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Fake News, featuring articles about Donald Trump, Latin America, Singapore...

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Fake News & How to Spot It

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How can you tell what you're seeing on social media is genuine?

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How Can You Stop Fake News.
Think Before You Share.

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Coronavirus: How can you stop an 'infodemic'?

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Think before you share and check the source are among the tips the public is being urged to adopt.

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Fake News, featuring articles about Middle East, Coronavirus (Covid-19), Health...

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1. Emotion fuels fake news
When you see something that makes you feel super sad or super happy, it might be playing on your emotions to get a reaction.
2. Beware of exaggeration
Look out for headlines or social media posts with words like "terrible", "worst", "amazing" or "shocking". They are there to add drama to a story and make us want to click.
3. Fight the 'illusory truth effect'
The more times you hear or see something, the more likely you are to believe it's true - even if it's not. Just because a story seems to be everywhere does not mean that is 100% fact or correct.
4. Check your 'filter bubble'
Social media and ads are designed to suggest stories to match your browsing habits, interests and opinions. This means you could be taken in by fake news that appeals to your interests or opinions.

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Fake news: How to spot fact from fiction

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1. Emotion fuels fake news When you see something that makes you feel super sad or super happy, it might be playing on your emotions to get a reaction. 2. Beware of exaggeration Look out for headlines or social media posts with words like "terrible", "worst", "amazing" or "shocking".

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Quiz Yourself (or Class) today

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Find quizzes on any topic and practice or compete with friends.

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#tech #news

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Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, aggregated from sources all over the world by Google News.

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#CW #MediaLIteracy #SG

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The National Library Board 's (NLB) S.U.R.E programme, first launched in 2013, promotes the importance of information searching and discernment to the general public. The acronym stands for Source, Understand, Research, Evaluate - four concepts that an individual should keep in mind when assessing the reliability of news. NLB has since upgraded its S.U.R.E programme to become S.U.R.E. 2.0 - S.U.R.E for School; S.U.R.E. for Work; and S.U.R.E. for Life - to cater to the different needs and segments of the population.

S.U.R.E. distills key Information Literacy (IL) concepts into 4 simple ways:

Source: Look at its origins. Are they trustworthy?
Make sure that the source of information is credible and reliable.

Understand: Know what you're reading. Search for clarity.
Look for facts rather than opinions. Question personal biases.

Research: Dig deeper. Go beyond the initial source.
Investigate thoroughly before making a conclusion. Check and compare with multiple sources.

Evaluate: Find the balance. Exercise fair judgement.
Look from different angles. There are at least two sides to every story.

Learn how to safeguard yourself and others against online falsehoods by using the National Library Board's S.U.R.E. steps.

** Who we are and What we do**

We get people to start thinking about the information they receive every day and its sources through awareness marketing, training and engaging the public.

Download our S.U.R.E. poster to find out more.

Alignment to National Frameworks

Apart from reaching out to schools in Singapore, SURE is aligned to the various national frameworks.
MOE schools - since 2013 National Digital Readiness Blueprint - since June 2018 MCCY counter-terrorism curriculum- since Jan 2019

ST: https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/new-initiatives-to-help-religious-and-community-groups-combat-fake-news-and-terrorism
New 6th pillar of Total Defence: Digital Defence - since Feb 2019 National Digital Media & Information Literacy Framework - since July 2019 SkillsFuture for the Digital Workplace (SFDW) - since July 2019
SGSecure: Our Community Response to Counter Terrorism - since 2021

MCCY - Singapore Journey - since 2021
Health Promotion Board - HealthHub > MindSG - since 2022

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The National Library Board 's (NLB) S.U.R.E programme, first launched in 2013, promotes the importance of information searching and discernment to the general public. The acronym stands for Source, Understand, Research, Evaluate - four concepts that an individual should keep in mind when assessing the reliability of news.

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Fake News: How To Spot Misinformation: Life Kit : NPR

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Health officials right now aren't just having to battle an illness with no known cure or vaccine - they're having to fight back against Internet trolls and conspiracy theorists. The World Health Organization has labeled the current moment an "infodemic."

"While the virus spreads, misinformation makes the job of our heroic health workers even harder. It diverges attention of our decision-makers and it causes confusion and spreads fear to the general public," says the WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

You've probably come across a piece of bad information online, and you might not even know it. The virus was not created in a lab as a bioweapon, for instance, and inhaling hot air from a hair dryer is not a cure.

Experts say this outbreak may be the biggest source of Internet misinformation ... ever.

Life Kit wants to help. Here's a comic to help you sharpen your misinformation Spidey senses:

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Comic: Fake News Can Be Deadly. Here's How To Spot It : Life Kit

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Experts say the coronavirus outbreak may be the biggest source of Internet misinformation ever. Fake cures, unscientific tips, and conspiracy theories about COVID-19 are flooding the Internet - but there are ways to sniff out misinformation.

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2020 May 27 | Twitter Tags Trump's Posts

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2020 May 27 | Twitter Tags Trump's Posts

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Twitter tags Trump tweet with fact-checking warning

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A post by US President Donald Trump has been given a fact-check label by Twitter for the first time.

Mr Trump tweeted, without providing evidence: "There is NO WAY (ZERO!) that Mail-In Ballots will be anything less than substantially fraudulent."

