When a 2020 Study Found Trump Was ‘Single Largest Driver’ of COVID-19 Misinformation

Misinformation was rife in the chaotic early months of the COVID-19 outbreak, endangering public health greatly. The then-president Donald Trump was one person who stood out among the sea of lies.

Trump was the "single largest driver of misinformation" about the pandemic with his comments, according to a ground-breaking Cornell University research that was released back in 2020.

After examining more than 38 million English-language publications, researchers discovered that Trump alone accounted for an astounding 37.9% of the misinformation out there, Forbes reported.

The report emphasized how Trump's persistent spread of misleading information seriously damaged public confidence in medical institutions and impeded efforts to contain the outbreak. 

Trump referred to the antimalaria medication hydroxychloroquine as a “game-changer” in March 2020. By far the most common topic of disinformation, as reported by the Cornell study, was "miracle cures," accounting for more misinformation than the other 10 categories combined. 

At a White House briefing in April 2020, he again indicated that the infection could be fought by a disinfectant like bleach being “injected inside” the human body. "I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in one minute. And is there a way we can do something like that by injection inside or almost a cleaning because you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs?" Trump insisted that his suggestion was ironic at the first presidential debate. 

Trump also suggested once that one could use ultraviolet light to exterminate the virus from the body. "Suppose that we hit the body with a tremendous, whether it's ultraviolet or just very powerful light," Trump said from the White House podium. "Suppose you can bring the light inside the body, either through the skin or in some other way."

The Cornell study was called the first thorough analysis of COVID-19 disinformation in print and digital media by the New York Times. Researchers at Cornell University found that over 1.1 million of the roughly 38 million articles published between January 1 and May 26 that they examined included false material.

The Cornell study was considered important enough to be made public despite not having undergone peer review at the time of publication because of its substantial consequences for public health.

“In the absence of treatments or vaccines, honest and consistent messaging is essential,” said Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, a vice dean at Johns Hopkins and a former principal deputy commissioner at the Food and Drug Administration. “This is what we need to save lives. If it’s not done well, you get far more infections and deaths.”

A 24-minute pseudo-documentary called Plandemic, conspiracy theories linking Bill Gates to the spread of the coronavirus, claims that 5G technology had detrimental health effects before the pandemic, and “generic conspiracy theories mentioning COVID-19 as an intentional population control scheme” were among the other common, widespread, and unfounded conspiracy theories the study tracked.

“Health protection strategies such as hygiene, sanitation, social distancing, mask-wearing, lockdowns, and other measures will be less effective if distrust of public health authorities becomes sufficiently widespread to substantially affect public behavior," the study states.