdrawn support of P.C.R. tests. How does this example demonstrate how falsehoods can grow, spread and re-emerge online?
Going Further
Option 1: Go behind the scenes with the journalist who wrote this piece.
Davey Alba, the technology reporter who wrote this article, covers online disinformation and the global harm it does or The Times. She has annotated this piece for us, describing how she does her job, and how she uses data and evidence from experts to help buttress the article with facts to debunk lies.
Now that you’ve read the article itself, read her commentary. What is one thing you learned — whether about Covid, about disinformation, or about the job of a reporter? What is one question you’d like to ask someone who covers online disinformation for a living?
If you are participating in this year’s STEM Writing Contest, which runs from Feb. 2 to March 9, you might consider misinformation and disinformation as topics.
Option 2: Spot Covid misinformation on the platforms where you spend time
Using what you learned in this lesson and tips like these from the News Literacy Project and these from Snopes, the internet fact-checking organization, practice pausing, looking for sources and generally fact-checking any information you come across. If everyone in your class is doing this, you might even create a kind of gallery walk of debunked Covid rumors that like this article, explains what the false information was, where and how it spread and how it has been proven false.
If you take this on, the News Literacy Project even has advice on “how to speak up without starting a showdown” if you need to discuss with friends or family false information they have posted.
Option 3: Consider one recent issue with misinformation and decide what should be done.
The most popular podcast on Spotify, “The Joe Rogan Experience,” drew criticism from hundreds of medical experts for spreading “societally harmful” misinformation about Covid-19. What, if anything, do you think the streaming service should do about it?
Do you think that Spotify can claim, as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have, that it should not be responsible for moderating content posted to its platform? Or do you think this case is different,because unlike most social media platforms, Spotify paid Mr. Rogan for his podcast?
Let us know what you think by posting your thoughts here, on our related Student Opinion question.
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