#Coronaconspiracy: Conspiracy Theories on and YouTube in the Age of

Author: Sam Dodd // Institution: City, University of London // Academic Year: 2019-2020

“When you have a situation where something defies explanation, people want better explanations

than they’re getting, and that’s where conspiracy theories come from, that’s where they’ve always

come from. People need to bring order to chaos” (VICE, 2020, 4:35).

This essay will examine the most popular conspiracy theories circulated on Twitter and YouTube about the

2019-20 global COVID-19 (coronavirus), in the English language, for the one-week time frame 5th

May 2020 – 11th May 2020, then examine news coverage originating from UK-based outlets related to those conspiracy theories for the two month period preceding this time frame, for background and context. It will ask what the roles of the law and regulators, the platforms themselves, and the information professional could be in this context.

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Terminology

The way that ‘most popular’ is measured is explained in ‘Twitter and YouTube Data Analysis: Research

Parameters’ further on.

The term ‘’ is defined as: “the theory that an event or phenomenon occurs as a result of a conspiracy between interested parties; a belief that some covert but influential agency (typically political in motivation and oppressive in intent) is responsible for an unexplained event” (Oxford English Dictionary,

2020). This essay will explore what interested parties or influential agencies conspiracy theorists claim exist; and the motivation or intent that these agencies allegedly have.

Background

‘COVID-19’, known also as ‘SARS-CoV-2’ and ‘Coronavirus Disease’, is a respiratory tract virus first identified in December 2019 in Hubei, a province of . Since then, it grew into a pandemic, with a global death toll

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of 283,153 as at 11:45 BST on 12th May 2020 (World Health Organisation, 2020), with 32,692 of those being in the UK as at 16:00 BST on 12th May 2020 (Department of Health & Social Care, 2020b). All three terms will be used in this essay, as they are all used interchangeably on the two online platforms this piece analyses.

At the time of writing, the risk level of COVID-19 was assessed as ‘high’ by the government

(Department of Health & Social Care 2020a).

Twitter and YouTube Data Analysis: Research Parameters

‘Most popular’ was measured on Twitter and YouTube by carrying out advanced searches on both platforms, conducted on Tuesday 12th May 2020, with the following parameters:

- YouTube: conducting five keyword searches, one for each of these search terms: coronaconspiracy,

coronahoax, coronavirusconspiracy, plandemic, covidconspiracy. In each search: filtering by ‘This

Week’; sorting by ‘View Count’; analysing the five highest viewed videos in the English language that

appear at the top of the search results. Comment sections on each video were also analysed. Some

videos appeared in more than one keyword search, thus the overall total of videos analysed reduced

from the expected 25 to a total of 18. An index of the videos analysed is attached as Appendix A.

- Twitter: conducting five keyword searches, one for each of these hashtags: #coronaconspiracy,

#coronahoax, #coronavirusconspiracy, #plandemic, #covidconspiracy; filtering by: language –

English; date range – 5th May 2020 to 11th May 2020; minimum number of likes – 1,000. This brought

up 22 original tweets in the ‘Top’ results. The reach (number of retweets and likes) of each post was

also analysed. One of these tweets was a further comment on another tweet already in the list, which

added nothing research-worthy as it merely repeated the statement in the original; a second tweet

was eliminated as it was satire. Therefore, the overall total of tweets analysed reduced from the

expected 22 to a total of 20. An index of the posts analysed is attached as Appendix B.

It is acknowledged that there is a disparity between the number of posts analysed on both platforms, with two more on Twitter. However, this was the closest possible number, with the above search parameters in place that it was possible to reach.

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For both advanced searches, the content that was retained (18 YouTube videos and 20 Twitter posts) either analysed conspiracy theories without explicitly taking a position by either supporting or debunking them, originated, upheld or supported the theories, or explicitly debunked the theories. However, satire posts were eliminated (by ascertaining from the tone of the content and/or background of the poster that it was satirising the theory) – these posts were irrelevant for the research.