Twitter put a warning label in the post and linked to a page that described the claims as "unsubstantiated".

Mr Trump on Wednesday threatened to "strongly regulate" or even "close down" social media platforms.

He tweeted to his 80 million followers that Republicans felt the platforms "totally silence conservatives" and that he would not allow this to happen. In an earlier tweet, he said that Twitter was "completely stifling free speech".

Later on Wednesday he said that Twitter "has now shown everything we have been saying about them... is correct" and vowed "big action to follow".

It is unclear what regulatory steps the president could take without new laws passed by Congress. The White House has yet to offer further details.

For years, Twitter has faced criticism for not acting on the president's controversial tweets, which include personal attacks on political rivals and debunked conspiracy theories.

This month the platform introduced a new policy on misleading information amid the coronavirus pandemic.

But recent posts in which Mr Trump - who has more than 80 million followers on Twitter - promoted a conspiracy theory about the death of political aide Lori Klausutis, blaming a high-profile critic, have not received the same treatment.

What is Twitter saying about Trump's posts?

The notification on Mr Trump's tweet shows a blue exclamation mark and a link suggesting readers "get the facts about mail-in ballots".

It directs users to a page on which Mr Trump's claims are described as "unsubstantiated", citing reporting by CNN, the Washington Post and others.

The pandemic is putting pressure on US states to expand the use of postal voting because people are worried about becoming infected at polling stations.

In a "what you need to know" section, Twitter writes that Mr Trump "falsely claimed mail-in ballots would lead to 'a Rigged Election'."

"Fact-checkers say there is no evidence that mail-in ballots are linked to voter fraud," it continues.

The company had pledged to increase the use of warning labels about false or misleading information on its site, but has been slow to take steps against the US president.

Mr Trump posted the same claim about mail-in ballots on Facebook, but it is not fact-checked on that platform.

What is President Trump's response?

Mr Trump then accused Twitter of interfering in the US presidential election scheduled for 3 November 2020, saying the company was "completely stifling free speech, and I, as president, will not allow it to happen".

His tweet on Wednesday told social media to "clean up your act now" and that he would not let a "more sophisticated version" of what they had "attempted to do, and failed, in 2016" happen again. He did not elaborate.

With more than 52,000 tweets currently to his name, Mr Trump is a prolific tweeter and relies on the platform to disseminate his views to millions of people.

He has used Twitter to launch attacks on opponents, with targets ranging from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to his political rivals in the US.

In 2017 he used anti-Muslim tweets aimed at London Mayor Sadiq Khan to serve a domestic political purpose of warning about immigration, BBC North America reporter Anthony Zurcher reported.

On Tuesday Mr Trump's presidential campaign manager Brad Parscale also criticised Twitter's decision.

"Partnering with biased fake news 'fact checkers' is a smoke screen to lend Twitter's obvious political tactics false credibility. There are many reasons we pulled all our advertising from Twitter months ago, and clear political bias is one of them," Mr Parscale tweeted.

What are mail-in ballots?

They are voting bulletins that are distributed and returned by post. In a recent opinion survey conducted by the Pew Research Center, 66% of Americans said they would not be comfortable going to a polling place to cast their ballot during the coronavirus outbreak.

Such concerns have increased pressure on states to expand the availability of mail-in ballots for all voters in order to minimise the risk of viral exposure from in-person voting.

While every state provides some form of remote voting, the requirements to qualify vary greatly.

Five states in the western US, including Washington, Oregon and Colorado, conduct their elections entirely via mail-in ballot.

Others, like California, provide a postal ballot to anyone who requests it.

On the other end of the spectrum, 17 states require voters to provide a valid reason why they are unable to vote in-person in order to qualify for an absentee ballot.

Twitter refuses to remove 'horrifying lies'

The move comes on the heels of Twitter's decision not to remove a comment President Trump made about the death of Lori Klausutis in 2001.

The president has tweeted several messages promoting a conspiracy theory that Ms Klausutis was murdered by MSNBC host Joe Scarborough.

Her widower Timothy Klausutis asked Twitter to remove the post, saying it included "horrifying lies".

The company told Mr Klausutis it was "deeply sorry" about the pain caused by the president's statements, but said the tweets did not violate their policies.

You may also be interested in

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Twitter tags Trump tweet with fact-checking warning

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A post by US President Donald Trump has been given a fact-check label by Twitter for the first time. Mr Trump tweeted, without providing evidence: "There is NO WAY (ZERO!) that Mail-In Ballots will be anything less than substantially fraudulent." Twitter put a warning label in the post and linked to a page that described the claims as "unsubstantiated".

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Kuantan MP Fuziah to be charged for Covid-19 fake news

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KUALA LUMPUR: Kuantan Member of Parliament Fuziah Salleh (pix) is expected to be charged in court tomorrow for allegedly spreading fake news on Facebo...

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It can be anyone - an unknown person in a basement. Someone whose name will never be known. (That's the beauty of the Internet: it lets people stay anonymous.)

Why do they do this? People who invent fake news may do it for a multitude of reasons:

* Out of hatred, spite or jealousy;

* To get revenge, teach someone a lesson;

* For political reasons;

* To promote an ideology;

* To harm a business competitor;

* To promote products;

* But especially because it pays!

