Misinformation as a Window into Prejudice: COVID-19 and the Information Environment in India

In the aftermath of the COVID-19 crisis, there has been a massive amount of misinformation both relatedto the condition, and a range of linked social and economic issues. We present a mixed methods study ofmisinformation debunked by Indian fact checking agencies since January 2020. Alongside this, we present ananalysis of what politicians in India have been discussing in the overlapping period. We find that affectiveissues dominate misinformation, especially in the period following the lockdown in India. Furthermore, wefind that communal prejudice emerges as a central part of the misinformation environment, something that isreflected in the political speech around the same period.