Misleading text messages claiming that President Trump was going to announce a national quarantine buzzed into cellphones across the country over the weekend, underscoring how rapidly false claims are spreading — and how often it is happening beyond the familiar misinformation vehicles of Facebook and Twitter.
“As social media companies focus on keywords like ‘covid’ and ‘coronavirus,’ there are pockets of conspiracy theories that are welling up that potentially have some offline impact,” said Joan Donovan.