A new study from Cornell University has dubbed Donald Trump, the ersatz President of the United States, as the leading source of misinformation about the coronavirus in the entire world.
Cornell researchers looked at 38 million English-language articles from around the world and tracked back the sources of incorrect information about the coronavirus. In 37% of the instances of misinformation, the source of the false statements was Donald Trump.
The misinformation spiked after Trump made false statements about such things as the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine; the delivery schedule for vaccines; and the claim that the virus was intentionally released by a laboratory in Wuhan, China.
The Cornell researchers coined the term “infodemic” to characterize the spread of incorrect information about the pandemic, which has undermined effective responses to the coronavirus.