From the Vox Media Podcast Network, this is Rico Daley. I am Teddy Schleifer.

Next Door has a COVID-19 problem.

The platform, which is sort of a Facebook for your neighborhood,

was once used for things like asking neighbors for a stick of butter,

looking for strollers to take a pet on a walk,

or passive-aggressive complaints about proper street parking.

That was Next Door. Now, Next Door is overrun with misinformation

and false theories about COVID, and the vaccine rollout.

Joining me is Rico Gibeca-Hiawawa, Hairbeca.

Hey.

So did I characterize that correctly?

Tell me what a typical day a Next Door looked like,

at least before the pandemic.

Yes, so Next Door has always tried to be a platform for local tasks,

missing dogs and needing a plumber and things like that.

That's not to say it hasn't fallen short of that mission

of sort of a neighborly helpful platform before the pandemic.

But amid the pandemic, everyone's been talking about COVID,

everyone's been talking about how to respond to COVID,

and amid that, just like we've seen on other platforms,

there's misinformation and whatnot.

But I think what makes Next Door different in this respect

...