It’s been controversy upon controversy for the talkback station in recent weeks, so Alex Casey embarked on a Magic Talk marathon to find out what the hell is going on. It has just gone past 6am on a Friday morning. My eyelids are firmly welded shut, the sparrows have barely begun farting, and yet we’ve … Read more
It’s been controversy upon controversy for the talkback station in recent weeks, so Alex Casey embarked on a Magic Talk marathon to find out what the hell is going on. It has just gone past 6am on a Friday morning. My eyelids are firmly welded shut, the sparrows have barely begun farting, and yet we’ve … Read more
‘We do not agree with the opinions expressed,’ said the Ministry of Education of the Te Kūiti High School acting assistant principal, who wanted to spark debate with an email attachment that included false claims around the ‘controlavirus’ and Bill Gates. The acting assistant principal at Te Kūiti High School shared conspiracy material that dismissed … Read more
Belief we tend to associate with the fringes of US society have torn a swathe through Aotearoa’s traditionally easy-going if occasionally oddball community of hippies, yoga teachers, and spiritual festival-goers. From the outside, Joe Nunweek finds out if it will ever be the same. Ady* remembers the night she finally tried to intervene with Eve. … Read more
Facebook has announced a ban on the conspiracy network QAnon from its platforms. What is Q, and why does Mark Zuckerberg want him gone? We explain. What is QAnon? QAnon is a far-right conspiracy theorist group focused around the idea that Satanic cabal is torturing children and attempting to create a new world order. People … Read more
On Saturday four parties that believe Covid-19 is being used by the government to impose social control put their differences aside to share a stage. Alex Braae went to Nelson to see where they were coming from. “If you question the government, you get called a conspiracy theorist. Why? And what’s so wrong with questioning … Read more
Don’t approach the task as a battle to be won, but as a conversation to get to the underlying reasons why someone might have been susceptible to the false information in the first place. Last week marked six months since the WHO declared Covid-19 a pandemic. How the world has changed in that time. Here … Read more
On Saturday afternoon, Billy Te Kahika Jr was the star attraction at an Aotea Square rally replete with Covid-19 conspiracy theorists. How did a blues musician end up New Zealand’s premier peddler of conspiracy nonsense? David Farrier went searching on the most powerful disinformation network of them all: Facebook. Read more from David Farrier on … Read more
It’s likely you’re being exposed to masses of Covid information on a daily basis, and not all of it will be reliable. Here are some tips for telling the difference, and stopping the spread. Thanks to Covid-19, most of us have a new word in our vocabulary. Epidemiology: the branch of medical science that deals … Read more
Together with colleagues on The Disinformation Project, Kate Hannah has been studying the vectors and volume of false stories that wrap around the Covid crisis in New Zealand. Here she explains what they’ve learned, and what we might do to tackle it. As people, as communities, we connect to each other through story; it is … Read more
With the past few weeks yielding some serious government botch-ups, the lead up to the election is going to be fraught with blame, frustration and needless cries of conspiracy, writes Pattrick Smellie of BusinessDesk. As of this morning, Monday August 31, there are just under seven weeks to go to polling day, assuming the election … Read more
Down the rabbit hole and onto Instagram Stories, some of New Zealand’s most popular influencers are now regularly using their platforms to peddle fake news and conspiracy theories that could endanger public health. Jihee Junn finds out what consequences, if any, there are for those actively spreading mistruths. When the government announced Auckland would be … Read more
The president of the Howick-Pakuranga branch of Grey Power has sent out a newsletter packed full of conspiracy theories about Covid-19, accusing the government of ‘brainwashing’ and trying to create a ‘potential medical/police state’. Alex Braae reports. In the “President’s Page” column of the latest newsletter from the Howick-Pakuranga branch of Grey Power, president Peter … Read more
When writer Charlotte Muru-Lanning noticed her friend JP sharing conspiracy theories online, she challenged him on it. Here they continue that conversation. For Māori and Pasifika, using social media at the moment almost always means some type of interaction with conspiracy theories. The phenomenon has created widespread concern in our communities and we’ve seen an … Read more
Can’t decide which rabbit hole to fall into? Not sure if you think Jacinda’s a reptilian shapeshifter, or if there’s a moose on the loose in Fiordland? Fear not – Sherry Zhang has consulted the stars. The rise of conspiracy theories goes hand in hand with a global pandemic. Could the combination of fear, misinformation … Read more
