Facebook ‘Super-spreaders’: Europe

Tracking Facebook’s COVID-19 Misinformation ‘Super-spreaders’ in Europe

by Kendrick McDonald, Bron Maher, Chine Labbe, Virginia Padovese, and Marie Richter

As COVID-19 spreads around the world, NewsGuard has been tracking the top hoaxes about the pandemic that are spreading on the internet—and the dozens of websites that are publishing those false stories.

Over the last two weeks, we’ve compiled a new data set focused not on individual websites or false stories, but on the Facebook Pages that repeat, share, and amplify these myths — from false cures to conspiracy theories about the virus. These Pages — targeting audiences in English, French, German, and Italian — show how COVID-19 misinformation has been amplified across Europe.

Key Findings

In this data set, we have identified 36 European Facebook Pages that are “super-spreaders” of COVID-19 misinformation, meaning they have large Facebook audiences. Combined, these accounts reach 13,223,446 Facebook users.

Despite Facebook’s announced efforts to stop the spread of this type of misinformation, these pages continue to be allowed to use Facebook to publish blatant misinformation about COVID-19.

Collectively, NewsGuard’s analysis of large Facebook pages across four countries (United Kingdom, Italy, France and Germany) reveals how COVID-19 misinformation has spread and what forms it has taken. 

Some Takeaways:

1. Conspiracy Theories Dominate

In our European data set, conspiracies about the virus were far more common than fake cures, which were shared more often by U.S. super-spreaders.

For example, the myth that the novel coronavirus was created in a lab or engineered as a bioweapon appeared in each country despite no evidence to support the theory.

One French language post included a video of a Congolese pastor’s sermon describing the virus as a “man-made poison” and implying it was a bioweapon. The video was shared over 28,000 times and viewed more than 850,000 times.

In Germany, the same myth was amplified by the Facebook Page of Compact, a magazine which regularly shares the views of the far-right AfD party as well as Russian disinformation narratives.

Similar myths which falsely reported that the virus was “patented” pointed at different culprits in different countries. 

For instance, the page of Jean Claude Manzueto, run from Belgium, stated that France’s Pasteur Institute invented and patented the virus, while in Germany, the page of Dr. Ruediger Dahlke falsely accused the U.K.’s Pirbright Institute.

Other myths were even more specific to the country where they were shared.

In Italy, NewsGuard debunked the myth that the government was preventing migrants from being tested for COVID-19, which arose based on fabricated quotes attributed to Angelo Aliquò, the health authority of the Ragusa province. 

2. Bait and Switch

It was concerning to find this hoax and others shared on Italian-language pages with names entirely unrelated to news or health, such as Luxury Fashion and A Fairy Tale in the Heart (Una favola nel Cuore). NewsGuard found 10 pages with deceptive images and descriptions that all shared COVID-19 misinformation from the same two Red-rated websites — ViralMagazine.it and FanMagazine.it — with just under 5.5 million followers in total.

The U.K.-based page Energy Therapy used a similarly deceptive strategy to share COVID-19 hoaxes to a large audience. The page regularly posts inspirational quotes and posts about spirituality, but has also shared multiple stories about a false conspiracy connecting the novel coronavirus and emerging 5G technology.

In a report about Energy Therapy following NewsGuard’s publication of the first set of super-spreaders, BuzzFeed News said that “those who ‘liked’ the page several years ago because they saw a spiritual meme won’t just be seeing adverts for tarot readings but a steady stream of coronavirus-related stories Facebook classifies as misinformation.”

3. Few Warnings from Facebook

While posts from U.S. and U.K. based super-spreaders reviewed by NewsGuard had warnings from fact-checking organizations 63% of the time, the platform’s enforcement against European posts was far lower.

Only three of the 20 false posts in French and one of the false German posts reviewed by NewsGuard carried warnings from fact-checking organizations, while none of the Italian false posts in the data set did.

NewsGuard has found that 76 percent of the COVID-19 misinformation sites that we have listed on our COVID-19 misinformation tracker are repeat offenders — meaning that they had already been rated Red by NewsGuard for publishing misinformation in the past. Thus, the fact that Facebook does not offer any information of the kind that NewsGuard provides on the general reliability of these pages to the users who see and share them is a missed opportunity to tamp down the spread of COVID-19 hoaxes.