Types of COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories – The Trends

Theories circulating on Twitter and YouTube that were unsupported by official scientific and medical sources

(World Health Organisation, Public Health England, and the National Health Service), or had no evidence otherwise, and thus could be classified as conspiracy theories, fell into five main broad categories after the search parameters specified in the section above were applied. In no particular order, these were:

Vaccine / Conspiracies: these used existing and long-running anti-vaccine conspiracy theories as a springboard, ones that existed prior to the arrival of COVID-19, that claim vaccinations are dangerous, Big Pharma make billions in revenue from them, high ranking government officials are “in on it”,

“whistleblowers” are thrown in prison for telling the “truth”, and only anti-vaccination proponents can discover and share this truth with the otherwise unaware public. The coronavirus version of the vaccination conspiracy theories circulating was that Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft, released the virus in order to control the population medically with the vaccine he would develop to counter it. According to this conspiracy theory, the vaccine would be mandatory – a theory disproven by the largest barrister chambers in

London, UK, using the wording of the Control of Disease Act 1984 and the Coronavirus Act 2020 Schedule 21

(Hooper, 2020). This theory sprang from a) the statement Gates made in relation to the funding and research his foundation was carrying out to build factories for the development of the seven most promising potential vaccines for coronavirus (, 2020), and b) a coronavirus-related patent granted to a British company by Gates’ foundation for research into a different coronavirus, one related to poultry (New York

Times, 2020). Several of the posts analysed claimed that COVID-19 is an abbreviation for Certification of

Vaccination ID-start date 2019 – a mandatory ID chip injected into every citizen inside the vaccine that would

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enable Microsoft, and all world governments he was in collusion with, to track an individuals every move, and make them sick remotely so that new drugs can then be tested on them.

5G Conspiracies: these fell into two main theories, which we will categorise as A and B.

Theory A was that causes coronavirus by making people fall unwell from the radio waves emitted from 5G towers, and that (in the UK, at least) the NHS Nightingale Hospitals that were built as a response to the expected numbers of coronavirus victims were, in fact, built for people falling sick by 5G radio waves (The

Guardian, 2020a). It could be asked why, if the government was wishing to kill citizens with these waves (the same waves that the 2G, 3G and 4G generations used (Full Fact, 2020a)), it would then try and heal these individuals – for free, in the nationalised health system that the UK has.

Theory B riffs from Theory A, with a slight variation: that the virus had been fabricated as a cover for deaths already caused by 5G rollout, and in fact does not exist at all. In March 2020, the International Commission on

Non-Ionising Radiation Protection confirmed that 5G is officially safe (5GUK, 2020), however, this did not stop media outlets from airing related , resulting in the communications regulator Ofcom threatening British broadcasters with sanctions if they continued to do so (, 2020b). This variant of the theory hinged on the original claim that was where 5G was first rolled out, which was used as an explanation for why Wuhan citizens fell sick first. This claim has been debunked (Full Fact, 2020b), but still it ravages the dark corners of Twitter and YouTube, as found with the posts this essay analyses.

Curtailment of Personal Freedom Conspiracies: these center around two main arguments: a) that the virus does not exist, world governments having entirely invented it because they want their citizens to be frightened enough to stay home, not exercise their freedoms, not connect to each other, and thus be easier to control on a mass scale, and b) linked to the vaccine theories, that every citizen will be tracked digitally through the chip that will allegedly be in the vaccines when they are administered.

‘The Government is Trying to Kill Us’ Conspiracies: these theories are centered around governments attempting to reduce unsustainably growing population numbers by killing off the elderly and disabled in order to make room for more work-capable people (thus more economic gains via more taxes and less

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sickness benefits or pensions), more housing freed up, and less pressure on health services. Many posts making these claims stated that there was a mistaken assumption on the part of authorities that the virus would only kill those groups – a claim unfortunately fanned by the fact that, for a short while in March and early April, this was indeed the information given by the majority of global health authorities.

