We see in the figure below that two categories of misinformation have been rising consistently – stories around culture and the government. This is due to a visible increase in stories around Muslims and COVID-19 as well as stories around police brutality. In contrast, stories around casualty – or graphic imagery around COVID-19 infection or death as well as stories around cure peaked and started falling.

As we see it, we are entering a phase in misinformation that is intended to be effective around identity and emotion rather than around instrumental facts that can be scientifically verified. Thus, from presenting fake cures or fake images of pain – which over time get debunked or appear suspicious to viewers, the misinformation has moved to cultural elements that are harder to verify.