A US-based website, Collective Evolution, recently published a post claiming that a group of 500 German doctors – identified as the “Corona Extra-Parliamentary Inquiry Committee” – have labelled COVID-19 a hoax in a post titled “We Have A Lot of Evidence That It’s A Fake Story All Over The World.”
The post quotes an unidentified German doctor who made the claim in a YouTube video that has since been removed for violating YouTube community policies. The removed video is the only fact that is posted to support the claim made in the title of the article.
There is in fact no evidence to support the claims in the article or links within the article.
The post states that the unidentified doctor is part of a larger group of 500 doctors who have “signed on as representatives of an organization called the ‘Corona Extra-Parliamentary Inquiry Committee.'” However, the website that the post links to lists only three individuals and there is no information that supports the claim made in the post about 500 doctors supporting this statement.
The “Corona Extra-Parliamentary Inquiry Committee” links to another site that lists a number of names, including individuals from various fields, some of whom are doctors.
There is no apparent evidence published in this post (or indeed, anywhere else reputable) that would support the claim that COVID is “fake” or a “hoax.”
This narrative supports anti-vaxx/mask conspiracy theories. Due to its broad reach on social media, it could cause those exposed to the content to downplay the seriousness of the pandemic or reject the guidance of public health officials and the protocols they have put in place.
This same post was re-published by Global Research, a Canadian conspiracy platform identified recently by the US State Department’s Global Engagement Center as being “deeply entwined with other outlets in Russia’s disinformation and propaganda ecosystem.” The September 17, 2020 Global Research re-post was shared and exposed to more than 400,000 Facebook users (far short of the over 5 million viewers the original post was shared to).
Analysis of social media sharing also indicates that the original post was shared by Iranian state media outlet PressTV.
It should be noted that “Collective Evolution” is a website that publishes conspiracy theories. In 2017 it published a story titled “NBC News Report: Hillary Clinton ‘Covered Up’ Elite Pedophile Ring At State Department,” which was debunked by Politifact after the post was flagged by Facebook.