Methodology and Data Set

To qualify as super-spreaders, Facebook Pages we have included here had to meet three simple criteria:

  • They have large followings of more than 40,000 page “likes” on Facebook. 
  • They have published or shared clearly and egregiously false content about the virus —  such as one of the top COVID-19 myths we have previously debunked or a false story we have debunked in one of the Nutrition Labels in our Coronavirus Misinformation Tracker. In many cases, the pages have shared such content more than once.
  • French, German, and Italian pages were active as of May 4, 2020. In other words, Facebook had not acted to remove them prior to our publication of this data. Note: NewsGuard first released U.K super-spreaders on April 21, and some of the posts or pages may have been removed since that date.

Our analysts derived this list in part by tracing which Facebook Pages had linked to false stories on websites from our COVID-19 misinformation tracker. This data was supplemented with additional research and reporting.

This list is, of course, a work in progress. The accounts listed may not be the most frequent offenders or be the publishers of false COVID-19 misinformation with the largest audiences. Also, the examples we list for each page do not necessarily represent an exhaustive list of all the times the page published COVID-19 misinformation.

Click here to download the dataset in spreadsheet form. If you are aware of another account that meets these criteria, please report it here and our team will review it.

Scroll down for a list of some of the most egregious examples of misinformation “super-spreaders” we’ve found so far.


France:

Epoch Times Paris

1,295,341 Facebook Page Likes

The Facebook page of the French version of conservative website Epoch Times (rated Red by NewsGuard, which means that the site is generally unreliable), founded by members of a spiritual group persecuted in China. The page was created in 2012 and posts articles from Fr.TheEpochTimes.com as well as photos of landscapes and nature.

Example of misleading or false COVID-19 post:

  • February 21 post with a link to an article from Fr.TheEpochTimes.com falsely claiming that the proteins from the novel coronavirus “seem to have been precisely conceived to enable the virus to attach to human cells,” thus suggesting that the virus was artificially created. 

Asked about this article by email, editorial leaders for Fr.TheEpochTimes.com did not immediately respond to NewsGuard.


Pasteur Marcello tunasi

746,994 Facebook Page Likes

The Facebook page of Marcello Tunasi, a Congolese pastor based in Kinshasa. The page posts videos of his sermons, photos, and written messages. 

Example of misleading or false COVID-19 post:

  • March 19 postwith an embedded 1.5 hour long sermon in which the pastor claims that the virus is “a man-made poison” and implies that it could be a bioweapon

NewsGuard sent a Facebook message and an email to Tunasi to an address listed in the About section of the Facebook page, seeking comment on the false claims published by the page about COVID-19. These messages did not draw a response.


Jean Claude Manzueto

273,044 Facebook Page Likes

The Facebook page of Jean Claude Manzueto, who describes himself on his personal website as “a businessman, a writer, and a political revolutionary.” The page, created in 2012, is managed from Belgium and posts texts and photos. 

Example of misleading or false COVID-19 post:

  • March 18 post in which Manzueto claims that the virus was invented and patented by the French Pasteur Institute as early as 2003, then “improved” in 2019 to lead to the novel strain of coronavirus. The Pasteur Institute did not invent or patent the COVID-19 virus. The institute explains on its website that in 2004, it patented a strategy to create a vaccine for another strain of the SARS coronavirus, which is not the virus responsible for the COVID-19 disease. (NOTE : This post was flagged as false by Facebook, with a link to a fact-check from AFP Africa, but it was not removed.) 

Asked about the above post, Manzueto declined to comment in a Facebook message to NewsGuard. 


S’informer autrement

223,794 Facebook Page Likes

A Facebook page created in 2018 that claims to offer “alternative news that’s different from what the mainstream media hammers home,” and is managed by four people in France and one person in Switzerland. The page posts videos, written posts, and photos. 

Example of misleading or false COVID-19 post:

  • April 11 post based on a video interview with a former Russian intelligence official who claims that the coronavirus is a bioweapon. (Now unavailable).
  • April 11 post suggesting that due to the 2020 coronavirus, the French government legalized euthanasia in nursing homes, and that these facilities “will become extermination camps.” The government issued a decree in March 2020 that allowed doctors to temporarily use a sedative as palliative care for critically ill patients who are in severe respiratory distress and who are not being sent to intensive care units. Euthanasia remains illegal in France. (Now unavailable)

NewsGuard sent a Facebook message to S’informer autrement seeking comment on the false claims published by the page about COVID-19. In a response, an unidentified person wrote: “Just so you know, this page’s mission is to cover different aspects of things so that people can make their own opinion. We do not claim to own the truth, contrary to others.” After the page responded to NewsGuard, the two posts listed above were no longer available on Facebook. 