To stamp out rampant rumours, we must turn to fearless and fastidious scholarship – and writers, says Jared Davidson. On a spring morning in March 1906, people making their way to work along Oxford Street in central London were alarmed to see well-built men wearing Prussian army uniforms prowling up and down the pavement. From … Read more
The racist and untrue rumour about the source of the latest Covid-19 outbreak in New Zealand began life as a much less inflammatory post on Reddit. It was deleted after a few hours, but the damage was done. Here, the man who started the rumour speaks for the first time. Last week, when a cluster … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Reaction to the election delay, questions continue over the information given over testing, and Watercare CEO resigns amid drought. As you’ve no doubt heard by now, the election will be delayed by four weeks. Here’s a report on that from Justin Giovannetti, who writes that it follows consultation … Read more
New research suggests that, contrary to received wisdom, people with little sense of control over their lives aren’t any more susceptible than others to conspiracy theories. While conspiracy theories have been around since the Middle Ages and its blood libels, in the past couple of decades they’ve experiencing something of a boom, with the rise … Read more
Our communities need us to listen to the people who have dedicated their lives to making ours better – not those who only want to exploit our fears, writes Christine Ammunson. One in five Sāmoans died when the 1918 pandemic hit our homes. Through whispers I remember elderly aunts recalling the horror of watching the … Read more
In New Zealand, as overseas, authorities are dealing with two parallel crises: the Covid-19 virus and the maelstrom of misinformation surrounding it. Hayden Donnell reports for RNZ Mediawatch. In the hours after prime minister Jacinda Ardern announced Auckland would be moving back into lockdown, Billy Te Kahika Jr did something he’d done many times before, … Read more
The public hated National’s politicisation of the coronavirus crisis the first time around. So why is the party doubling down on it now? So far the National Party leadership team of Judith Collins and Gerry Brownlee has been a lot milder than everyone expected. Judith Collins has arched her eyebrows and reprised her ‘Crusher’ character, … Read more
Māori are particularly vulnerable to conspiracy theories – especially ones that relate to the eradication of people – because that has been the reality for indigenous people. But if we’re going to protect our whānau from Covid-19, we need to engage, not block. If you’re Māori and on Facebook, chances are you woke up today … Read more
What the deputy leader of the opposition has been implying lately is more than ‘nonsense’ – it represents a threat to one of New Zealand’s most powerful and undervalued assets, writes Duncan Greive. Things started getting interesting last Friday. National’s deputy leader Gerry Brownlee appeared on RNZ’s Morning Report to discuss the new government mask … Read more
And is he about to launch a coup against Judith Collins? Just asking questions here. Jacindamania was meek by comparison. Just as Ardern captured a nation from the role of deputy leader of the opposition in 2017, so it is with Gerry Brownlee in 2020. Relentlessly grouchy, Gerrymania is in full flow, as most recently … Read more
Last night Jacinda Ardern and Ashley Bloomfield announced four cases of Covid-19 in the community. Within hours the online community transmission of dumb takes was going like wildfire. It didn’t take long did it? Before the anti-Covid God squad shit the bed and started screeching about how they’ll never wear a mask because, ah, freedom? … Read more
Mistrust in the government and generational trauma mean Māori communities are more at risk of falling victim to conspiracies relating to the 5G spectrum. Alice Webb-Liddall finds out what needs to be done to combat this dangerous misinformation. The real danger of conspiracy theories can sometimes be hard to grasp. When comments on Facebook link … Read more
The Spinoff’s most-viewed article, by far, is an explainer about a drug that probably doesn’t exist. Josie Adams explains why a low-stakes story she wrote in a morning took flight. In early April I wrote this story about adrenochrome, a chemical compound that doesn’t exist in any meaningful way, and how it became the centre … Read more
The “sovereign citizens” movement has reached New Zealand, and their focus is Auckland’s Viaduct Harbour. Here’s what’s going on down there. A small group has been keeping watch over several yachts in the Auckland Viaduct, led by former union organiser Sharna Butcher. They make various allegations, the most serious of which is that yachts currently … Read more