COVID-19 Misinformation: From Reconfigured Content to High-Profile Spreaders

Misinformation about COVID-19 has exploded alongside the pandemic itself, with fact-checkers worldwide struggling to keep pace with the flood of false claims circulating online. A new analysis of fact-checked content reveals that rather than being fabricated from scratch, most coronavirus misinformation actually reconfigures or misrepresents existing information—and prominent public figures play an outsized role in spreading these falsehoods.

Research from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism and the Oxford Internet Institute examined 225 pieces of English-language COVID-19 misinformation deemed false or misleading by fact-checkers between January and March 2020. The findings paint a complex picture of how coronavirus misinformation evolves and spreads.

The scale of fact-checking efforts has grown dramatically as the pandemic intensified. The number of English-language fact-checks about coronavirus increased by more than 900% from January to March. Cristina Tardáguila, Associate Director of the International Fact-checking Network, has called COVID-19 “the biggest challenge fact-checkers have ever faced.”

Contrary to common assumptions, relatively little coronavirus misinformation is completely fabricated. The analysis shows that 59% of the examined content involves various forms of reconfiguration—where existing and often true information is twisted, recontextualized, or reworked to create misleading narratives. Only 38% was completely fabricated from scratch.

The most common form of misinformation (29%) contains some accurate information mixed with false or misleading details. Another 24% involves images or videos mislabeled to suggest something different from what they actually show. For example, a 2017 photo of grocery store shelves in Texas ahead of Hurricane Harvey was recirculated as supposedly showing pandemic panic buying.

Despite widespread concerns about deepfakes and sophisticated AI manipulation, researchers found no examples of such technology being used in their sample. Instead, manipulated content used simple, low-tech editing techniques—what researchers call “cheap fakes” produced using basic photo and video editing tools.

While most misinformation originates from ordinary citizens, the study found that high-profile figures drive the highest engagement. Top-down misinformation from politicians, celebrities, and prominent public figures accounted for just 20% of the false claims in the sample but generated 69% of all social media engagement. This highlights the disproportionate impact when influential people spread misinformation, whether through social media, television appearances, or public statements.

The content of the misinformation varies widely, but the most common false claims concern the actions or policies of public authorities—including governments, health organizations, and international bodies like the WHO and UN—appearing in 39% of the examined content. The second most common category involves misinformation about how the virus spreads through communities.

Social media platforms have taken steps to address coronavirus misinformation, but with varying effectiveness. The analysis found significant differences in how platforms handle false content identified by fact-checkers. On Twitter, 59% of posts rated as false remained active with no warning label. By comparison, 27% of false content remained unlabeled on YouTube and 24% on Facebook.

“Our analysis suggests that misinformation about COVID-19 comes in many different forms, from many different sources, and makes many different claims,” the researchers note. “It frequently reconfigures existing or true content rather than fabricating it wholesale.”

The findings suggest that addressing COVID-19 misinformation requires a coordinated effort from independent fact-checkers, news media, platform companies, and public authorities. No single approach will solve the problem, as the landscape of misinformation is as diverse as accurate information about the pandemic.

Given that much misinformation directly or indirectly questions the actions and legitimacy of public authorities, independent fact-checkers play a crucial role, as they can provide authoritative analysis that people might not accept from governments themselves.

The researchers concluded that while fact-checking resources have been largely redirected to address the coronavirus crisis, misinformation about other topics hasn’t disappeared. With coronavirus news supplementing rather than replacing existing news consumption, a diverse landscape of misinformation continues to circulate globally.