‘China Manufactured/Released It’ Conspiracies: these centred around theories that the Wuhan

Institute of Virology either a) caused COVID-19 through sloppy biosecurity causing the virus to be released accidentally, with the Chinese government now conducting a cover-up to avoid taking responsibility, or b) manufactured then released the virus intentionally as a bioweapon in order to control population numbers

(spinning off from the last category, ‘The Government is Trying to Kill Us’). These are theories that the scientific community firmly rejects, on the grounds that the genetic sequence of the virus originated from animals, and if engineering had taken place, this would show in the sequence. It is now known that research was indeed taking place in the Wuhan laboratory when COVID-19 began to spread, however, this research was into all human originating in animals, not just COVID-19 (coronaviruses were first identified in the 1960’s and there are four common types as well as the three that caused MERS, SARS and

COVID-19 (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020)). There was also a racist undertone to many of these conversations, in criticisms of the cultural practices and food habits of the Chinese in relation to their live food markets. That works well for right-wing white supremacist conspiracy theory message boards such as 4chan and 8chan, as it fits with, and justifies, their narratives of racial supremacy, nationalism and border control (which in COVID-times manifests as one solution for virus control, as if carriers cannot cross borders, they cannot spread the virus to other countries). As Counterpoint remind us in their 2013 report on the origins of conspiracy theories in France, “these beliefs can be easily manipulated and harvested by those who want to … target minority groups” (Counterpoint, 2013). Not unrelated to this, and important to mention, is the anti-Semitism that COVID-related conspiracy theories have also helped fuel, with “a significant rise in accusations that Jews, as individuals and as a collective, are behind the spread of the virus or are directly profiting from it” (European Jewish Congress, 2020).

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The most advanced theories, and thus the most popular, had one thing in common: they took elements of more than one conspiracy theory from the above list and used them together to support and reinforce one another, thus strengthening their arguments. Additionally, in the comments sections of some of the posts analysed, there was discussion between and across different theory fringe groups, suggesting that conspiracy theory communities have a propensity to seek out similar communities whose narratives reinforce one another.

Fear & Trust

There was a theme present across the theories analysed, which was one of a lack of trust in mainstream institutions and authorities. Communities and individuals feel destabilised by the understandable fear that is generated by a pandemic. Conspiracy theories can be very useful for individuals psychologically, in the sense that they can provide comfort and aid sense-making in times of powerlessness, uncertainty and anxiety. They impose structure on, and an explanation for, an unpredictable environment and future, and with COVID-19 currently having no perceivable end date, many individuals will have a greater psychological need for structure and solidarity during an event such as a pandemic. When we also remember that social isolation and quarantine, coupled with a complete upheaval of familiar routines and schedules, can arguably reinforce and strengthen feelings of instability, fear and anxiety in individuals, then it is perhaps not surprising at all that conspiracy theories proliferated during COVID-19.

It is useful to consider why individuals may be inclined towards believing conspiracy theories, and in what contexts it may be more likely to happen. A 2015 study conducted by Prooijen and Acker provides a good example. In this study, they split 119 people into two groups, telling one group to write down a time when they were totally in control, and the other group to write down a time when they didn’t feel in control. This gave the first group a powerful feeling, while the other felt helpless. They then surveyed the respondent’s attitudes on a building project in Amsterdam that accidentally destroyed the foundations of many houses, which many people believed was a conspiracy of the city council. Those who had been primed to feel in control were less likely to believe the government was up to something evil. “We found that if people feel in control, then they are less inclined to believe those conspiracy theories. Giving people a sense of control can

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make them less suspicious over governmental operations” (Prooijen and Acker, 2015). Buckland tells us that

“what a group knows or believes can have important political, economic and practical consequences.

Understanding what is known in a community allows prediction of how the community is likely to react to new developments” (Buckland, 2017).

In recent years, with election and referendum upheavals in the West caused by eroding levels of trust in politicians and the process of globalisation, resulting rising nationalism, and the influence of networks and targeted advertising on voting habits, trust in our institutions has been steeply decreasing, with increasing levels of fear being the natural counterweight on this metaphorical seesaw. Reliable, transparent governance is key, and it is crucial for governments and media outlets to communicate information clearly. If we do not have this as a society, information becomes distorted, and conspiracies appear in the gaps.

The Role of the Law – Regulation of Press & Media Broadcasters

Diminishing levels of trust in traditional media outlets also leads to the proliferation of misinformation online. In a global pandemic, this can have catastrophic results, causing many more deaths due to inaccurate information, or the dismissal of accurate and potentially life-saving information. In a piece for the

Independent Press Standards Organisation, the UK’s press regulator, Fenech acknowledges that “newspapers and magazines are on the front line of coronavirus coverage. Every day, they are delivering vital news and analysis to the public … journalists will be working non-stop to inform the public of developments regarding the impact of COVID-19. Reporting breaking or rapidly changing news is undoubtedly challenging, but the need for accuracy is paramount” (Fenech, 2020). Accuracy is especially important when the information is coming from main and trusted news sources. In the race to report first, many outlets during the pandemic have had to rescind or correct information they have published, after the fact. Ofcom (the UK’s broadcasting regulator) confirmed it was “actively monitoring television and radio stations that might be broadcasting potentially harmful views about the causes and origins of COVID-19 that have the potential to undermine people’s trust in the advice of mainstream sources of information during the crisis” (The Guardian, 2020a).

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Ofcom published guidelines on 23rd March 2020, which at the time of writing, have not been updated since.

These guidelines have a section on the broadcast of content relating to coronavirus, which is just three paragraphs long. In this section, broadcasters are asked to be aware of “the significant potential harm that can be caused by material relating to the coronavirus. This could include: Health claims related to the virus which could be harmful; Medical advice which may be harmful; Accuracy or material misleadingness in programmes in relation to the virus or public policy regarding it” (Ofcom, 2020). Unfortunately, by the very of the industry it seeks to regulate, Ofcom has no choice but to be a reactive, rather than a proactive, regulator. This means that and misinformation may still be aired, and not punished till after the fact, by which point it has entered into the narratives of the individuals who consume it.

The Role of Twitter and YouTube

On Twitter, almost 60% of false claims about coronavirus remained on the platform (as of late April 2020), without a warning label. This put them far behind YouTube and Facebook, who left 27% and 24% up on their sites, respectively (, 2020). Twitter has made multiple statements with regards to coronavirus misinformation on their site and state that they are actively working to remove posts that are flagged by users, but at over half remaining, they do not appear to be doing a thorough job of it.

YouTube was studied on 21st March 2020 by researchers who found that of the 19 videos that they found to have contained disinformation, “about a third came from news sources, a quarter from national news outlets, a quarter from internet news outlets, and 13% from independent video makers” (Li et al, 2020). YouTube released a statement shortly after this study was released, saying that they were committed to ensuring that misleading videos about coronavirus were taken down in line with their policies.

For several years, many sections of society have been asking whether social media should be subject to regulation in the same way as press and broadcasting are. Joseph Uscinski, a conspiracy theory expert, thinks not. He states that, “Conspiracy theories are unique in that they are not necessarily false … Should tech companies ban or bury conspiracy theories, they may be suppressing vital ideas which could be verified if investigated further. Also, even if many of them are false, conspiracy theories may help uncover truth ...

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Asking tech companies to identify conspiracy theories would put them in the position of making millions of subjective decisions about what is true and what is not. And they would be making these decisions under pressure from governments who may have a stake in many of these decisions” (Uscinski, 2019).

The Role of the Information Professional

It is now becoming clear that, rather than being a momentary upheaval, coronavirus is a generational one.

The effects, and the anxiety, may be felt in society for years, not just months. Given that individuals and society at large need reliable information sources to feel safe, and should not have to sift through enormous amounts of disinformation and misinformation in order to find it, the information professional has a role to play here.

Working in collaboration with fact checking organisations, with scientific and health authorities, with academics, with other information professionals, and with librarians ‘on the ground’ in their communities, and creating networks with these connections of information champions, information professionals could help stem the flow of misinformation and disinformation that leads to the formation and propagation of conspiracy theories. In the absence of sensible, reliable, reinforcing and encouraging state apparatus, and in the absence also of an internet built for timely, correct, updated and reliable sources, information professionals can facilitate responsible information and research habits, and help foster inclusive communities of informed citizens where we live and work, encouraging the use of reliable, robust resources coupled with healthy, open conversations, in uncertain times.

Conclusion

Coronavirus, at the time of writing, is still very much a present and life-threatening danger to all global citizens, and conspiracy theories are undermining trust in public health authorities at this critical moment.

This is already having devastating results. In times of globalised governments and economies, with trust eroding in traditional structures, other informational entities – often not accurate, and sometimes based on fear – will always fill the gaps.

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Various events of the 21st Century, such as politician scandals, phone hacking, MP’s expenses, the Iraq War, sex abuse scandals, Windrush, Wikileaks, Cambridge Analytica, and many others, give the general public the message that governments and politicians cannot be trusted. Trust is undeniably a major, if not central, component in the speed at which conspiracy theories arise and spread, as something needs to fill the knowledge gap that communities experience when subjected to the major upheaval that a pandemic of a global scale causes. So, it is crucial to acknowledge that conspiracy theories do not exist in a vacuum, or always without evidence. As shown, there have been multiple examples throughout history of conspiracy theories that turn out to be true, either wholly or in part – and governments have at times been one of the biggest purveyors of conspiracy theories themselves (Uscinski, 2019). For this reason, any regulation of social media must be done in line with freedom of information, and laws.

Additionally, instead of dismissing conspiracy theorists as cranks (which will never diminish the power that conspiracy theories have), it may be more sensible to attempt to understand the context in which conspiracy theories spring up, and the histories of the communities and individuals from which they spring. However, it is also an ethical duty and moral responsibility to simultaneously acknowledge and interrogate the opposing reality – that “together in groups, the people that accept [conspiracy narratives] can not only sway policy, but become irrational, radicalised, and violent” (Uscinski, 2019). In times of great upheaval and instability, we all need definite answers, and to hold two such opposing realities at once, acknowledging both simultaneously, can feel difficult. But if we are to work against the tide of inaccurate and dangerous conspiracy theories in order to quite literally save lives, intellectual elitism and superiority will only continue to alienate individuals and groups who are inclined to believe and propagate conspiracy theories, which in turn will fan the flames of conspiracies, and increase the threat to lives in our communities as a result.

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Reference List

5GUK (2020) 5G is officially safe says International Commission on Non-Ionising Radiation Protection. Available

at: https://5g.co.uk/news/5g-is-officially-safe-international-commission/5254/ (Accessed: 13th May

2020).

Bloomberg (2020) Facebook, Twitter, YouTube Remove Posts from Bolsonaro. Available at:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-31/facebook-twitter-pull-misleading-posts-

from-brazil-s-bolsonaro (Accessed: 13th May 2020).

Buckland, M. (2017) Information and Society. Massachusetts: MIT Press.

Business Insider (2020) Bill Gates is helping fund new factories for 7 potential coronavirus vaccines, even

though it will waste billions of dollars. Available at: https://www.businessinsider.com/bill-gates-

factories-7-different-vaccines-to-fight-coronavirus-2020-4?r=US&IR=T (Accessed: 13th May 2020).

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2020) Human Coronavirus Types. Available at:

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/types.html (Accessed: 12th May 2020).

Counterpoint (2013) Trust and Conspiracy Theories. Available at: http://counterpoint.uk.com/trust-and-

conspiracy-theories/ (Accessed: 14th May 2020).

Department of Health & Social Care (2020a) Coronavirus Risk Level. Available at:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-information-for-the-public#risk-level

(Accessed: 12th May 2020).

Department of Health & Social Care (2020b) Coronavirus (COVID-19) in the UK. Available at:

https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/ (Accessed: 12th May 2020).

European Jewish Congress (2020) Kantor Centre Antisemitism Worldwide Report 019 – The Coronavirus Crisis

is Reviving ‘Blood Libels’ Against Jews. Tel Aviv University: The Kantor Centre.

Fenech, H. (2020) IPSO Blog: Reporting of coronavirus (COVID-19). Available at:

https://www.ipso.co.uk/news-press-releases/blog/ipso-blog-reporting-of-coronavirus-covid-19/

(Accessed: 13th May 2020).

Full Fact (2020a) These claims about the new coronavirus and 5G are unfounded. Available at:

https://fullfact.org/online/coronavirus-5G/ (Accessed: 13th May 2020).

