What are the fake news “propagator” Twitter accounts on the Covid-19?

• The fake news concerning the coronavirus has literally exploded in recent weeks on social networks, especially on Twitter.
• "False information passed through the cracks despite the efforts made by Twitter which pin more content relaying news," said Chine Labbé of NewsGuard, an organization specializing in pre-bunking.
• 20 Minutes listed the main accounts providing information during this pandemic, based on the latest report published by NewsGuard.

"Drinking alcohol protects against the coronavirus", "being exposed to the sun or heat allows the disease to disappear", "Covid-19 was created in the laboratory"…. The fake news concerning the coronavirus has literally exploded in recent weeks on social networks, especially on Twitter. "There has been an unprecedented volume of false information around Covid-19, which illustrates the virality of disinformation in times of crisis," researcher Camille François, a specialist in the fight against disinformation campaigns , confirmed at 20 Minutes .

NewsGuard, which has developed an Internet browser extension to analyze the reliability of information sources [pre-bunking], also found in its latest report "an explosion in conspiracy theories and false information between January and April ”, or almost 122% more engagement on social networks. "Fake news passed through the cracks despite the efforts made by Twitter which pin more content relaying news", explains to 20 Minutes Chine Labbé, Europe's editor-in-chief of NewsGuard.

Who are the intox “Super Diffusers” on # Covid_19 on Twitter? The European team of @NewsGuardRating has identified 16 accounts in Italy, France and Germany with more than 20,000 followers having conveyed information - our report in FR is here: https://t.co/SBf1YTBjSd 1/2

"We have identified 16 Twitter accounts * in France (7), Italy (5) and Germany (4) which are considered to be" super propagators "of false information on the coronavirus. Combined, these accounts reach around 616,600 followers who, of course, spread this false information on a large scale through their own accounts, ”explains Chine Labbé.

• @AlainSoralOffic (61,400 subscribers)

The Twitter account of far-right essayist Alain Soral, who has been repeatedly condemned for anti-Semitic insults and Holocaust denial, is followed by 61,400 followers. "On May 5, he spread, for example, a fake news about the former boss of Microsoft Bill Gates and the research of vaccines against the" couillonavirus "with a link to a YouTube video published on EgaliteEtReconciliation.fr", explains NewsGuard. "This global Covid-19 pandemic has an already immediate interest, it is to be the advertising spot of the global vaccination that Mr. Bill Gates offers us", says Alain Soral in this video.

Soral is (almost always) right - Couillonavirus, the sequel! https://t.co/UcM0iE6yCc via @EetR_National

• @TomLaRuffa (43,500 subscribers)

The account of the French professional wrestler Tom La Ruffa, alias Sylvester Lefort in the ring, who tweets in English and French and shares wrestling videos and comments on current events, in particular on the alleged effects on the health of 5G technology , is attended by 43,500 people. The wrestler shared, on May 6, a video extract from the documentary  Plandemic , "full of false allegations on the coronavirus pandemic, including the allegation that the virus has been manipulated, or that the flu vaccine would increase the chances of catching it, ”explains Chine Labbé.

Other than that, plots do not exist.
And the pharmaco-medical complex only wants our good.
And the media is always telling the truth.

🙄🙄🙄https: //t.co/6rnKZsfaPO

• @pierrejovanovic (39,300 subscribers)

The Twitter account of author and blogger Pierre Jovanovic, who mainly retweets news on the French government, and articles from sites deemed unreliable, is followed by more than 39,000 followers. In an April 16 tweet, "he suggests that Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates may be" the only manipulator of this virus, "given that he" wants fewer people on the earth, "says the editor. Chief NewsGuard Europe. The tweet includes a photo from a 1997 issue of George magazine featuring an interview with Bill Gates, and a quote attributed to him that he allegedly said that an "overcrowded planet" would be "smothered until extinction by a virus attacking the lungs ”.

and if bill gates was the only handler of this virus .. he wants fewer people on earth. has been wanting to vaccinate you and has been talking about a pandemic for years it is still crazy this quote, right? #covid #BillGates https://t.co/YeVWzO5D5x

• Equality And Reconciliation @ EetR_National (33,200 subscribers)

The Twitter account of the far-right site EgaliteEtReconciliation.fr, which very often publishes false allegations and conspiracy theories (its founder is Alain Soral), is followed by more than 33,000 subscribers. In a tweet from April 19, for example, "a link to an article published on EgaliteEtReconciliation.fr states that Vitamin C can" prevent "the coronavirus. The article refers to vitamin C for sale on the online trade site of organic products Au Bon Sens, which belongs to a company majority owned by Alain Soral ”, decrypts Chine Labbé.

How to prevent Covid-19 with vitamin C powder? https://t.co/7tU8cY1FRT

• Free info @ linfolibre (29,300 subscribers)

This Twitter account created in 2017 which describes itself as the "media of resistance to the unhappy globalization", is followed by more than 29,000 subscribers. In an April 27 tweet, the account incorrectly claims that Japanese Nobel Prize winner Honjo Tasuku said he did not believe the coronavirus was a natural virus. Comments denied by the Japanese scientist, as 20 Minutes demonstrated in an article in the Fake Off section.

Second Nobel Prize in Medicine not to believe that # Covid_19 is a natural virus: the Japanese Honjo Tasuku is an immunologist. He shared the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2018 and is known for his identification of the programmed cell death protein https://t.co/xVeYRd3ShC

• The Free Thinker @LLP_Le_Vrai (23,900 subscribers)

The Twitter account of the conspiracy site LeLibrePenseur.org and the Franco-Algerian youtubeur Salim Laïbi, who is based in Marseille, and presents himself as a “dentist, whistleblower, publisher and writer”, was created in 2011, and regularly shares false information on other topics, including vaccines. In a tweet of April 17, he notably published a link to an article by LeLibrePenseur.org on the statements by French Nobel Prize winner Luc Montagnier that the coronavirus contains HIV inserts, which suggests that it was created artificially, details NewsGuard.

"The Coronavirus is a virus released from a Chinese laboratory with HIV DNA", according to the Nobel Prize in medicine Jean-Luc Montagnier https://t.co/MLyMPunldG

• Identity Doctor @ Reveident (23,500 subscribers)

The Twitter account of this general practitioner based in Poitiers, who indicates in his biography believing "that each people has the right to their identity" and which supports Eric Zemmour, has more than 23,000 followers. NewsGuard notably noted an April 18 tweet which links to a link to an article from the anti-Islam site RiposteLaique.com, which incorrectly claims that the virus is "from an American military laboratory" and that "it is indeed a weapon of biological destruction ”.

Pr Montagnier's bomb: the Coronavirus would come from a manipulation https://t.co/UFZdrFxT9Q
Very interesting.
Or when men play sorcerer's apprentices - or God!

By the Web

Coronavirus: "The unprecedented volume of fake news illustrates the virality of disinformation in times of crisis", believes Camille François

Sciences

Coronavirus: "It's a fight for influence!" »How the infoxes forced scientists to review their communication

20 seconds of context

To be selected as “great broadcasters”, Twitter accounts had to meet three simple criteria: “have large audiences, with more than 20,000 followers on Twitter, and have published or shared clearly false content on the virus and be always active at 20 May 2020 ”, details NewsGuard. Each of the accounts involved has been contacted by the NewsGuard organization.

• Conspiracy theory
• Twitter
• Covid 19
• Coronavirus
• Social media
• Fake Off
• Fake news
• By the Web
• Internet
• Accounts