Hundreds of websites still pushing COVID-19 misinformation

The U.S. is inactive facing large hurdles erstwhile it comes to vaccine hesitancy — peculiarly erstwhile it comes to the dispersed of online misinformation.

NewsGuard Technologies, an enactment that determines the credibility of quality and accusation websites, precocious shared its findings regarding pandemic misinformation.

It recovered that much than 500 websites are publishing misinformation astir COVID-19, including misleading accusation astir vaccines and treatments.

"We're truly looking astatine things similar the sites repeatedly publishing mendacious claims," said NewsGuard wide manager Matt Skibinski. "Does it abstracted quality and opinion?...Does it uncover who is successful complaint of producing contented and the conflicts of interest?"

NewsGuard besides recovered 50 hoax websites specifically dedicated to misleading radical connected vaccines.

Another analyzable furniture facing quality consumers successful determining facts from distorted COVID-19 accusation is VAERS — the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System.

VAERS is simply a Centers for Disease Control database that was created to observe immoderate issues with vaccines that whitethorn not person been detected successful trials. The problem? All the preliminary accusation is public, truthful anyone tin construe — oregon misinterpret — earthy accusation that is submitted astir vaccine reactions.

NewsGuard recovered that 80% of engagement with quality contented related to the CDC website was from flagged misinformation sites.

The radical says its extremity isn't to effort and instrumentality down websites, but it does stock its accusation with advertisers who bash not privation to beryllium associated with mendacious information.

"The solution to misinformation is empowering news," Skibinski said. "Consumers are mean Internet users with accusation that they tin usage to marque their ain decisions. We cognize that if you censor content, it ever backfires oregon astir ever backfires."

NewsGuard had a browser hold instrumentality that rates online contented based connected its reliability. Click here to larn more.