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We started looking at #coronavirus discussion on reddit, using pushshift's Reddit search API to gather all Reddit posts and comments containing coronavirus, COVID-19, or corona-chan (and variations) since the beginning of the year.

cc: @ZellaQuixote
(documentation on pushshift's Reddit search API, for those wishing to explore themselves)
github.com/pushshift/api
The subreddits with the most #coronavirus content mostly fall into a few categories:

- coronavirus-specific forums
- general news forums
- memes
- automated news feeds
- interesting outliers: /r/conspiracy, /r/ChapoTrapHouse

Also, something's botty in /r/TalkativePeople...
The 36114 #coronavirus posts (subsequently removed by Reddit's spam filters) posted to /r/TalkativePeople are from just four accounts, which appear to be bots based on 24/7 activity. The Reddit bots in question are currently shadowbanned.
What websites are linked from what subreddits? The main coronavirus subreddits mostly link mainstream sources, while a smaller cluster of right-wing subreddits shares conspiracy-theory sites such as Infowars, ZeroHedge, and Gateway pundit. A third cluster is centered on YouTube.
What YouTube #coronavirus content are folks sharing on Reddit? The most-linked channel is "DOOMSDAY 2020", created in February and consisting solely of coronavirus videos. Various news sources also turn up, as does alt-right podcaster Stefan Molyneux. #AltWankers
Next, we looked at city/local subreddits. /r/nyc, /r/vancouver, /r/toronto, /r/SeattleWA, and /r/Portland have the most #coronavirus posts/comments as of March 18th. We found coronavirus content on 968 city subreddits, with the caveat that our methodology may have missed some.
Here's the same data in map form. Although one can post to Reddit in any language, the site is predominently in English, and the map reflects that; non-English-speaking areas with significant outbreaks don't have much #coronavirus Reddit activity.
Wordcloud for #Coronavirus/COVID-19 posts on city subreddits. Some themes:

• countermeasures/closings (work, school, home, close, quarantine)
• local spread, positive (case, spread)
• questions about testing/what to do if potentially infected (testing, symptom)
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Conspirador Norteño
@conspirator0
Meet @DissentW, the official bearer of "the web's most forbidden news". What does the web's most forbidden news actually consist of?

cc: @ZellaQuixote
First off, is @DissentW a bot? Yes indeed - 99.7% of its tweets were posted via a custom app called DissentWatchBot. The account is active 24/7 although higher in volume during daytime hours in the USA.
The dissentwatch(dot)com site associated with @DissentW is a news aggregator and appears to contain no original content. All links to articles redirect to other sites such as Infowars or ZeroHedge.
Read 5 tweets
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Conspirador Norteño
@conspirator0
Convicted sex offender Harvey Weinstein's positive #coronavirus test triggered a variety of reactions on Twitter. Predictably, the usual suspects immediately decided it was a conspiracy and drew parallels to Jeffrey Epstein's demise. #QAnonsense

cc: @ZellaQuixote
We downloaded tweets containing Weinstein, Epstein, and coronavirus/COVID-19. The third tweet (from @ali) was the first to get retweeted. The accounts posting about the topic can't seem to decide whether the diagnosis is cover for killing Weinstein or smuggling him out of prison.
As has become a recurring a theme with #MAGA disinformation, @w_terrence was the one who actually sent the Weinstein #coronavirus conspiracy theory viral, even going so far as to coin the hashtag #HarveyDidntFluicideHimself to mark the occasion.
Read 3 tweets
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Conspirador Norteño
@conspirator0
How much of the #followback activity on Twitter is driven by bots? As it turns out, quite a lot: 62.9% of tweets sent in the last week containing #followback, #follow4follow, #followforfollow, or #f4f were tweeted via automation tools.

cc: @ZellaQuixote
We found 1551 mostly or fully automated accounts using #followback, #follow4follow, #followforfollow, or #f4f. Twittbot(dot)net is the most popular automation tool, and the majority of the accounts tweet in English or Japanese.
These 1551 accounts do not appear to be a single operation, but we can find multiple smaller networks based on the tweets repeated across accounts. Each cluster is a potential botnet (some of the loosely-connected ones are false positives.) We took a closer look at four of them.
Read 9 tweets

