How fake news arises – a Greek tale with a Swiss twist

The paths on the internet are unfathomable - often something completely different comes out in the end. Keystone / Sebastian Gollnow

A report from Switzerland about Covid-19 provides an example of how disinformation spreads globally and illustrates the forces at work.

No topic has generated more fake news in recent years than the coronavirus. But even if the pandemic is considered over, the topic of disinformation is by no means old news.

In April, Greek blogs circulated what they presented as Swiss “news”. Switzerland, they claimed, was withdrawing all vaccination recommendations and completely discontinuing Covid-19 vaccinations. Moreover, the administering doctor would be liable for any vaccination side-effects. Some also claimed that the vaccinations had been rated dangerous.

This is all false. In an article, the Greek fact-checking organisation Ellinika HoaxesExternal link traced how this fake news, which distorted the current recommendationsExternal link of the Swiss health ministry, found its way to Greece via Germany.

One fake, many versions

It began with an articleExternal link under the headline Official confirmation: vaccination is dangerous in the Swiss magazine Weltwoche on April 6. A day later, a German portal reportedExternal link Shocking: Switzerland withdraws all Covid vaccination recommendations. The next day, the story landed on a blogExternal link in Greece. Another Greek siteExternal link picked it up ten days later. These outlets translated the content and even went as far as reproducing the images used by the German portal.

Greece was not an isolated case. These “news” spread worldwide. Simon Ming at the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health says he received enquiries from several organisations about it. The French news agency AFPExternal link, the American daily USA TodayExternal link, and the Indian agency Press Trust of IndiaExternal link conducted their own fact checks on the subject.

Misinformation or disinformation?

According to the glossary of the non-profit network First DraftExternal link, disinformation is false information that is intentionally created or spread to cause harm.

Misinformation, on the other hand, is false information that is inadvertently passed on by people. It does not involve a basic intention to cause harm.

The starting point of the story was the Swiss health ministry’s announcement that it would not formulate a vaccination recommendation for spring and summer 2023. It reasoned that since 98% of the population now have antibodies, people who are not in high-risk groups are in little danger of contracting severe Covid-19. It also considered the current dominant virus variants and low virus circulation.  For those in high-risk groups, vaccination will be recommended if a patient’s doctor considers it medically advisable.

Game of telephone

This scandalous “news” – an apparently radical departure from the previous vaccination strategy  – appeared on blogs or social media posts in slightly modified versions. The bulk of the content was the same. The distributors were mostly right-wing portals or activists. And most referred to foreign sources or copied them in entirety, often the same ones.

Andronikos Koutroubelis of Ellinika Hoaxes, an online site that specialises in fact-checking. swissinfo.ch

Andronikos Koutroubelis of Ellinika Hoaxes confirms this. “In Greece, it usually starts with an individual who writes or copies a report. Their article is then adopted or modified by others,” he says. In the case of the coronavirus, these are often texts from foreign websites, primarily western European or American.

This mediating function is essential for dissemination –  especially in digital spaces using less widely spoken languages – but the accuracy of a report is also critical. “It’s like a game of telephone: at the end, something completely different emerges,” says Koutroubelis.

That can be a result of intentional manipulation. But, he notes, it can also be the consequence of a translation error, exaggeration or laziness. The starting point is not always a false report. “The motives are very different,” he adds. “But financial interests often play a role – a desire to draw traffic to a site to earn money with advertising, for instance.”

The original Weltwoche article received little attention in Switzerland because the magazine is known for its critical stance on pandemic measures.

Switzerland is mostly at the receiving end of fake news

A text message sent by a far-right American activist triggered the fact checks by USA Today and Press Trust of India.

“Switzerland, a non-aligned nation (not NATO, EU, or BRICS) is generally considered the global hub of the pharmaceutical industry. The Government of Switzerland coming out with this position is a clear recognition that objective scientific analysis of the risk/benefit ratio of COVID-19 ‘vaccines’ does not justify ‘vaccination’ in any cohort.”

In this narrative, neutral Switzerland is viewed as particularly trustworthy. It’s the same case in Greece, according Koutroubelis. Switzerland is perceived as a scandal-free country. Such an apparently sensational report is therefore all the more effective, driving the spiral of outrage to increasing heights, with the added bonus of more hits.

Ming at the health ministry notes that fake news about Covid in Switzerland usually originates from “international sources”. The fact that a Swiss report was reproduced worldwide online is unusual.

Edited by Marc Leutenegger.