Pretre SN Animation

192,398 Facebook Page Likes

A Facebook page created in 2013 which claims to be a “magazine” sharing “international and news about the African diaspora,” and publishes videos, animated videos and written posts. 

Example of misleading or false COVID-19 post:

  • April 8 Post with an embedded video in which Philippe Alexandre Jandrok, the founder and editor-in-chief of Cogiito.com (a website that has published several false claims about COVID-19) claims that the pandemic is part of a “machiavellian plan” by several organizations, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which the video states seeks to “decrease the world population via mandatory vaccination.” The video also claims that the virus could be linked to 5G technologies, which Jandrok falsely claims could help spread the disease by making vaccinated people sicker. 

NewsGuard sent a Facebook message and an email to Pretre SN Animation through an address listed in the About section of the Facebook page, seeking comment on the false claims published by the page about COVID-19. These messages did not draw a response.


Réseau International

156,823 Facebook Page Likes

A French Facebook Page associated with the red-rated site ReseauInternational.net, which shares conspiracy theories and false information, often drawn from sites known for publishing propaganda and misinformation.  

Example of misleading or false COVID-19 post:

NewsGuard sent a Facebook message and an email to Reseau International through an address listed in the About section of the Facebook page, seeking comment on the false claims published by the page about COVID-19. These messages did not draw a response.


Stopmensonges

128,829 Facebook Page Likes

A Facebook page managed from France and Canada associated with the red-rated website LumiereSurGaia.com, known until 2019 as StopMensonges. LumiereSurGaia.com covers politics, health, and spirituality and often publishes false information and conspiracy theories. 

Example of misleading or false COVID-19 post:

When previously asked by email about the websiteʼs coronavirus stories, the website’s founder and manager, Laurent Gouyneau, told NewsGuard to instead contact the original authors of the articles. He described InfoWars, the source for the second post, as “a well-known site in the US which is made of former military members.” Asked more recently about the post linking the pandemic to 5G technology, Gouyneau did not respond. After NewsGuard inquired about this post, it was no longer available on Facebook. When asked in the past how the website identifies its news sources, Gouyneau said, “No source is 100% reliable at this time on Earth, I will concede to you that it’s a big mess now on Earth in terms of transparency and news.”


Inform’Action

116,021 Facebook Page Likes

The Facebook page of an association based in Toulouse, in the South of France, which says that it “selects and publishes, in a collaborative manner, the best information, by promoting the ideas and points of view that are not covered enough.” The page posts videos, memes, and articles from other sites.

Example of misleading or false COVID-19 post:

NewsGuard sent a Facebook message to Inform’Action seeking comment on the false claims published by the page about COVID-19. This message did not draw a response.


Lelibrepenseur.org

71,308 Facebook Page Likes

The Facebook page of conspiracy website LeLibrePenseur.org, whose publishing director is based in Algeria. The page posts articles from the site as well as videos, articles, and photos from other sites.

Example of misleading or false COVID-19 post:

  • April 19 post with a photo from a 2013 article in Le Parisien titled “A worrying virus created in China,” misleadingly implying that the virus mentioned in the article was related to the current pandemic. In fact, the virus mentioned in the article was not in any way similar to the current strain of coronavirus. (NOTE: this post was flagged as false by Facebook but was not removed).
  • April 17 post that links to an article from LeLibrePenseur.org which claims that the virus was artificially created. 
  • April 17 post that links to an article from LeLibrePenseur.org which claims that the virus has HIV insertions, suggesting it was engineered. (NOTE: this post was flagged as false by Facebook but was not removed).

NewsGuard sent a Facebook message to LeLibrePenseur.org as well as an email to an address listed on the page and another listed on the website seeking comment on the false claims published by the page about COVID-19. These messages did not draw a response.


Le Nouvel ordre mondial

69,760 Facebook Page Likes

A Facebook page associated with the anonymous red-rated website NouvelOrdreMondial.cc, which often publishes conspiracy theories and false information. The page mostly posts articles from NouvelOrdreMondial.cc and from AubeDigitale.com, another anonymously run website. The two websites share a Google ad account, which suggests that they might have the same owner.

Example of misleading or false COVID-19 post:

The siteʼs founder, who only identifies himself as Emmanuel, refused in March 2020 to answer NewsGuardʼs questions about the articles published on the website on the COVID-19 pandemic. He did not respond to an additional email in April asking about this specific post, which was republished from AubeDigitale.com. After NewsGuard inquired about the post cited above, it was no longer available on Facebook. 


