Rebekah Tromble, director of the Institute for Data, Democracy & Politics at George Washington University says online misinformation is harming society and accelerating the spread of COVID-19. 'Our moderation queue went from probably one or two of those a week to dozens to hundreds every day, and it is unsustainable - we cannot keep up with that,' said a 32-year-old Edmonton man who is a moderator for r/Alberta, a community or subreddit with more than 138,000 subscribers.ĬBC News is not naming the man because he has received personalized threats and harassment from people whose posts he has removed in the past and he fears he could be targeted again.Ī fellow r/Alberta moderator, who is an Edmonton student in his 20s, said death threats have become common in the team's inbox and the authors of misinformation posts often urge moderators to kill themselves.
Posts questioning the safety of vaccines and masks, linking vaccines with 5G networks, comparing COVID-19 to the flu and promoting unproven treatments like ivermectin have become common, the moderators said.