Fake news pays!

The main reason for inventing it is to make money! You have to understand that on the Internet, popular news means ad revenue. The more clicks on a page, the more the advertising on the page is seen. The more it is seen, the more revenue for the page's administrators. It isn't even necessary to click on the ad.

The idea is to create a buzz about the publication, the interactions (Likes, shares and comments) that will be seen by new people who will visit the page. The fake news item on the accident due to Pokémon Go was shared 60,000 times on Facebook and received 150,000 Likes. Thanks to this fake news, somebody made a lot of money in ad revenue. Some fake news sites made thousands of dollars per month in advertising revenue during the last American election campaign.

You might think this has no consequences for us, because this money doesn't come directly from our pockets, but this is false. Fake news has a variety of impacts, depending on the type of information conveyed.

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Why is fake news invented? - 30sec to check it out

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Why is fake news invented? And who invents it? It can be anyone - an unknown person in a basement. Someone whose name will never be known. (That's the beauty of the Internet: it lets people stay anonymous.) Why do they do this?

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2 Apr 2017 | How to Spot A Fake News Story

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2 Apr 2017 | How to Spot A Fake News Story

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During the creepy clown scare of October 2016, when rumours and social media posts about threatening clowns shook schools across the US, students in Danina Garcia-Fuller's eighth-grade language-arts class mostly shrugged in disbelief.

"Some people were getting scared because they saw things on social media," said Patricia Visoso, 13, one of Garcia-Fuller's students at a school in Maryland. "But they never looked into seeing who was saying this."

The Instagram and Facebook posts were made not by mainstream news outlets, but by teenagers who offered no hard evidence that clowns really were plotting to attack students. The story turned out to be a hoax.

"I think a lot of people just look at one thing and automatically assume it's true," Patricia's classmate Ivy Brooks, also 13, said. "It's really important to know what's going on, so you need to look at the right sources and pay attention to what is opinion and what is fact" - or, in the case of the crazy clowns, to what is simply rumour.

Garcia-Fuller's students are some of the many across the country working to think critically about information they're seeing in the news and on the internet. It's an increasingly important skill at a time when stories can spread lightning-fast and when seemingly anyone can make a website to frame opinions, or outright lies, as facts.

According to a new report by Common Sense, a non-profit organisation that studies the way kids interact with the media, only 44 per cent of young people said they feel that they can tell real news stories from "fake news" that is intentionally wrong or inaccurate. About one-third said they had shared a news story online that they later found out was inaccurate.

There are a few ways students can avoid falling for fake news stories and be better consumers of "real" news, says Peter Adams, a senior vice president of the non-profit News Literacy Project.

"One of the first steps is to slow down," Adams said. If a story or social-media post or even a photo seems "too perfect, too good to be true," stop and think: is there evidence that supports what's being claimed? And where is this coming from? Is it from a news organisation that has standards, such as correcting things when it gets them wrong? Does the author or organisation have any bias or prejudice?

Distinguishing between fact and opinion, as well as between fact and fiction, is a crucial skill that allows democracy to work, Adams said. "If we can't agree on what exists, on what's a demonstrable truth and what is someone's take on that, then it becomes very hard to have a national conversation."

Six of Garcia-Fuller's students said they got most of their news from watching television programmes on local channels, or on national networks. When they read stories on their phones or in print, they said, they often search for specific facts to check for accuracy and potential bias.

They're practicing skills that they learned in part through Checkology, a News Literacy Project tool that features reporters discussing journalistic principles such as fairness and using balanced sources. The interactive Web programme lets kids play the role of a newspaper editor, where they have to decide which stories to emphasise.

It also covers the difference between fact and opinion, in the news as well as in political propaganda, where officials try to win readers or viewers to their side.

"Opinions are good to read," said McKenzie Campbell, 13, "but you also have to go back to your facts and make sure they don't contradict."

Sometimes it can be tricky to distinguish fact from fiction, Garcia-Fuller acknowledges. She tests her younger students with a website that appears to provide information on an animal called the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus.

The site is full of information on this tree-climbing creature, along with a few grainy photos. But like the creepy clowns, it's entirely made up.

The lesson, Garcia-Fuller tells her students, is to "double-check the information you're seeing" and "question everything - including things that I say".

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During the creepy clown scare of October 2016, when rumours and social media posts about threatening clowns shook schools across the US, students in Danina Garcia-Fuller's eighth-grade language-arts class mostly shrugged in disbelief. "Some people were getting scared because they saw things on social media," said Patricia Visoso, 13, one of Garcia-Fuller's students at a school in Maryland.

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[timeline] MOH Clarification on COVID-19 Fake News

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[timeline] MOH Clarification on COVID-19 Fake News

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#COVID19 #SG

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We advise members of the public to not speculate and/or spread unfounded rumours. Please visit this page for updates on the COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019) situation.