Panamza

61,317 Facebook Page Likes

A French Facebook Page associated with the red-rated site Panamza.com, a website that has repeatedly published false information, including anti-Israel conspiracy theories. 

Example of misleading or false COVID-19 post:

Panamza did not respond to two emails seeking comment on the site’s publication of false content, including on the COVID-19 pandemic. He did not respond to an additional email asking specifically about the above post.


Les Moutons Enrages

47,147 Facebook Page Likes

A French Facebook page associated with the red-rated site LesMoutonsEnrages.fr, an anonymously run blog that promotes conspiracy theories and health misinformation.

Example of misleading or false COVID-19 post:

Asked about the article on 5G and the coronavirus, a representative of the site, who identifies herself as “Voltigeur,” told NewsGuard in an email: “When we talk about a health fact, I try to understand… Everyone interprets the data he or she has and shares them with the community for debate.” Asked more broadly about the site’s coverage of COVID-19, she stated: “These are opinion articles … It goes without saying that these opinions belong to their authors, are their sole responsibility, and that it is up to readers to make sense of things.”


Italy:

ღஐღ   Semplicemente Charlie   ღஐღ

2,047,320 Facebook Page Likes

A Facebook page associated with the website FanMagazine.it, which regularly posts articles from another Italian site called ViralMagazine.it. The page also posts quotes, images, and videos of babies and animals.

NewsGuard sent an email to the address provided in the Privacy Policy page of FanMagazine.it — the site associated with the Semplicemente Charlie Facebook page — seeking comment on the false claims published by the page about COVID-19. NewsGuard did not receive a response.


Luxury Fashion

1,723,214 Facebook Page Likes

A Facebook page associated with the website FanBlog.it. The site stopped publishing in July 2019, but its Facebook page is still active and regularly shares articles from two other Italian websites: FanMagazine.it and ViralMagazine.it, alongside photos, videos and quotes.

Luxury Fashion did not respond to an email seeking comment on the page’s publication of false coronavirus claims, sent to the address provided in the Privacy Policy page of FanBlog.it, the site associated with the page.


Ti amo, però ღஐღ Semplicemente Charlie ღஐღ

654,453 Facebook Page Likes

A Facebook page associated with the website FanMagazine.it, which regularly posts articles from another Italian site called ViralMagazine.it. The page also posts quotes and images, videos of babies and animals, and also shares posts from Luxury Fashion and Semplicemente Charlie Facebook pages.

NewsGuard sent an email to the address provided in the Privacy Policy page of FanMagazine.it — the site associated with the Ti amo, però Semplicemente Charlie Facebook page — seeking comment on the false claims published by the page about COVID-19. NewsGuard did not receive a response.


Un Pensiero UnicoTu

426,870 Facebook Page Likes

A Facebook page that mainly posts images of women and quotes about love. The page regularly shares content from the sites FanMagazine.it and ViralMagazine.it.

Un Pensiero UnicoTu did not respond to an email seeking comment on the page’s publication of false coronavirus claims.


Una favola nel Cuore ಌ

135,560 Facebook Page Likes

A Facebook page named “UnaFavolaNelCuoreDiNellyMiran”. The page describes itself as “Personal blog – website for kids and teenagers” and often publishes images for kids and shares posts from another Facebook page associated with Nelly Miran: Il mondo di Nelly ⊱. The page regularly shares content from the sites FanMagazine.it and ViralMagazine.it.

NewsGuard could not find a contact to seek comment on Una favola nel Cuore’s publication of false coronavirus claims.


I pensieri folli di due sognatori

130,281 Facebook Page Likes

A Facebook page that mainly posts images of women and quotes about love. The page regularly shares content from the sites FanMagazine.it and ViralMagazine.it.

NewsGuard sent a Facebook message to I pensieri folli di due sognatori seeking comment on the false claims published by the page about COVID-19. NewsGuard did not receive a response.


La vita

110,304 Facebook Page Likes

A Facebook page that mainly posts images of women and quotes about love. The page regularly shares content from the sites FanMagazine.it and ViralMagazine.it.

NewsGuard sent a Facebook message to the team member listed on the La Vita Facebook page seeking comment on the false claims published by the page about COVID-19. NewsGuard did not receive a response.


