As millions of people around the world were under lockdown this year, social media became a lifeline for many. While researchers and journalists were focused on mis- and disinformation flourishing on the main social media platforms, information disruptors returned to old-school methods of sowing chaos and confusion through leaflets, billboards, emails, SMS and robocalls.
The pandemic became an opportunity for the dissemination of Covid-19 hoaxes and conspiracy theories through letterboxes straight into people’s homes. A leaflet sent out in the UK claimed that the government, the media and National Health Service representatives were attempting to “create the illusion of an unprecedented deadly pandemic” to justify “extreme lockdown measures.”
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Source: The return to old-school methods to sow chaos | First Draft