17 Apr 2020: There are false rumours circulating of an announcement tonight by Prime Minister Lee that Singaporeans are not allowed to travel outside of the region they live in. This is untrue. We urge all not to spread unverified information.To find out if Prime Minister Lee will be making a statement, please refer to government sources or PM Lee's official social media platforms only ( Facebook; Twitter; Telegram)

16 Apr 2020: We are aware of text messages from Primestaff Management Services Pte Ltd purportedly recruiting employees for the Community Isolation Facility (CIF) at Singapore Expo. We wish to clarify MOH has not engaged Primestaff Management Services Pte Ltd to conduct this recruitment.

16 Apr 2020: We are aware of a form circulating on text messaging platforms claiming to be from Yishun Health, calling for volunteers to sign up as "Compliers/Tracers" (sic). We would like to clarify that the form is bogus; the public is asked to refrain from responding to it or circulating it further. Please click here for KTPH's clarification.

14 Apr 2020 :We are aware of text messages circulating that give the false impression that the Police are proactively conducting checks at residential units to enforce the elevated safe distancing measures. This is not true. We urge the public not to spread unsubstantiated information which may cause public alarm. Please click here for the Singapore Police Force's (SPF) clarification.

27 Feb 2020: MOH has received feedback from members of the public that they have received phone calls asking them to visit MOH's offices to collect documents. We wish to inform all members of the public that the calls are not made by MOH. We wish to clarify that we will not require anyone to collect documents from MOH's offices if they do not have any existing matter with us.

We are aware of text messages circulating, falsely claiming that people have been stopped at police road blocks and fined for not complying with the elevated safe distancing measures. This is not true. The Police have not conducted road blocks specifically to enforce the safe distancing measures, and no passengers have been fined for not complying with these measures. Please click here for the Singapore Police Force's (SPF) clarification.

14 Feb 2020: There were false statements on The States Times Review Facebook page on the current COVID-19 situation in Singapore. Please click here for the facts of the case.

13 Feb 2020: A graphic that was aired on CNA's Asia Tonight TV bulletin at 8pm on Thursday (13 Feb) mistakenly listed a coronavirus death to Singapore. The table, showing the tally of confirmed COVID-19 cases, misattributed a coronavirus death to Singapore, instead of Hong Kong. The error was corrected immediately on-air in the same bulletin. Please click here for more information.

8 Feb 2020: MOH is conducting contact tracing to identify individuals who had close contact with the confirmed cases of COVID-19. Please note that we do not ask for any financial details during our call to you. If you receive a contact tracing call from MOH and wish to verify the authenticity of the phone call, please call the MOH General Hotline at 6325 9220.

7 Feb 2020 : There has been a message circulating of a death in Singapore due to COVID-19. This is false. As of 2pm, 7 Feb, there are no deaths due to the virus in Singapore.

7 Feb 2020: A fake screengrab of a CNA tweet was circulated widely on social media saying that all schools including polytechnics and universities are to close next Monday (10 Feb) due to the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak. This is untrue. The image, which is being circulated on messaging app WhatsApp, appears to have been a doctored screengrab of another tweet sent out by CNA. Click here for clarification from CNA.

01 Feb 2020: There is a WhatsApp message circulating with a list of alleged places where suspected or confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been. This is false. There is no need to avoid places where persons with suspected or confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been. The risk of infection from transient contact, such as in public places, is low. There is also currently no evidence of community spread.

31 Jan 2020: There was a false statement on The States Times Review Facebook page on the supply of surgical masks. We would like to assure public that there is sufficient supply of masks, if we use them sensibly and responsibly. Please click here for more information.

31 Jan 2020: On 30 Jan 2020, a website called 'City News' published an article titled "BREAKING NEWS: Singapore records six more coronavirus case, total of 16 now" claiming that five Singaporeans have contracted COVID-19 without going to China. This is not true. As of 9pm on 30 Jan 2020, there is no local transmission of COVID-19 in Singapore. All confirmed cases in Singapore to date are Chinese nationals who travelled from Wuhan. Please click here for more information.

28 Jan 2020: There were posts by several Facebook users claiming that Woodlands MRT was closed for disinfection due to a suspected case of the COVID-19 infection. The posts also urged members of the public not to go to Woodlands MRT. This is not true. Woodlands MRT was not closed on 28 Jan 2020; it was fully operational. Please click here for more information.

26 Jan 2020: On 5.50pm on 26 Jan 2020, a Hardware Zone Forum post claimed that a 66 year old man died in Singapore from a newly identified virus that caused him to develop severe pneumonia. As of 11pm on 26 Jan 2020, there have been no deaths among confirmed cases of the COVID-19 infection. Please click here for details.

24 Jan 2020: A message on COVID-19 has been circulating on WhatsApp asking the public not to visit certain public hospitals. We would like to clarify that all public hospitals have strict protocols to handle and manage suspect cases related to the Coronavirus Disease 2019. Suspect cases presented at the hospitals will be immediately isolated and further assessed. If you receive this message or any other unsubstantiated information over WhatsApp or other platforms, we urge you not to forward or circulate them.

24 Jan 2020: We refer to recent reports of a suspect case at Eastpoint Mall. We have verified that a patient, who was seen at the Raffles Medical clinic at Eastpoint Mall on 23 Jan 2020, was subsequently transported via dedicated ambulance to the hospital for further investigation. We would like to assure the public that this is part of the protocols that MOH has put in place to safeguard public safety. Please visit this page for updates on the latest situation.

