It feels to me like there are an increasing number of bad actors trying to sow chaos around #COVID19. I've seen journos on here complaining about upticks in hack attempts. I'm seeing more oddly well-done threads reporting panicky news from low follower-count accounts.
I'm also seeing people on here who are specialists -- MDs, academics in infectious diseases & adjacent fields, & others who aren't even remotely as good as they think they are at doing the kinds of source evaluation journos are supposed to do -- RTing questionable things.
My point: there are shenanigans afoot, & there have been since the beginning, but as the crisis escalates here the shenanigans will escalate. As people get more freaked out, bad actors will stoke that deliberately to cause chaos. So be aware that's happening & doubt everything.
I'm not saying "don't RT, let the pros handle it" or whatever. That's dumb, & in fact when you see "let only the authorized ppl talk about this topic, you little ppl stay out of it " from an account then that's a sign that account is either new to Twitter &/or bad at it...
...or in the grip of a toxic ideology where only certain profile pictures/bios are allowed to comment on certain topics.
What I am saying is just be aware that you're being actively messed with. That your mental state is being active gamed & manipulated for maximum panic. That bad actors are trying to rile you up & sow terror. Just taking a beat to think about that will help you stay sane.
