“We’re not just fighting an epidemic; we’re fighting an infodemic” proclaimed Director- General of the World Health Organisation on the 15th February 2020. With 45 million active social media users in the UK, misinformation unsurprisingly proliferates in a crisis, with Downing Street’s anti-fake news unit dealing with 10 false news articles per day. 

Globally, Google and the WHO have established a 24-hour incident-response team that aims to remove misinformation from search results and YouTube, however, fake news is still flourishing. From rumours that suggest that Coronavirus was created by 5G wireless signals, or by Bill Gates, to circulating WhatsApp messages that claim military helicopters are going to spray cities with disinfectant, fake news seemingly dominates the social media platforms. A post that argued that the virus was artificially engineered in a Wuhan laboratory was viewed 300,000 times on Facebook alone. Bizarre rumours surrounding the ways that you can prevent catching the virus include taking hot baths, rinsing your nose with saline, rubbing sesame oil on your skin and eating garlic, which have been expeditiously disproven by scientists and the WHO. 

More alarming than the rumours surrounding transmission of the virus, are the false reports of cures and remedies. Shockingly, a man died in America after ingesting fish tank cleaner containing chloroquine phosphate, which is toxic in this form. Pharmaceutically, chloroquine phosphate, is an anti-malarial drug currently being tested as a possible treatment for Coronavirus. Whilst many will read about these dangerous ‘miracle cures’, fortunately few choose to self-medicate. Despite this, the persistent misleading claims in articles mean that it is challenging for the public to navigate important information, leading people to perhaps question the validity of the medically supported facts they see. 

Fraudulent information is also being used to exploit the current chaos with scammers impersonating government text messages and telling Britons they have to pay a penalty for breaking lockdown restrictions. They ominously claim the public's movements are being monitored through their phones by the Government. 

To counter this growing threat, the Government’s ‘Rapid Response Unit’, as part of the Counter Disinformation Cell coordinated by the Digital and Culture Secretary, Oliver Dowden, is currently working with social media companies and government departments to directly remove any claims that counter official medical facts, incite panic, or appear to be phishing scams.  

Anecdotes are not the antidote for Coronavirus. Official information can be found at nhs.uk/coronavirus. 

By Emma Barker