: Singapore General Hospital (SGH) is aware of a fake memo bearing the SGH logo circulating on social media and text messaging platforms that Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has tested positive for COVID-19.

This is untrue. Please click here for SGH's clarification.

1 April 2020: We are aware that there are COVID-19 April Fool's pranks circulating on Whatsapp and social media. We urge public not to spread fake news and misinformation about COVID-19. Singaporeans are relying on internet and media for vital information for COVID-19, and these jokes, while benign in nature, may fan the spread of misinformation resulting in severe consequences. If you have received files from unknown or unverified source, do not click on it, or forward it further.

23 Mar 2020: MOH would like to clarify that the World Health Organisation had reaffirmed that the COVID-19 virus is spread mainly through droplets. However, the WHO noted that certain specialised procedures performed in healthcare settings may cause the virus to be aerosolised, and recommended that healthcare professionals take extra precautions in such settings. All hospitals in Singapore have put in place these extra precautions since the start of the outbreak.

21 Mar 2020: MOH is aware of a message requesting volunteers to man our call centre. We wish to clarify that this is not true.

19 Mar 2020: MOH is aware of a rumour circulating that two men infected with COVID-19 broke Quarantine Order and ran away from a hospital. This is not true. As of 19 March, 5pm, no confirmed COVID-19 cases left any Singapore hospital without proper discharge procedure.

28 Feb 2020: MOH is aware of a rumour circulating on social media that a foreign domestic worker had passed away from COVID-19 in Singapore. This is not true. She was tested for COVID-19 and found to be negative.

As of 4pm on 28 Feb 2020, there has been no fatality related to COVID-19 in Singapore. We advise members of the public to not speculate and/or spread unfounded rumours. Please visit www.moh.gov.sg for updates on COVID-19 situation.

We urge everyone to verify the authenticity of phone calls claiming to be from MOH by calling our General Hotline at 6325 9220. It is a good practice to always verify the authenticity of instructions before offering any personal information or making payments to anyone.

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We advise members of the public to not speculate and/or spread unfounded rumours. Please visit this page for updates on the COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019) situation. 17 Apr 2020: There are false rumours circulating of an announcement tonight by Prime Minister Lee that Singaporeans are not allowed to travel outside of the region they live in.

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Displaying 10 out of 156 results

1. Google on Thursday said it is pumping $6.5 million into fact-checkers and nonprofits as it ramps up its the battle against coronavirus misinformation.

2. As developments over the coronavirus outbreak unfold, all of us will have to exercise patience and care in fighting falsehoods, says an observer.

3. Media playtime

03:39minutes

Hong Kong authorities are not only fighting street battles with violent protesters in the last seven months. They are also combating fake news ...

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Displaying 10 out of 156 results Google on Thursday said it is pumping $6.5 million into fact-checkers and nonprofits as it ramps up its the battle against coronavirus misinformation. As developments over the coronavirus outbreak unfold, all of us will have to exercise patience and care in fighting falsehoods, says an observer.

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[tech] [26 Mar 2020] | Facebook gives step-by-step instructions on how to spot fake news

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[tech] [26 Mar 2020] | Facebook gives step-by-step instructions on how to spot fake news

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Get better at knowing what's real news.

With human moderators sent home due to the coronavirus, and artificial intelligence systems scrambling to replace them, Facebook is taking a small step to educate its users on how to spot fake news themselves.

"We are committed to reducing the spread of false news on Facebook," the social media giant writes in a post in its help center, along with a few ways it's working to curb the tidal wave of virus-related misinformation on its platform. Efforts include identifying false stories through community feedback and third-party fact-checkers and then responding not by removing the flagged content but by displaying it lower in the news feed, which can "significantly reduce their distribution and remove their advertising rights."

Facebook, which is offering free advertising to the World Health Organization to combat COVID-19 misinformation, also has 10 tips for people to weed out fake news on their own, at a time when coronavirus-related conspiracy theories appear to be spreading as fast as the virus itself.
"Be skeptical of headlines."
Fake news headlines often sound too good to be true - because they are. Especially beware of exclamation points and headlines written in all caps.
"Look closely at the link."
Never heard of the news site in the URL? Does the link sound like an established news source you've heard of, but there's a letter or two added, or missing? These are telltale signs that wherever that link leads, it's not to the truth.
"Investigate the source."
Brush up on the outlets you trust, and then keep your eye out for them. The internet is a big place, and a lot of sites work exclusively in the business of churning out false stories. Try searching outlets you've never heard of to see if they're trusted - or junk.
"Watch for unusual formatting."
Could you design a better homepage than that? See tons of spelling errors, and find the layout awkward? If the site you're on looks off, the problem likely goes deeper.
"Consider the photos."
Photos can be more convincing proof than words, but these days, they're easily manipulated and may only show a version of the truth - or a total falsehood. To back-search an image and find where else it has been used, drag the file into Google Images to find out if what you were looking at was edited to show something other than reality.
"Inspect the dates."
Pay close attention to the timelines given in the story. Do the dates match up with ones you can verify? If the timeline doesn't track, it's probably not you - it's probably fake news.
"Check the evidence."
Are there links out to other stories, attributions or credits in the article? Like scientists, journalists cite their sources, and while some pieces are entirely original reporting, most will at least involve statistics, photos or quotes that can be attributed to real, verifiable humans or outlets. Don't be fooled by the bogus coronavirus remedies being promoted.
"Look at other reports."
Is the outlet you're reading the only one to report something extreme? It may be because that outlet made it up.
"Is the story a joke?"
To those who don't realize publications like the Onion and ClickHole are satirical publications, the humorous pieces they produce may appear to be real news, when in fact they're intended as parodies. Plenty of memes, too, are not actually purporting to be news but amusing takes on it.
"Some stories are intentionally false."
Stop the spread of malicious content. Make sure what you're reading is credible before passing it on. A lot of websites are peddling unsubstantiated claims about the coronavirus.

