The Senate’s Covid hearings committee to investigate the government’s pandemic response has eviscerated the Jair Bolsonaro administration’s misdeeds during the coronavirus crisis. And besides targeting the government’s actions, the inquiry is set to turn to Bolsonaro-supporting social media influencers. Several have begun deleting videos in which they endorse antimalarial drug chloroquine as a potential Covid-19 cure, despite a lack of scientific evidence backing said claims.
As of today, more than 385 misleading videos from 34 different channels have been deleted, according to a recent survey conducted by big data firm Novelo Data.
The list is not restricted to independent far-right YouTubers, also including journalists who sympathize with president Jair Bolsonaro and his highly criticized “early treatment” against the coronavirus. Some of the influencers in question have over 1 million followers.
Members of the Covid inquiry have already lodged a request to carry out an in-depth investigation of accounts sharing misleading coronavirus information on social media, which will also target the government’s press secretariat.
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