Conspiracy theories in conjunction with Covid-19.
Interview with expert Andreas Jungherr in text and video form: What role do disinformation and misinformation as well as conspiracy theories play in our dealings with the virus? How dangerous are they and how do they spread via social media? What can science, what can legislation do to counter fake news in times of Covid-19?
Andreas Jungherr, professor of social science data collection and analysis at the University of Konstanz and principal investigator in the Cluster of Excellence “The Politics of Inequality”, examines these questions in the interview.
As a specialist on the impacts of the internet and modern media on political communication, he has observed that attempts at explanation vastly increase in times of great uncertainty. Competing for attention encourages the propagation of false information and conspiracy theories.
Jungherr also stresses that especially now social media are an important source of information for many and that platform operators are cracking down on violations more strictly than usual. By contrast, he explicitly warns against introducing statutory regulations to curb fake news.
You can read and watch the full interview on campus.kn, the online magazine of the University of Konstanz.
Key facts:
- Dr Andreas Jungherr is junior professor of social science data collection and analysis at the University of Konstanz and principal investigator in the Cluster of Excellence “The Politics of Inequality”. He is a specialist on the impacts of the internet and digital media on political communication and author of two books on how politics and research use the internet.
- Part of a series of interviews in which experts from different departments at the University of Konstanz and the Cluster of Excellence “The Politics of Inequality” comment on current issues in conjunction with the proliferation of the coronavirus.
- campus.kn, is the online magazine of the University of Konstanz. In it we present multimedia reports on current topics from science and research, teaching and studies as well as campus life at the university.