See something that doesn't look right? Flag it.

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Facebook gives step-by-step instructions on how to spot fake news

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Get better at knowing what's real news. With human moderators sent home due to the coronavirus, and artificial intelligence systems scrambling to replace them, Facebook is taking a small step to educate its users on how to spot fake news themselves.

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[tech] [27 Mar 2020] |  Coronavirus Fake News: How Facebook, Twitter, And Instagram Are Tackling The Problem

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[tech] [27 Mar 2020] |  Coronavirus Fake News: How Facebook, Twitter, And Instagram Are Tackling The Problem

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#tech

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Fear inevitably leads to panic, speculation, and the spread of misinformation - and there's a lot of fear in the world right now.

As I write, entire countries, including Italy and India, are going into lockdown. Thankfully modern technology means even when we're isolating at home, we don't have to be alone. Social media, video calling, and other online channels mean our friends and loved ones are usually just a click away. We may have become accustomed by now to taking this tech for granted, but in the immediate future, it's going to become a lifeline for many.

Finding The Truth About COVID-19: How Facebook, Twitter, And Instagram Are Tackling Fake News
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Of course, it has its downsides too. Whispers, rumors, and outright lies can spread around the world faster than ever before - and this can feed the fear, anxiety, and mental stress that many people are experiencing.

As the crisis began to unfold across the globe, bad, dangerous, or just plain stupid information came with it. One of the earliest false rumors was that drinking alcohol provided a level of protection against infection. While this may have generated a few clicks and some advertising revenue, for sensationalist outlets pushing the line, it is also clearly dangerous advice, given that alcohol is known to weaken the immune system and, if anything, lower your resistance. It was even reported that deaths were caused by people consuming industrial alcohol to try and disinfect themselves.

With this in mind, it's reassuring that some of the biggest internet and social media companies are making an effort to live up to their responsibilities, as gatekeepers of what information can be sent over their networks.

Twitter, for example, moved early on in the crisis to ensure that users searching for information on the virus were shown reliable and authoritative sources such as the World Health Organization or national health agencies, rather than conspiracy sites or news outlets frequently flagged for spreading "fake news."

During the first month after the virus first emerged, more than 15 million tweets were sent mentioning coronavirus - so this move was aimed at ensuring fact-checked, scientific advice was discoverable amongst the noise, conjecture, and panic.

As the crisis developed, it stepped up its use of machine learning algorithms to detect the spread of false information that had the potential to cause harm, and flag that content for removal. This included detecting accounts being used to deny or advise against following official advice, or promoting "alternative" treatments or cures that are not proven to be effective. It was also programmed to look for commonly-spread falsehoods, including the alcohol cure or children being immune to the illness.

The world's biggest social network, Facebook, itself unveiled a raft of measures designed to help keep users safe from misinformation, as well as exploitative practices. It deployed algorithms to look for false or sensationalist claims made in advertising - for example, by people offering homeopathic remedies and implying that they could prevent, cure, or protect against the virus. It also put in place a ban on the sale of certain items that are in short supply because of the outbreak, such as face masks and hand sanitizers, unscrupulous advertisers switched to falsely claiming that other, unrelated but necessary products were likely to become hard to get hold of due to the outbreak, so algorithms were developed to detect this, too.

Instagram - also owned by Facebook - uses algorithms to identify and track hashtags that are frequently used in posts containing false or misleading information. As of this week, it also began redirecting anyone searching for information on coronavirus to a special message providing links to verified and authoritative information sources. This was done to attempt to cut down the number of people sharing unverified information on the platform.

Health services and government agencies have also begun partnering with tech giants to ensure reliable information doesn't get swamped by the fake news and opportunism. In the UK, the National Health Service worked with Twitter to speed up the verification process of over 800 accounts operated by its different units, divisions, and programs, ensuring that the "blue tick" was in place to let users know that advice from these accounts is trustworthy.

Online platforms that sell themselves on their tolerance for free speech and a disinclination to "censor" their users face stiff challenges in times of global panic. Message board Reddit allows "conspiracy" talk - the spreading of unsubstantiated rumors, often grounded in political bias or even racism - but has moved groups that frequently allow misleading information into its own form of quarantine. The (mis)information is still available for anyone to read, but visitors are shown a warning before they see it, stating that it may be unverified, untrue, or unsafe.

And this week, messaging app WhatsApp launched a new feature into beta that offers users the chance to search the web for the truth, when they receive messages containing information that might not be true. This comes as organizations, including the Indian government and the World Health Organization, use the platform to launch coronavirus chatbots. The hope is that people will use them to help sort fact from fiction, as they are trying to understand the impact of coronavirus on their lives.

