80% of Maldita.es' denials focused on the pandemic between March and December 2020 according to a report on disinformation and denialist speeches prepared together with InteRed

During the first months of the pandemic, Maldita.es focused its verification work on new disinformation about the virus, detecting an average of 5.3 hoaxes about COVID-19 per day between March and April 2020. In the report, Maldita.es analyzed disinformation on three topics: COVID-19, climate change and gender violence, investigating the evolution of hoaxes from January 1, 2019 to January 1, 2021. During this period, the outbreak of the coronavirus health crisis was crucial in focusing society’s attention on the evolution of the disease and increasing the viralization of hoaxes about the pandemic.

In this interactive graph you can consult the denials by topic and date to see their evolution

Hoaxes about gender violence decreased by 16.6% with the arrival of the pandemic

The research concludes that in 10 months (March to December 2020) almost 800 disinformation about COVID-19 were registered, hoaxes about gender violence had a decrease of 16.6% since the beginning of the pandemic, and since March 2020 only 3 disinformation about climate change were registered. The research methodology involved selecting hoaxes and other types of disinformation on the three topics in headlines such as «False claims» or «What we know about» published in Maldita.es during the period studied.

The rise of hate speech and denialism, often fueled by disinformation, highlights the need to provide citizens with tools to combat hoaxes. To promote media literacy, the report includes educational resources to identify and combat hate speech and disinformation with tools in analog and digital formats. All of the resources, along with the full study, can be found at https://noloniegues.intered.org/.  

The study was produced in collaboration with InteRed and with the financial support of the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID). The presentation of the report «Disinformation and denialist discourses on gender violence, climate change and COVID-19 in Spain. Tools to identify and dismantle them» was held on September 21st at the Press Association of Madrid, you can watch it on YouTube: