With the pandemic, the phenomenon of online fake news has exploded. In the last five months, more and more people on Telegram have followed No Vax channels or groups (+ 480%). There are 49 channels or groups opposed to the Green Pass, almost one in two (45%) is involved in selling fake certificates. The potentially fake contents relating to Covid-19 vaccines concerning the danger of adverse effects are in sharp growth (+ 49%) and represent over 73% of the total analyzed. These are the worrying data and phenomena - on which several prosecutors in Italy have already moved - that emerge from the second report on Fake News and Covid Vaccination -19 made by the Mesit-Social Medicine and Technological Innovation Foundation. The study, carried out in collaboration with the Eehta del Ceis of Tor Vergata,Crispel-University of Roma Tre and Reputation Manager.
There is "a real virtual pandemic which unfortunately is causing daily victims in real life - explains Marco Trabucco Aurilio, president of the Mesit Foundation and professor of occupational medicine at the University of Molise - We need the commitment of everyone from the institutions , which must implement effective legislative and operational tools ".
For Carlo Colapietro, director of the Crispel University of Rome 3, "it would be desirable to set up a working group to make proposals for the mitigation of the phenomenon of fake news".
The study found that at the end of November 2021 on Facebook and Telegram there are more than 1.2 million users following vaccine-themed pages, channels or groups. Of these, 58% follow channels of diffusion of theories declaredly No Vax. It emerges that more than 7 out of 10 false information on vaccines are related, for example, to serious reactions and deaths post vaccination never documented, to fake concealments of deaths by Ema and Aifa or to the spread of allergic reactions and menstrual irregularities following vaccination .
The experimental nature of the vaccine (12.1% of potentially fake conversations) is the second most populated category.
Finally, the research explains that the pages with the name "Health Dictatorship" or "Warriors" have grown.
One channel or group out of three is involved in organizing demonstrations and protests (29%).
And there is an 8% of channels that report clubs, restaurants or businesses that do not ask for certification.
