Democracy Research Institute (DRI) is monitoring messages and key trends of media sources that are spreading misinformation in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic. For this purpose, DRI analyzed 102 articles by 15 online media and 435 posts published on 10 Facebook pages in September.

“An aggressively pro-Russian and anti-Western disinformation campaign commenced on Facebook and other online platforms in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic. Online sources kept spreading false information about the effectiveness of Russian vaccine, while creating conspiracy theories about Microsoft founder Bill Gates and UNICEF at the same time.

Disinformation Campaign with Pro-Russian Messaging

Russian coronavirus vaccine “Sputnik V” was at the epicenter of the disinformation campaign by pro-Russian media sources such as Sputnik Georgia, Sakinform, Georgia and the World. Articles published by them repeat Russian propaganda messages word for word and stress that the vaccine is effective and harmless. Reality, though, is different. The Russian vaccine has yet to pass the most large-scale and important third stage of research. Vladimer Putin’s speech about the vaccine’s effectiveness and passing all stages of research was met with skepticism by the research centers, as well as by the director of the USA’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Anthony Fauci According to them, the omission of third phase of research during the testing indicates high possibility of the vaccine being ineffective. “Sputnik V” was met with skepticism by Georgian experts as well, namely the Head of Lugar Research Center Paata Imnadze and the Director of National Center for Disease Control and Public Health Amiran Gamkrleidze. They pointed out that there are no large scale studies to back up the vaccine’s effectiveness”, - reads the research.