·ڿڰۣಌڿ Il nettare dell’amore ·ڿڰۣಌڿ

99,376 Facebook Page Likes

A Facebook page linked to the YouTube channel Felice Falconio. The page mostly posts images with quotes about love and regularly shares content from the sites FanMagazine.it and ViralMagazine.it.

Asked about the false claims published by the page about COVID-19, a Il nettare dell’amore representative replied: “I simply return the favour to the pages that share my links… These questions should be asked to those who wrote the news, not to those who share them”.


ღ Nel Cuore Delle Donne ღ

97,823 Facebook Page Likes

A Facebook page that mainly posts images of women and quotes about love. The page regularly shares content from the sites FanMagazine.it and ViralMagazine.it.

NewsGuard could not find a contact to seek comment on Nel Cuore Delle Donne’s publication of false coronavirus claims.


Il mondo di Nelly ⊱

79,403 Facebook Page Likes

A Facebook page named after home cook Nelly Miran and linked to the YouTube channel In Cucina con Nelly (In the Kitchen with Nelly). The page regularly shares content from the sites FanMagazine.it and ViralMagazine.it. The page primarily posts images for kids, and shares posts from the Facebook page Una favola nel Cuore ಌ.

NewsGuard sent an email to the Il mondo di Nelly Facebook page seeking comment on the false claims published by the page about COVID-19, but did not receive a response.

Examples of misleading or false COVID-19 posts shared by the pages named above:

  • An article from FanMagazine.it falsely claiming that lemon and hot water can cure COVID-19. This article was shared 61 times across nine of the 10 Facebook pages above from March 25 to April 26, 2020.
  • An article from ViralMagazine.it falsely claiming that the Coronavirus was engineered by China, hid in a laboratory in Wuhan with the collusion of the World Health Organization, and then spread around the world. Six of these ten Facebook pages shared the article between April 27 and April 28.

Germany:

RT Deutsch

439,732 Facebook Page Likes

A page associated with the Red-rated site RT Deutsch, a Russian government disinformation and propaganda news outlet previously known as Russia Today. The Facebook page lists the same owner as RT Deutsch: RT DE Productions GmbH, based in Berlin. The page was created in June 2014. 

Example of misleading or false COVID-19 post:

Asked about this false COVID-19 claim published on the site and the Facebook page, an RT Deutsch representative, Sebastian Range, told NewsGuard in an email: “As you have correctly pointed out, this is an interview. This statement is the personal opinion of Mr. König (‘in my opinion’) and not that of our network. Such a distinction should be obvious from a journalistic point of view.”


Der Wächter

240,412 Facebook Page Likes

A German-language page associated with the website DerWaechter.org that covers politics and health. The page is managed from Germany and was created in October 2015, according to Facebook. It primarily links to articles on DerWaechter.org, and also links to Medizin-Heute.net and UnserPlanet.net.

Example of misleading or false COVID-19 post:

NewsGuard sent a Facebook message to Der Wächter seeking comment on the false claim published by the page about COVID-19, but did not receive a response. 


Dr. Ruediger Dahlke

176,349 Facebook Page Likes

A German-language page by Austrian author and naturopathic doctor Ruediger Dahlke, based near Graz. The Facebook page is associated with the website Dahlke.at and was created in June 2010. It provides posts, links, pictures, and videos on health and politics. 

Example of misleading or false COVID-19 post:

  • April 14 post that falsely claimed that the flu vaccine is “dangerous, because it promotes coronavirus infection.”
  • January 28 post that falsely claimed that the novel coronavirus is a patented virus.

NewsGuard sent an email to Dahlke seeking comment on the false claims published by the page about COVID-19, but did not receive a response. 


COMPACT-Magazin

93,492 Facebook Page Likes

A German-language page associated with the Red-rated website of Compact, a monthly German magazine that advances the views of the right-wing AfD party and Russian disinformation. Created in July 2011, the page primarily posts articles from Compact-Online.de.

Example of misleading or false COVID-19 post:

NewsGuard sent an email to Compact-Online seeking comment on the false claim published on the site and by the Facebook page about COVID-19, but did not receive a response. 


Anonymous Deutschland

60,240 Facebook Page Likes

A German-language page covering health and world news that, according to Facebook, is managed from Germany. The page describes itself as a nonprofit organization. Created in April 2014, the page posts links, memes, and photos, frequently linking to articles on Medizin-Heute.net, UnserPlanet.net, and DerWaechter.org.

Example of misleading or false COVID-19 post:

NewsGuard sent a Facebook message to Anonymous Deutschland seeking comment on the false claim published by the page about COVID-19, but did not receive a response. 


