"Get The Facts About COVID-19" Trolls

Added • Updated about a year ago

Added by Adam • Updated about a year ago by Y F

Category: Meme Status: Submission Year: 2020 Origin: Twitter Region:

Type: Social Game,

Tags: twitter, jack, coronavirus, covid-19, 5g,

Part of a series on Coronavirus 5G Conspiracy Theory. [View Related Entries]

Top Gallery Images

DJ Manila lce @djmanilaice I bought a phone that's 5g. Corona is a beer. Watch this get flagged. This is broke. ! Get the facts about COVID-19 >

Kola @Kola_irl 5G Corona made this Latias a different color Lol should I kill it Latias bra A31 64 64 Get the facts about COVID-19

Kola @Kola_irl 5G Corona got my Rowlet acting up Get the facts about COVID-19

5G CORONA 9 Get the facts about COVID-19

nervioso computador cientifico @qorg11 · Jun 7 he will never get the facts about 5g corona Get the facts about COVID-19 >

About • Origin • Spread • Examples •

About

"Get the Facts About COVID-19" Trolls refers to posts that intentionally trigger the Twitter fact-checking algorithm to add "Get the Facts About COVID-19" under the post, despite the post having nothing to do with the coronavirus.

Origin

On May 11th, 2020, Twitter^[1] announced its intent to tackle misinformation regarding the coronavirus by adding a hyperlink reading "Get the Facts About COVID-19" under tweets linking 5G and the coronavirus. The hyperlink will then bring readers to a Twitter page featuring tweets and articles from journalists and medical professionals disproving the connection between 5G and the coronavirus.^[2]

Spread

In early June of 2020, some Twitter users realized they could force Twitter to add the hyperlink to their tweets by including the words "5G" and "corona" in their tweets, even if they had nothing to do with the 5G conspiracy theory of the coronavirus. On June 7th, Twitter user @Plinz^[3] took advantage of this by using the words "5G" and "corona" in a tweet about the sun, gaining over 250 retweets and 1,000 likes (shown below, left). User @PrivatizeEdu^[4] tweeted, "I can’t wait to get a 5G. Corona is probably my favorite beer," gaining over 120 retweets and 700 likes (shown below, right).

Joscha Bach @Plinz When the sun ejects material from its surface at an acceleration of more than 5G, corona flares can reach the orbit of the earth · comparitive size of Earth solar flare Get the facts about COVID-19

John Miles @PrivatizeEdu I can't wait to get a 5G. Corona is probably my favorite beer Get the facts about COVID-19

Others used memes about the feature. For example, user @bee_of_the_bird^[5] used the Hmm Today I Will meme to troll the algorithm, gaining over 90 retweets and 280 likes (shown below, left). User @qorg11^[6] tweeted a Cereal Guy meme, gaining over 15 retweets and likes (shown below, right). The trolls were covered by the Daily Dot.^[7]