Tech companies including Google and Amazon are paying sites that spread disinformation about the coronavirus pandemic millions in advertising revenue, according to a new study.
Over $25 million (€22 million) in advertisement revenues could be paid to websites spreading fake news and conspiracy theories by the end of this year, reported the Global Disinformation Index (GDI), which offers a web-based tool that rates news outlets based on their level of accuracy.
Google, Amazon and OpenX account for 95% of the ad revenues paid to COVID-19 disinformation sites, according to the study.
Those sites include “well-known disinformation sites like AmericanThinker.com, BigLeaguePolitics.com, TheGatewayPundit.com and RT.com,” the study said.
Major brands, including Bloomberg News, L’Oreal, Microsoft and T-Mobile have also featured advertisements on those pages. “Every dollar going into ads to known COVID-19 disinformation sites is a dollar not going to fund trusted news sites,” Craig Fagan, GDI’s program director, told DW.
Fake news stories and conspiracies have also impacted people’s responses to the pandemic, as they have “undercut government lockdown measures,” and promoted “debunked and dangerous cures.”
Additionally, the perpetuation of fake news about coronavirus plays into other conspiracy theories, including ideas about the dangers of 5G networks and the role of the “deep state,” said Fagan.
“Those already pushing the conspiracy that 5G causes diseases have now turned their sites on the coronavirus being a product of that technology,” he said.
Fake news has also given anti-vaccine rhetoric a boost. “Those that already believed that vaccines were deadly have hooked their efforts to criticize the development of a coronavirus vaccine,” he said.
The study was conducted by analyzing 480 ad-supported disinformation sites that carried a high concentration of coronavirus-related conspiracy content.
Source: Deutsche Welle
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