Those posting misinformation on coronavirus criticised by Telford councillor
Social media 'experts' who spread misinformation about coronavirus have been criticised by a Telford councillor.
Councillor Thomas Janke, who represents Newport on Telford & Wrekin Council, called on people not to share or engage with mistruths they see on social media.
It comes after tech giants such as Facebook and Twitter were told they are 'morally responsible' to curb the spread of false information.
Councillor Janke said: "Coronavirus has unleashed two parallel pandemics which reinforce each other.
"One is biological – the virus itself – and the other is social: misinformation. Misinformed people put themselves and others at risk by taking dangerous quack cures, showing false confidence and mistrusting official guidance which is designed to minimise public harm.
"First, if you see untruths on Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp or elsewhere online, don’t engage with it. Don’t comment, don’t share it, even if it’s to argue that it’s untrue. The way social media works means that whenever we engage with a post it make it seem more popular.
"Next, if you don’t know the person posting misinformation, block them so you don’t see anything else they post. If it is someone you know, message them privately to politely warn them of the dangers of posting misinformation and ask them to delete it. You can also easily report content to the platform on which you find it, and ask them to take it down.
"Finally, we can drown out misinformation by instead sharing the official medical advice. Social media is essentially a numbers game: the more people share advice from the government, the NHS, and other experts, and ignore the misinformation out there, the more people will see the correct information rather than the false advice. It’s that simple."
The Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee has asked members of the public to send in evidence of false Covid-19 information circulating in their social networks.
Committee chairman Julian Knight said tech giants were “morally responsible” for the information on their platforms and should face penalties if they do not tackle false rumours about the disease.
But Facebook defended its handling of the pandemic, saying it had directed more than a billion people to official health advice on the virus.
