Coronavirus Misinformation Tracking Center

We’re tracking the top myths about COVID-19 — and the more than 645 websites spreading them.

As COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread across the globe, so does disinformation and misinformation about the disease. From false cures to conspiracy theories about the virus’ origin to misinformation about the vaccine, myths about COVID-19 can have dangerous and real-world consequences.

Follow the spread of this dangerous information with NewsGuard’s Coronavirus Misinformation Tracking Center.

On this page, NewsGuard’s team of journalists is tracking the top myths about COVID-19 and the COVID-19 vaccine and cataloguing the number of websites spreading those myths.

As of our latest update, NewsGuard so far has identified 645 websites publishing misinformation about COVID-19 in the U.S., U.K., Canada, France, Germany and Italy. Researchers, platforms, advertertisers, governmental bodies, and health institutions interested in licensing the list can contact us for licensing information.

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Websites on the list include publishers notorious for publishing false health content, political sites whose embrace of conspiracy theories extends well beyond politics, and new sites that were created specifically to spread misinformation about COVID-19.

Among the myths published by the websites are false claims that drinking bleach or colloidal silver will cure the virus, false claims that the COVID-19 vaccine will change patient’s DNA or implant a tracking microchip, and false claims that methods like masks and social distancing are ineffective in slowing the spread of the virus.

The COVID-19 Misinformation Tracking Center is a work in progress about a story that has new developments daily. If you have come across a false story about COVID-19, please report it here or contact us via our misinformation hotline.

For more information about NewsGuard’s approach to tracking coronavirus misinformation, read this piece on the topic from our lead health analyst, listen to this story on NPR, or watch this segment with the BBC. For reliable information on the COVID-19 virus, consult the websites of public health institutions such as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization.

Websites Identified Publishing False Coronavirus Information: 645

United States: 409
United Kingdom: 22
France: 59
Germany: 59
Italy: 75
Other: 21

Editor’s Note: Recent reports have raised anew the possibility that the COVID-19 pandemic may have been precipitated by a leak from a Chinese research lab in Wuhan. As with all subjects, NewsGuard seeks to be careful in distinguishing between unsubstantiated claims published on the websites we review versus provably false claims. For example, reports that a Harvard professor was arrested for creating the COVID-19 virus are provably false, while claims that the virus leaked from a lab are not substantiated but not, as of now, provably false.

Thus, the notion that the virus leaked from the lab is not, and has never been, listed below as a “COVID-19 Myth” because while not substantiated, it is also, as of now, not provably false.

In a recent review of NewsGuard’s Nutrition Labels covering 246 websites that mentioned examples about the origins of the COVID-19 virus, we found that in 225 of those cases we adhered to that standard by describing the lab leak claim as unsubstantiated, not false. However, in 21 instances, our language was not as careful as it should have been; in those cases, NewsGuard either mischaracterized the sites’ claims about the lab leak theory, referred to the lab leak as a “conspiracy theory,” or wrongly grouped together unproven claims about the lab leak with the separate, false claim that the COVID-19 virus was man-made without explaining that one claim was unsubstantiated, and the other was false. NewsGuard apologizes for these errors. We have made the appropriate correction on each of the 21 labels.

However, because NewsGuard’s approach to rating websites involves looking at much more than a single story, a single topic, or even a single editorial practice, no site was given a Red rating by NewsGuard solely because it speculated or asserted that the COVID-19 virus leaked from a lab. In all of the Nutrition Labels we reviewed, Red-rated sites had promoted other false or unsubstantiated claims, including false claims that the COVID-19 virus was created in a U.S. military lab, that it was engineered using parts of HIV, or that it was stolen from a Canadian lab by Chinese spies. (June 17, 2021)

COVID-19 Myths: False Cures, Conspiracy Theories, and More

Editor’s Note: This report was updated in November 2023 to update the list of false narratives and provide information about how NewsGuard’s full library of Misinformation Fingerprints related to COVID-19 can be accessed by companies and institutions interested in data access.

During the initial spread of COVID-19, a number of myths spread pushing conspiracy theories about the virus’ origins and false “cures” and treatments for the virus.

This list of top COVID-19 myths covers the most prominent of those theories and how they initially emerged.

NewsGuard’s Misinformation Fingerprints database contains a detailed dataset of all prominent COVID-19 myths spreading online–along with data seeds designed to detect and track each narrative. Request full data access here.

Top COVID-19 Vaccine Myths

Scientists and researchers managed to produce vaccines to protect against COVID-19. Vaccine candidates have recently been approved in some countries and are in the approval process in others, yet misinformation about the safety and effects of any future vaccine is already threatening its rollout. On our Top COVID-19 Vaccine Myths tracker, we catalogue the top myths about a COVID-19 vaccine that have appeared in NewsGuard’s ratings of more than 6,000 news and information sites worldwide.

Last updated June 9, 2023