The World Health Organization is a good starting point for reliable advice: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) advice for the public. This includes myth-busters and advice on when to use masks, healthy parenting, and getting your workplace ready.

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Coronavirus Fake News: How Facebook, Twitter, And Instagram Are Tackling The Problem

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As the coronavirus spreads around the world and people are desperate for clear guidance and reliable information to protect themselves, it can be hard to see through all the disinformation and fake news. Here we look at how social media sites tackle this issue.

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#CyberWellness #CW

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Imagine this: two news articles are shared simultaneously online.

The first is a deeply reported and thoroughly fact-checked story from a credible news-gathering organisation - perhaps Le Monde, The Wall Street Journal, or Süddeutsche Zeitung.

The second is a false or misleading story. But the article is designed to mimic content from a credible newsroom, from its headline to the way in which it has been shared.

How do the two articles fare?

The first article - designed to inform - receives limited attention. The second article - designed for virality - accumulates shares. It exploits the way your brain processes new information, and the way social media decides what to show you. It percolates across the internet, spreading misinformation.

This isn't a hypothetical scenario - it's happening now in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and beyond. The Pope did not endorse a US presidential candidate, nor does India's 2,000-rupee note contain a tracking device. But fabricated content, misleading headlines, and false context convinced millions of internet users otherwise.

This type of fraud is reaching epidemic proportions worldwide, at least in part because the online advertising economy that underlies much of today's internet is terribly broken. The rise of misinformation discussed under today's catch-all banner of 'fake news' needs to be understood in the context of unhealthy market realities that can reward malicious behaviour for profit or political gain.

Most people are getting at least some of their news from social media now. In order to maximise profits from displaying ads, news feeds and timelines show the content that attracts the most attention. This ends up favouring headlines that scream for reactions (expressed as shares, 'likes' and comments). Add to this the ability to boost the visibility of any message by buying an ad and targeting the people most likely to react to it (based on interests, behaviours and relationships), and anyone can churn out disinformation at unbelievable rates and then track their success.

Finding fixes

Online misinformation is a major threat to the health of the internet and all of the societies it touches because of the potential for political disorder, the undermining of the truth, and the hatred and rumours that can spread in conflict or disaster zones, but also because attempted quick fixes by politicians (with or without ulterior motives) may threaten the openness of the internet.

For example, Germany's reaction to misinformation and hate speech online was to make social media platforms responsible for taking down unlawful content. Other countries, including Russia and Kenya, have passed laws that follow suit. We should be wary of any solutions that make Facebook, Twitter or any other corporations (or their algorithms) the gatekeepers of the internet.

Instead of quick fixes, we need to take the time to better understand the problem and the kaleidoscope of actors and symptoms. We're facing a mix of junk news, computational propaganda, information pollution and low digital literacy.

Numerous people are already working on ways to tackle parts of the problem. Developers and publishers are trying to build more thoughtful and balanced communities around their news. The Credibility Coalition is working on a web standard to support the detection of less trustworthy and unreliable content. Teachers are developing curricula to help their students grapple with misinformation. And social platforms are trying to make political ads more transparent, although with limited effect. These are still early days for many ideas.

Even if efforts like these succeed, many argue that we'll still have to tackle a bigger internet health problem: the underlying online advertising and engagement model that rewards abuse, fraud and misinformation. It's hard to imagine fixing this problem without regulation, radical changes in internet business models, or both.

Mozilla is a global community of technologists, thinkers and builders working together to keep the Internet alive and accessible, so people worldwide can be informed contributors and creators of the web.

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The first is a deeply reported and thoroughly fact-checked story from a credible news-gathering organisation - perhaps Le Monde, The Wall Street Journal, or Süddeutsche Zeitung. The second is a false or misleading story. But the article is designed to mimic content from a credible newsroom, from its headline to the way in which it has been shared.

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Free gamified quizzes on every subject that students play in class and at home. Pick an existing quiz or create your own for review, formative assessment, and more.

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27 Apr 2020 | Man to be charged for posting false message about COVID-19 circuit breaker measures.

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(Updated: )

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SINGAPORE: A 40-year-old man will be charged on Monday (Apr 27) for posting a false message on Facebook about COVID-19 "circuit breaker" measures.

The man is accused of posting the false message between Apr 15 and Apr 16 in a Facebook group called Taxiuncle.

According to the police, the man claimed he "got intel" that Singapore "will proceed with more measures" from Apr 18.

"Food courts coffee shop all close. Supermarkets will only open two days a week. Better go stock up your stuff for the next month or so. Govt officials in meeting yesterday and will finalize measures tomorrow," the post read.

The man may be jailed for up to three years, fined a maximum of S$10,000 or both if he is found guilty of transmitting a message that he knows to be false.

"The police will not hesitate to take action against anyone who transmits or communicates falsehoods," the force said.

"Members of the public should refer to official sources for information and avoid spreading unsubstantiated information or false rumours, as these may cause fear and public alarm."

