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Episode details

News,02 Aug 2021,5 mins

Anti-vax lies - becoming an agony aunt to broken families

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Conspiracy theories about coronavirus have flooded social media since March last year - spilling over into street protests, destroying relationships and endangering lives in the process. Marianna Spring has been covering these controversial stories for the BBC as our specialist disinformation reporter. As a result, she’s found herself the target of extreme abuse and threats online. But she’s also become something of an agony aunt - contacted by people desperate about loved ones caught up in the conspiracy theory rabbit hole. In this episode of 5 Minutes On, Marianna shares her conversation with Sebastian, the son of former nurse and conspiracy theory influencer Kate Shemirani. And she gives us a glimpse of the realities of reporting from the frontline of online disinformation. (Photo credit: BBC)

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