This week’s episode: Viral lies

How vaccine misinformation spreads

In October, Reveal senior reporter and producer Ike Sriskandarajah tuned in to one of his favorite radio stations, Power 105.1 FM in New York, and started listening to the show “The Breakfast Club” co-hosted by Charlamagne Tha God. Charlamagne started warning his national audience of 8 million listeners about taking the COVID-19 vaccine. “Millions will line up to take the vaccine, and boom, microchips for all of y’all, right in time for goddamn Thanksgiving.”

Ike couldn’t help but wonder: Is this conspiracy theory going to be a problem?

This week on the podcast, Ike unravels the history of the surprisingly widespread lie that there is a tiny microchip in the COVID-19 vaccine. He follows the thread of the conspiracy theory from a Reddit “Ask me anything” thread with Bill Gates to a Swedish biohacking website and Donald Trump adviser Roger Stone. The impact of this misinformation is very real: As U.S. leaders hope to get enough people vaccinated to end this long, deadly pandemic, one recent poll found that 42% of respondents in the United States believed at least one COVID-19 conspiracy theory. One in 14 people believe a tracking chip might be planted in the vaccine, according to the poll.

Indeed, one doctor at a Brooklyn hospital told Ike that of the hundreds of patients he was giving COVID-19 nasal tests to every day, 1 in 5 would ask about a tracking microchip on the end of the swab.

This week’s episode marked a new milestone for Ike: In addition to reporting this segment and writing a story that we co-published with The Verge, he hosted the show for the first time, filling in for Al Letson as he works on a new project. Go Ike!

Listen to the episode: Viral lies

Read the story:

Where did the microchip vaccine conspiracy theory come from anyway?

McDonald’s franchises received millions of dollars in PPP loans even as workers filed safety complaints

We’ve been investigating how the federal government gave out billions in PPP loans. Last month, we showed how rampant racial disparities have plagued the program.

Now, our latest story shows how scores of fast food restaurants received tens of millions of dollars in forgivable loans, even as those same restaurants were accused by workers of not properly protecting them from COVID-19 exposure.

Fast food restaurants accepted money from the federal Paycheck Protection Program on the condition that they follow all federal workplace safety requirements. The PPP’s borrower application form states: “Signing this form is certification that the applicant, to the best of its knowledge, is in compliance with the applicable OSHA requirements, and will remain in compliance during the life of the loan.”

Read the story: PPP aid flooded fast food outlets facing labor complaints

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Dhruv Mehrotra is a data reporter at Reveal. He uses technology to find, build and analyze datasets for storytelling. And he has a cute dog named Winnie.

Reading: I usually am reading two books at once: one tangentially related to work and one completely unrelated to work. My work-related book is called “Spooked: The Trump Dossier, Black Cube, and the Rise of Private Spies.” It's a really fascinating read about corporate espionage, private spies and influence operations. For fun, I am reading Arundhati Roy's “The Ministry of Utmost Happiness.”

Listening: I am obsessed with the song “Tala Tannam” by the Tuareg songwriter Mdou Moctar. I've never heard anyone play guitar quite like this. His new album, “Afrique Victime,” is incredible.

Watching: I'm revisiting “Twin Peaks” because it's both wonderful and strange.

Follow Dhruv on Twitter: @dmehro.

This newsletter is written by Sarah Mirk. Have any feedback or ideas? Send them my way.