AUGEN AUF

56,632 Facebook Page Likes

A German-language page that covers health and world news and is managed from Austria, according to Facebook. The page was created in October 2013 and posts links, memes, photos, and videos.

Example of misleading or false COVID-19 post:

NewsGuard sent a Facebook message to AUGEN AUF seeking comment on the false claims published by the page about COVID-19, but did not receive a response. 


Freidenkerkollektiv

53,586 Facebook Page Likes

A German-language page that is also managed from Germany, according to Facebook. The page was created in April 2014 and often posts memes, photos, and videos that promote conspiracy theories.

Example of misleading or false COVID-19 post:

Asked about the false COVID-19 claim published on the page, an unidentified site representative told NewsGuard via Facebook Messenger: “It’s a possibility. Prove to me it’s not a bioweapon created in a lab. It’s bold to present something as true that you can’t verify. Or can Newsguard do it independently of other media? If not, it’s your source against mine. If you can independently substantiate your thesis, I’m open to it.” 


Medizin Heute

51,745 Facebook Page Likes

A German-language page associated with the anonymously run and Red-rated health website Medizin-Heute.net. The Facebook page was created in June 2018 and primarily posts links to the website’s articles, often promoting unsubstantiated natural health claims.

Example of misleading or false COVID-19 post:

NewsGuard sent an email to Medizin-Heute seeking comment on the false claim published on the website and the Facebook page about COVID-19, but did not receive a response. 


Anonymous Offiziell

42,088 Facebook Page Likes

A German-language page about politics and health that is managed from Germany, according to Facebook. Created in September 2018, the page posts links, memes, photos, and videos. The site frequently posts links to articles on Medizin-Heute.net, UnserPlanet.net, and DerWaechter.org.

Example of misleading or false COVID-19 post:

NewsGuard sent a Facebook message to Anonymous Offiziellseeking comment on the false claim published by the page about COVID-19, but did not receive a response. 


Russische Nachrichten

40,124 Facebook Page Likes

A German-language page about politics and health that is managed from Germany, according to Facebook. Created in September 2018, the page posts links, memes, photos, and videos. The site frequently posts links to articles on Medizin-Heute.net, UnserPlanet.net, and DerWaechter.org.

Example of misleading or false COVID-19 post:

NewsGuard sent a Facebook message to Russische Nachrichten seeking comment on the false claims published by the page about COVID-19, but did received a response.


United Kingdom:

Note: NewsGuard first released U.K super-spreaders on April 21, and some of the posts or pages may have been removed since that date.

Energy Therapy

1,993,987 Facebook Page Likes

A U.K.-based Facebook Page associated with the site EnergyTherapy.biz sharing content related to organic health and philosophy.

Example of misleading or false COVID-19 post:

  • March 20 post with a link to the Energy Therapy site’s false claims connecting 5G technology to the spread of COVID-19.

Energy Therapy did not respond to an email seeking comment on the site’s publication of false coronavirus claims.


David Icke

786,804 Facebook Page Likes

The Facebook Page of David Icke, a former professional soccer/football player and conspiracy theorist whose website publishes a variety of false and unsubstantiated claims.

Example of misleading or false COVID-19 post:

DavidIcke.com did not respond to an email seeking comment on the site’s publication of false coronavirus claims.


Mystery, History, Space, and Time

175,048 Facebook Page Likes

A Facebook Page that posts a variety of links and images about scientific and historical oddities, along with some unsubstantiated conspiracy theories.

Example of misleading or false COVID-19 post:

  • March 11 post with the false claim that COVID-19 is linked to 5G technology. 
  • February 13 post with the false claims that COVID-19 is man-made and that it is patented.

NewsGuard did not receive a response to a Facebook message sent to Chris O’sZone, the administrator for the Mystery, history, space and time Facebook page, seeking comment on its history of publishing false COVID-19 claims and other misinformation.


Press TV UK

150,798 Facebook Page Likes

A Facebook Page that posts a conservative-oriented content and unsubstantiated conspiracy theories 

Example of misleading or false COVID-19 post:

  • February 27 post with a link to an article on RushLimbaugh.com containing the false claim that COVID-19 is similar to the common cold.

In response to an email from NewsGuard seeking comment on PressTV.com’s publication of false content and other issues, the site said in an email that after reviewing NewsGuard’s “assessments about various websites…, unfortunately we do NOT permit NewsGuard to assess or publish a report about PressTV.com”


– Publication date: May 5, 2020