Related threads

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Jon Worth
@jonworth
A thread about #Coronavirus #COVIDー19 behaviour, and lockdowns (auf deutsch #Ausgangssperre )
I am based in Kreuzberg in Berlin, and live next to Gleisdreieck Park

Looking out of the window into the park right now I can see
- 3 twenty-somethings drinking 🍻 on the grass
- 4 teenage kids playing ⚽️
- 3 women doing some outdoor 🏋️‍♂️
Now theoretically all of those people *might* live together, and *might* keep 2 metres distance from anyone else in the park, and *might* wash their hands, and *might* not be carriers...

...but it does not look like they are actually practicing physical distancing
Read 9 tweets
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Jon Worth
@jonworth
Prompted by a discussion with @PaulbernalUK, some thoughts about the UK Government's #CoronaVirus #COVIDー19 communications:

I now do not know the UK Government's *objective*
The reason the "herd immunity" idea was so sticky in communication terms was that it was at least an objective. You could argue if it ever were the true objective, whether it still is, whether it were the right objective... but it was somehow concrete
It was even in project management terms a SMART objective
- Specific (70+% get it)
- Measurable (test if people have it, or extrapolate from deaths)
- Achievable (virus spreads fast, so yes)
- Realistic (if you assume no re-occurrence, yes)
- Time (2 years)
Read 9 tweets
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Bethany
@bethanyamanda
In the spirit of the Mr. Rogers “look for the helpers” quote, let’s get a thread going of the more beautiful examples of humanity that are emerging from the shitshow of this #coronavirus crisis. Let’s start with a quintessential example: Italians making music from their balconies
The wonders of technology!

Let’s put aside our cynicism about systemic failures to be grateful for getting something right:

Read 20 tweets
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🌊ⒿⒶⓎ🇺🇸ⒷⓇⓄⓌⓃ🗽
@TheMrJayBrown
<THREAD> Trump quotes on #coronavirus #COVIDー19 1/13

1/22: “We have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China. It’s going to be just fine.”

2/2: “We pretty much shut it down coming in from China.”
<THREAD> Trump quotes on #coronavirus #COVIDー19 2/13

2/24: “The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA… Stock Market starting to look very good to me!”
<THREAD> Trump quotes on #coronavirus #COVIDー19 3/13

2/25: “CDC and my Administration are doing a GREAT job of handling Coronavirus.”

2/25: “I think that's a problem that’s going to go away… They have studied it. They know very much. In fact, we’re very close to a vaccine.”
Read 13 tweets
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JoiningUnrelatedDots
@Mareeswj
as long as corona virus doesn't cross throat it isn't serious

once it infects lungs, most (except children, pregnant women) develop cytokine storm immune reaction

Old, sick people will suffer. Need lots of Oxygen (ventilators & emergency care etc)

Hope govt paying oxygen bills
#CancelEverythingNow
#FlattenTheCurve

This is doctors in America trying to learn from experience of Italy

#CancelEverythingNow
#FlattenTheCurve

This will impact old people, sick/immune compromised people & vulnerable people without access to medical care

Only preventive option is SOCIAL DISTANCING

Read 24 tweets
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Dr. Chris Mackie
@Healthmac
A thread on why I am not panicking about #Coronavirus #COVID-19.
In 2003, the world experienced an outbreak of SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome). I was in med school. Initially, the illness seemed to be linked with travel to China, but the Chinese government was not saying anything about it.
The cause of SARS was completely unknown, and it was five months between the illness first appearing and the World Health Organization (WHO) becoming significantly involved, alerting public health authorities around the world.
Read 46 tweets

Trending hashtags

#nonprofit #WHO #COVIDー19 #CoronaPandemie #seattlecoronavirus #covid #Ausgangssperre #HILO #Covid_19 #QuarantineAndChill #CoronaOutbreak #CoronaVirusUpdates #CoronavirusNewYork #coronarvirusitalia #pandemia #COVID19 #CoronaVirus #chinese #flu #CuarentenaObligatoria #ldnont #FMQs #Covid19usa #WheresWaldo #desocupados

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