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Full Fact (2020b) The Wuhan coronavirus has nothing to do with 5G. Available at:

https://fullfact.org/online/wuhan-5g-coronavirus/ (Accessed: 13th May 2020).

Hooper, L. (2020) Coronavirus Act 2020: Does it permit mandatory vaccines? Available at:

https://www.gardencourtchambers.co.uk/coronavirus-legal-news-views/coronavirus-act-2020-

does-it-permit-mandatory-vaccinations (Accessed: 13th May 2020).

Li, H.O., Bailey, A., Huynh, D., and Chan, J. (2020) ‘YouTube as a source of information on COVID-19: a

pandemic of misinformation?’ BMJ Global Health, 5(5), p. e002604.

New York Times (2020) Bill Gates, at Odds With Trump on Virus, Becomes a Right-Wing Target. Available at:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/17/technology/bill-gates-virus-conspiracy-

theories.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur (Accessed: 13th May 2020).

Ofcom (2020) Note to Broadcasters: Coronavirus. Available at:

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0025/193075/Note-to-broadcasters-

Coronavirus.pdf (Accessed: 14th May 2020).

Oxford English Dictionary (2020) conspiracy, n. (compound). Available at: https://0-www-oed-

com.wam.city.ac.uk/view/Entry/39766#eid8383475 (Accessed: 16th April 2020).

Prooijen, J.W. and Acker, M. (2015) ‘The Influence of Control on Belief in Conspiracy Theories: Conceptual and

Applied Extensions’, Applied Cognitive Psychology, 29(5), pp. 753-761.

VICE (2020) Going Down the COVID-19 Conspiracy Rabbithole: Qanon. 7 May. Available at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmiOt94WIVU&list=PLIB34IEOgg9XnNVpujjzfR7QwkZxy0VdJ&

index=6 (Accessed: 13th May 2020).

The Guardian (2020a) UK Media Outlets told not to promote baseless 5G coronavirus theories. Available at:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/apr/02/uk-media-outlets-told-not-to-promote-

baseless-5g-coronavirus-theories (Accessed: 13th May 2020).

The Guardian (2020b) Broadband engineers threatened due to 5G coronavirus conspiracies. Available at:

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/apr/03/broadband-engineers-threatened-due-to-

5g-coronavirus-conspiracies (Accessed: 13th May 2020).

The Washington Post (2020) On Twitter, almost 60 percent of false claims about coronavirus remain online –

without a warning label. Available at:

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/04/07/twitter-almost-60-percent-false-

claims-about-coronavirus-remain-online-without-warning-label/ (Accessed: 13th May 2020).

Uscinski, J. (2019) Conspiracy theory vs. free speech – should we regulate social media? Available at:

https://www.bennettinstitute.cam.ac.uk/blog/conspiracy-theory-vs-free-speech-should-we-regulat/

(Accessed: 14th May 2020).

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Health Emergencies Programme. Available at: https://who.sprinklr.com/ (Accessed: 14th May 2020).

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Appendix A: Index of YouTube Videos Analysed

‘Plandemic’ keyword search

A Doctor Reacts to “Plandemic”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHeg9DDrjMs

(1)Doctor Fact-Checks PLANDEMIC Conspiracy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWpjc1QZg84

(3)PLANDEMIC: The next COVID-19 Conspiracy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEXTpNHVnYw

#HalfWoke: “Plandemic Movie” What You Didn’t Know: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VtTv51152o

A “Plandemic” flavored Coronavirus update: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q30SFMTw1Us

‘Corona Conspiracy’ keyword search

(2)Coronavirus Conspiracy Theories Are Ravaging ERs, And Doctors Are Fed Up:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GylbOHOujQ

(1)Doctor Fact-Checks PLANDEMIC Conspiracy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWpjc1QZg84

(4)Corona Conspiracies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZ77zY7yhSY

(6)Coronavirus outbreak: Bill Gates, 5G, Wuhan lab – COVID-19 conspiracy theories that won’t go away:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHtizA5Jpok

(5)Where did the coronavirus come from? COVID-19 special:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rELGQfqoGg&t=139s

‘Coronahoax’ keyword search

Corona Virus? #CoronaHoax: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46H5J03gKps

