In the continued war on misinformation, LinkedIn and Facebook just removed millions of posts containing misinformation about the coronavirus. And it is believed that is but a fraction of the posts. When John Oliver tackled the flood of misinformation surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, he mentioned the “proportionality bias” — that big events beg big explanations — to explain why misinformation, particularly conspiracy theories, have had a heyday with the current crisis. However, the science suggests that it is more than just the proportionality effect at play making this crisis exceptionally fertile grounds for seeds of misinformation.
[…]