The 10 sites that spread the most disinformation in 2022 (according to Newsguard)

After more than two years of what the World Health Organization has dubbed an “infodemic,” 2022 is off to a very similar start to the previous year: as the omicron variant raged in various parts of the world, sources already notorious for publishing disinformation they continued to spread false, misleading and unsubstantiated claims about COVID-19 vaccines.

The war between Russia and Ukraine

Soon, however, another global event set an unexpected direction for what looked set to be the third consecutive year dominated by misinformation about the pandemic. In February, Russia invaded Ukraine, and in the following months, hundreds of false and misleading narratives about the Ukrainian war, government and society, and their allies flooded news sites and social network feeds. In March, NewsGuard released its Russia-Ukraine Conflict Disinformation Monitoring Center, which, as of December 28, 2022, has a total of 324 sites – 35 of which are in Italian – that have published false information on the topic.

In this year-end report, NewsGuard lists some of the most influential Italian-language sites that have published disinformation, based on data collected by its analysts over the course of 2022.

One of them is May24.cloud, an Italian-language site that has spread false, misleading and unsupported by evidence claims on topics such as the war between Russia and Ukraine, the Covid-19 vaccines and the monkeypox epidemic. In March, for example, the site published an article suggesting that the bombing of the Mariupol children’s hospital had been a “falsehood”: in reality, according to satellite images, press reconstructions and journalists present on the spot, the attack actually happened.

Another example is Grandeinganno.it, an anonymously run site that has published articles with false and unsubstantiated claims on various topics. For example, in a March 2022 article, the site uncritically reiterated Russia’s unsubstantiated allegations of the existence of biological weapons laboratories in Ukraine, claiming that “Putin’s action against the Kiev government” was aimed at “forcibly protect Humanity from the risk that biological weapons much more destructive than Covid-19 could come out of disease-producing laboratories”. In fact, there is no evidence that Ukraine is developing bioweapons with American support, as claimed by the site.

Some of the sites that have published disinformation included in this list have gotten more engagement than those trusted by NewsGuard. For example, Ilparagone.it, the site of former Senator Gianluigi Paragone which has repeatedly published false, misleading and unsubstantiated claims about the pandemic and vaccines against Covid-19, generated over 11 million likes, shares and comments on Facebook and Twitter, compared to the 5.7 million obtained from the site of the national newspaper IlSole24Ore.com.

This report also highlights Italian-language publications – known and less known – that practice responsible and transparent journalism and that in 2022 achieved the greatest engagement on social media.

To produce this report, NewsGuard relied on its assessments of the credibility of news and information sites and traffic data (aka likes, shares, and comments on Facebook and Twitter) obtained from NewsWhip, a social media analytics firm.

The analysis

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The most influential sites that have created disinformation

NewsGuard assigns sites that publish news and information a score from 0 to 100, depending on how many of the nine credibility and transparency criteria (to which a certain number of points are associated according to importance) are respected by the site itself. A site with a score below 60 is generally considered untrustworthy. In this list, we have identified the least trusted sites, i.e. those with a score of 25 or less, that achieved the most engagement in 2022 (likes, shares and comments on Facebook and Twitter). The site that has obtained the most engagement appears in the first position.

All of the sites included in this list, which regularly publish false and misleading information, have been spreading disinformation about Covid-19, and all but one (Ilparagone.it) has published inaccurate or misleading information about the war between Russia and Ukraine. This demonstrates how sites that profit from publishing disinformation on one topic often publish disinformation on other topics as well. In December, NewsGuard reached out to all of these sites to ask for comment on their analysis. All responses received by NewsGuard in this regard are listed below.

1. Ilparagone.it
The site of former Italian senator and journalist Gianluigi Paragone, who has repeatedly published false, misleading and unsubstantiated claims about the Covid-19 pandemic and its vaccines

2. Imolaoggi.it
A right-wing political news site that has published false, misleading, and unsubstantiated content about Covid-19, the war between Russia and Ukraine, immigration, and other topics.

3. Rassegneitalia.info
A site with a right-wing political orientation that has published false and unsubstantiated claims on various topics, including the Covid-19 pandemic, vaccines and the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

Of NewsGuard’s analysis, the site said via email: “Regarding your assessment, we do not think it is fair and true. We do not publish false news, because we report linked sources of verified national newspapers, we correct errors when they report them to us. We do not publish the names of the editors because the articles are not ours, we limit ourselves to copying the article and adding the sources”.

4. Lantidiplomatico.it
A far-left international news site that frequently posted false content and spawned Russian disinformation.

After NewsGuard asked the director of Lantidiplomatico.it for a comment regarding his analysis of the site’s credibility and transparency practices, an article was published on Lantidiplomatico.it entitled “NewsGuard: how a US agency censors regularly registered newspapers in Italy ”. The site also invited NewsGuard via email to contact its lawyers “for any further communication”.

5. Scenarieconomici.it
A site with a right-wing orientation which has published false and misleading news and which does not disclose its ownership by a Member of the European Parliament.

6. Mag24.cloud
An anonymously run news site that has repeatedly published false information about the Covid-19 pandemic and related vaccines, and the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

7. Counterinformation.info
A news site that has published fake content and articles supporting conspiracy theories, including on geopolitical issues, the Covid-19 pandemic, and the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Regarding this analysis, Luciano Lago, the owner of the site, wrote to NewsGuard via email: “We are not obliged to respect the parameters of News Guard or of other agencies of the system”.

8. Voxnews.info
An anonymously run Italian site that regularly posts false information in support of its anti-immigration agenda. The site has also published disinformation about COVID-19 vaccines, the US presidential election, and the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

9. Grandeinganno.it
An anonymously run site that has published articles with false claims and conspiracy theories about Covid-19, vaccines, 5G, and the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

10. Maurizioblondet.it
The personal site of Maurizio Blondet, a journalist who spread false information about science, politics and the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

In response to a request for comment from NewsGuard, owner Maurizio Blondet posted the full contents of the NewsGuard email on his site, adding: “The solution is simple: stop reading my falsehoods.”

The most reliable sites with the highest engagement rate

Of the approximately 4.5% of Italian-language sites that scored full score in NewsGuard’s analysis, these 10 achieved the most engagement in 2022 (likes, shares and comments on Facebook and Twitter). These sites are listed in order of engagement, starting with the most popular. On the list are national newspaper sites, local news sites, weeklies sites, and fact-checking organization sites, among others.

1. Open.online
A site that deals with national and international news designed for millennials.

2. Ilsole24ore.com
The site of Sole 24 Ore, a national newspaper based in Milan that mainly deals with economics and finance.

3. Tpi.it
A site that publishes national and international news, with particular attention to politics.

4. Varesenews.it
A news site for the province of Varese, in Lombardy.

5. Focus.it
The website of Focus, a monthly magazine covering science, technology and history.

6. Lanuovasardegna.it
The site of the Sassari newspaper La Nuova Sardegna, which deals with news concerning the Sardinia region.

7. Internazionale.it
The site of Internazionale, a weekly that publishes articles from the foreign press translated into Italian, investigative reports and reports.

8. Editorialedomani.it
The site of Domani, a nationally distributed newspaper founded in 2020 that publishes national and international news, with particular attention to investigative journalism.

9. Pagellapolitica.it
An Italian site dedicated to political fact-checking.

10. Facta.news
The site of Facta, “a fact-checking project that deals with hoaxes, fake news and disinformation”.