<
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/science-and-technology/1245674/bird-flu-hoax-claims-spread-online>
“As biosecurity and conservation groups work to shield the country's wildlife
from any spread of bird flu, researchers say some New Zealanders are embracing
false narratives about the virus on social media.
Following three detections of the deadly avian influenza, the Ministry for
Primary Industries (MPI) is encouraging people to report any sightings of three
or more sick or dead wild birds, but hundreds of people online are claiming the
virus is a hoax.
MPI has been monitoring the spread of the highly contagious viral disease
overseas for more than 20 years and the H5N1 strain for the past six, with
response and surveillance work underway to protect poultry production and
wildlife.
The Department of Conservation has been vaccinating critically endangered
species to help curtail any further spread, while a wildlife hospital has set
up an off-site triage centre to assess wild birds for symptoms.
Within days of the first case being confirmed in July, disinformation
researcher Dr Sanjana Hattotuwa said reality was overtaken online by a script
incorrectly casting bird flu as a sequel to the Covid-19 pandemic.
He tracked thousands of social media comments on
RNZ and
NZ Herald
articles, finding that most falsely dismissed bird flu as a hoax or
"plandemic".
"By 16 July commenters had converted a biosecurity event into a further episode
in an established political story about Covid deception, vaccine injury,
captured media, corrupt science, globalist control and the destruction of food
sovereignty," he said.
"Disinformation researchers, contrary to what is popularly believed, love to be
proved wrong and here in this instance, I was really worried that the first
confirmed case of bird flu in Aotearoa would result in exactly the kind of
discourse that I ended up studying."
Hattotuwa said commenters were creating a "self-sealing account", where any
evidence of H5N1 proved orchestration, uncertainty proved incompetence, absence
of confirmed spread proved scaremongering and any official response proved that
a planned operation had begun.”
Via Violet Blue’s
Threat Model - Pandemic Roundup: September 10, 2026
https://www.patreon.com/violetblue/posts/pandemic-roundup-169126335
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
