Don’t Touch Your Face: Conspiracy Theories and Misinformation
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A thermal camera monitor shows the body temperatures of a man at the customs checkpoint in Sungai Kolok, Thailand, on the Thailand-Malaysia border on March 15. MADAREE TOHLALA/AFP via Getty Images
On today’s podcast: We look at how conspiracy theories have spread as quickly as the coronavirus itself.
False and inaccurate information about the coronavirus has spread around the world as rapidly as the virus itself, prompting the head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, to warn, “We’re not just fighting an epidemic; we’re fighting an infodemic.”
On today’s podcast, Don’t Touch Your Face hosts James Palmer and Amy Mackinnon discuss some of the disinformation about the virus being spread by the Russian state media and the Chinese authorities. They are joined by Graham Brookie, director and managing editor of the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab, which studies disinformation around the world.
About Don’t Touch Your Face: On the last day of 2019, China reported an unusual outbreak in Wuhan, a port city with a population of 11 million. Within two months, the disease would spread to almost every continent on the globe and kill thousands of people. From Foreign Policy, a podcast about the extent of the COVID-19 contagion, the threat it poses, and what countries are doing to contain it. Join FP’s James Palmer and Amy Mackinnon as they track the spread of the virus and explore what it means for people’s everyday lives. Have a coronavirus question for us to explore? Email it to donttouchyourface@foreignpolicy.com. See All Episodes
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Don’t Touch Your Face: Dating During Covid-19
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Don’t Touch Your Face: Pandemic Within a Pandemic
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