YouTube and Facebook allowed another COVID-19 conspiracy theory video to go viral - 2021-02-08
YouTube and Facebook allowed another COVID-19 conspiracy theory video to go viral February 8, 2021,
YouTube and Facebook allowed a video full of false conspiracy theories about the coronavirus, vaccines, and voter fraud -- all of which violate the companies' rules -- to rack up at least 20 million combined views or engagements on their platforms. This is essentially a repeat of the viral spread last year of Plandemic, another faux documentary pushing conspiracy theories about COVID-19.
The new video, part of a series called Planet Lockdown, successfully ran nearly the same playbook as Plandemic, which features a supposed "whistleblower" spouting false -- and dangerous -- conspiracy theories about the coronavirus.
Plandemic drew tens of millions of engagements on social media and was translated into multiple languages. A dedicated site allowed people to share the Plandemic video onto various platforms, which forced social media companies to play whack-a-mole with uploads. (YouTube also struggled with the spread of a Plandemic sequel, though not to the same extent).