.... In this study, we present how misleading information was disseminated under top-level coronavirus-related domain names, based on data collected from 303 websites between April 5 and April 6, 2020. We find that the authenticity of a striking number of websites posing to be of government source cannot be verified, and of those that are overtly non-governmental, many are selling products, advertising, or domain names. We argue that this is due to the co-existence of governmental and non-governmental organisations in the same domain space, which undermines the authenticity and trustworthiness of the information being presented
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After a broad review of websites using coronavirus-related domain names, specifically coronavirus, covid19, covid-19, sars-cov-2 and sarscov2, we found that we could not verify the authenticity of over 80% of websites presented as government websites.
Of the 303 websites surveyed, 90 (or nearly 30%) had unverified information and nearly half were squatting domains or ‘under construction.’
Government websites providing its citizens with life-critical coronavirus-related information should not be subject to this ambiguity, and should therefore not share the top-level domain name space with non-governmental individuals or entities. This finding will be critical in establishing trusted communication channels between governments and their citizens during this crisis.
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