Disinformation, conspiracy and pseudoscience around the Covid are also flourishing in bookstores in France: many books, some of them successful, convey their share of infox, giving these theories legitimacy and credibility.
Internet users have recently been indignant that books with conspiratorial overtones are placed at the head of the gondola in Fnac stores (French distributor of cultural products, Editor’s note) or at the top of search results on online sales platforms.
Among them, “Big Pharma Unmasked! “, Released in spring 2021 (ed. Guy Trédaniel): some 14,000 copies sold,” a good success “, according to the publisher.
It was among the best-selling “Covid” at the end of August, according to the GfK firm, with the bookstore successes of Prof. Christian Perronne and Didier Raoult, controversial French medical figures in the health crisis.
Contrary to what the author asserts at the beginning of the book, vitamin D, ivermectin or hydroxychloroquine have no proven efficacy against Covid, as most of the scientific community has explained for months.
Theories relayed on social networks and declined in certain radio or TV shows. All of this then creates a kind of self-powered loop which helps to turn conspiracy into an “ambient discourse”, explain the experts interviewed by AFP.
“We have put a lot of emphasis on the influence of social networks, forgetting that conspiracy and disinformation are made on the internet, but are imported from more traditional channels: books, but also conferences, training seminars, quite a business ”, notes Sebastian Dieguez, specialist in conspiracy at the University of Friborg (Switzerland).
“Business”
Offered by a relative, advised by a bookseller, the book “gives an aspect of credibility to the theses presented” and “contributes to making conspiracy for the general public, accessible to all”, notes Sylvain Delouvée, specialist in the subject at the University of Rennes 2 .
The “conspiracy, it works, it is not surprising that the platforms (of online sale) put them forward”, adds the academic, recalling that the success of such works “is not new”, like the ‘showed in 2002 the bestselling book by Frenchman Thierry Meyssan on September 11.
There is still the idea that “when you write a book, it’s serious, you adorn yourself with a posture of authority, it does not have the same value as a Facebook post”, adds historian Marie Peltier , subject matter expert at the Haute École Galilée in Brussels.
Especially since, notes Mr. Dieguez, these works “mimic academic books, with notes, documents, etc.” and largely escape the work of verification by journalists or scientists.
If one looks for “Covid” on Fnac.com, is proposed at the head “Investigation into a virus” (Le Jardin des Livres, 7000 copies since March), which also takes up the idea of a pandemic orchestrated by the elites global.
It also appears in the top ten Amazon results, alongside “The Truth about Covid-19”, by Dr. Joseph Mercola, considered one of the biggest providers of anti-vaccine disinformation on the internet.
In the United States, Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren wrote to Amazon in September to denounce the presence of this book in the site’s bestsellers.
Algorithms
With the keyword “vaccines”, it is “Vaccines at the time of Covid” (nearly 8,000 copies since April, according to Kiwi editions) which regularly appears at the top of the platforms: its author Michel de Lorgeril – formerly of the CNRS (French National Center for Scientific Research) – has been campaigning against vaccines for years, notably relaying the false idea of a link with autism.
On the side of platforms like publishers, we plead freedom of expression.
“Science can also be controversial, especially in the treatment of a new epidemic. Professor Didier Raoult is highly qualified to speak on the subject ”, estimates Elsa Lafon (ed. Michel Lafon), categorically rejecting the term“ disinformation ”to designate the“ work ”of the Marseille researcher (south).
“We sell books that are authorized for sale in France. We do not judge or censor the books (…). It is up to the reader to form his own opinion, ”explains one at Decitre, a bookstore company.
At Fnac, we defend ourselves against “any voluntary prescription” of books that could be taxed as conspirators, the works proposed at the top of the results being the result of algorithms combining “click rate, consultation of product sheets and sales”.
As for “bookstore favorites”, the sign indicates “moderate” since September “all incoming favorites on sensitive categories” and some can be withdrawn.
Amazon refers to its “guidelines”, which prohibit the sale of certain books (incitement to hatred, apology or promotion of child crime, rape, terrorism …).