We are not the only ones – coronahoax and anti-vaccines: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkP34FyVS3A

Coronavirus Truths. Coronahoax: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQ03-hqhAmg

CORONA VIRUS SHOPPING HARRASSMENT - #CORONAHOAX:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ux3YSiuZPw4

Bill Gates has a Final Solution to CORONA – CORONAVIRUS – COVID19 – CORONAHOAX:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5GMI9GlYOw

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‘Coronavirus conspiracy’ keyword search

(2)Coronavirus Conspiracy Theories Are Ravaging ERs, And Doctors Are Fed Up:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GylbOHOujQ

(1)Doctor Fact-Checks PLANDEMIC Conspiracy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWpjc1QZg84

(3)PLANDEMIC: The next COVID-19 Conspiracy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEXTpNHVnYw

Going Down the COVID-19 Conspiracy Rabbithole: Qanon:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmiOt94WIVU

(4)Corona Conspiracies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZ77zY7yhSY

‘Covid conspiracy’ keyword search

(5)Where did the coronavirus come from? COVID-19 special:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rELGQfqoGg&t=139s

(6)Coronavirus outbreak: Bill Gates, 5G, Wuhan lab – COVID-19 conspiracy theories that won’t go away:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHtizA5Jpok

Crushing Conspiracy Theories About COVID-19 & Climate Change:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4wx1XSx2SI

The Left think a COVID-19 Enquiry is a ‘conspiracy’ to get Donald Trump re-elected:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkonwQ5i6Vk

Cell towers attacked over COVID-19 conspiracy theories: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1rl0GFbxqk

Search Notes: where videos appear prefixed with (1) through (6), this is where that video appeared in more than one keyword search, so the overall total of videos reduced from the expected total of 25 (top five videos per keyword search at five keyword searches) to 18, as there were five videos that appeared twice, and one that appeared three times.

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Appendix B: Index of Tweets Analysed

May 6th, 6:50am: https://twitter.com/TommyG/status/1257910658554908674

May 8th, 1:40am: https://twitter.com/SheepKnowMore/status/1258557274814943234

May 9th, 4:56pm: https://twitter.com/SheepKnowMore/status/1259150218643173377

*May 9th, 12:24am: https://twitter.com/SheepKnowMore/status/1258900495164248064

May 6th, 9:45pm: https://twitter.com/SheepKnowMore/status/1258135932303114240

May 8th, 9:57pm: https://twitter.com/NoodleSparklez/status/1258863695930601473

May 9th, 4:17pm: https://twitter.com/SheepKnowMore/status/1259140374175510528

May 7th, 4:04am: https://twitter.com/cjtruth/status/1258231136259629059

May 10th, 10:05pm: https://twitter.com/KIMAGA4EVER/status/1259590391344640000

May 6th, 5:32am: https://twitter.com/DonnaWR8/status/1257890946580123653

May 6th, 5:59am: https://twitter.com/cjtruth/status/1257897703452880896

May 8th, 4:10pm: https://twitter.com/Jordan_Sather_/status/1258776283414056960

May 7th, 1:31am: https://twitter.com/LATiffani1/status/1258192726299865091

May 6th, 11:23pm: https://twitter.com/cjtruth/status/1258160469463965696

May 7th, 1:01am: https://twitter.com/RachelAlter007/status/1258185264377274369

May 8th, 11:40am: https://twitter.com/RachelAlter007/status/1258185264377274369

May 8th, 9:19pm: https://twitter.com/aalkermd/status/1258854151649464321

May 7th, 1:52pm: https://twitter.com/The_Jonathanian/status/1258379090706432000

May 10th, 10:18am: https://twitter.com/gemmaod1/status/1259412551911292928

May 8th, 9:40am: https://twitter.com/DeepStateExpose/status/1258678269332905984

Search Notes: the tweet prefixed with * signals a further Twitter comment on that tweet which added nothing research-worthy

on an existing tweet already in the list above. One more tweet was eliminated as it was satire. Therefore, the overall total of

tweets in this list reduced from the expected total of 22 (the ‘Top’ results in Twitter after the search parameters were applied)

to 20.

16