Singapore is currently undergoing a circuit breaker period to curb the spread of COVID-19 in the country. It started on Apr 7 and was set to last until May 4, but was extended last week to Jun 1.
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Safe distancing measures have also been tightened, with hairdressers, pet supply stores and standalone outlets selling beverages and desserts told to close. Supermarkets and wet markets remain open, although entry restrictions have been imposed on four popular wet markets.

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Man to be charged for posting false message about COVID-19 circuit breaker measures

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(Updated: ) Share this content SINGAPORE: A 40-year-old man will be charged on Monday (Apr 27) for posting a false message on Facebook about COVID-19 "circuit breaker" measures. The man is accused of posting the false message between Apr 15 and Apr 16 in a Facebook group called Taxiuncle.

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[18 Apr 2020] POFMA invoked against website for fake content

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[18 Apr 2020] POFMA invoked against website for fake content

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#POFMA #COVID19

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An online post claiming 1,146 confirmed cases of Covid-19 infection on Friday, with a total of 5,573 confirmed cases in Singapore, is false.

There were 623 confirmed cases as of noon on Friday, bringing the total number of cases to 5,050, with no cover-up from the Ministry of Health (MOH), said the Government as it invoked the fake news law against website Singapore States Times.

Minister of Health Gan Kim Yong instructed the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma) office yesterday to issue a correction direction to the website's Facebook page for its "multiple false statements" on MOH's reporting of Covid-19 cases.

The post claimed Mr Gan had ordered the reported numbers to be halved to minimise public panic, by reporting numbers in the afternoon instead of later at night.

It also claimed other kinds of cover-up regarding Covid-19 reporting by the authorities, and that another website, The States Times Review, had called out the Government and MOH on the cover-up. It said MOH had to comply with The States Times Review's post.

However, the Government has clarified that there was no instruction given by Mr Gan or the Government to halve or under-report the number of cases.

For the purpose of updating the number of new cases of Covid-19 per 24-hour period, MOH has always used noon as the cut-off time since the onset of Covid-19, said the Government on its fact-checking website Factually.

The Government said MOH's daily press statements publish information on all confirmed cases, including the number of imported cases, and the linked and unlinked cases at that point in time.

MOH's daily reports on the situation and an overview of cases can be publicly accessed on its website.

It added that MOH does not act and has not acted in compliance with any of The States Times Review's posts.

The Pofma directive would require Singapore States Times to display a correction notice and provide access to the accurate information. It is not compulsory for Singapore States Times to take down the post or make edits to its content, and the directive does not impose criminal sanctions.

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Pofma invoked against website that claimed cover-up on coronavirus case numbers

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An online post claiming 1,146 confirmed cases of Covid-19 infection on Friday, with a total of 5,573 confirmed cases in Singapore, is false. There were 623 confirmed cases as of noon on Friday, bringing the total number of cases to 5,050, with no cover-up from the Ministry of Health (MOH), said the Government as it invoked the fake news law against website Singapore States Times.

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18 April 2020 | Coronavirus: Rumours of PM Lee announcing internal travel curbs is fake, says Govt

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18 April 2020 | Coronavirus: Rumours of PM Lee announcing internal travel curbs is fake, says Govt

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#SG #COVID19

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Rumours that Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong would announce last night that Singaporeans would no longer be allowed to travel outside of the area they live in are not true, the Government said.

In a message sent through Gov.sg's messaging app channels yesterday afternoon, the Government said that people should refer to government sources or PM Lee's official social media platforms for information on whether he is making a national address.

There were no indications from official sources that he was making a national address yesterday.

The message in circulation is similar to an old WhatsApp chain message that refers to a "partial lockdown" of Singapore, where the country is alleged to be split into four sectors - north, south, east and west.

According to the fake message, boundaries of the sectors will be enforced by soldiers and the police to make sure that residents of one sector do not enter another.

The Gov.sg message urged people not to spread unverified information.

In a Facebook post, Speaker of Parliament Tan Chuan-Jin said he is "sick and tired" of people who think it is a game to send such messages which are "pure nonsense".

"And worse are those who see this as an opportunity to undermine confidence and trust. I hope we track down those who are responsible for generating this and also sharing the fake news," he said.

Since the coronavirus outbreak began, false rumours have intermittently spread about supposed national addresses by PM Lee despite no plans or official announcements on the matter.

In certain cases, such as when some people alleged that Singa-pore was running out of masks, the Government has invoked the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act to correct false statements.

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Coronavirus: Rumours of PM Lee announcing internal travel curbs is fake, says Govt

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Rumours that Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong would announce last night that Singaporeans would no longer be allowed to travel outside of the area they live in are not true, the Government said.

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18 Apr 2020 | Singapore’s law minister says that to counter fake news, more information must be given

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18 Apr 2020 | Singapore’s law minister says that to counter fake news, more information must be given

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#COVID19 #SG

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Singapore's law minister says that to counter fake news, more information must be given

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Regular communication and correcting misinformation promptly are some ways governments can tackle fake news during the coronavirus pandemic, said Singapore's home affairs minister, K. Shanmugam. - He added that the city-state's fake news law helped to substantially reduce the amount of misinformation circulating.

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17 Apr 2020 | Fake News, Real Arrests - Mumbai, India

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17 Apr 2020 | Fake News, Real Arrests - Mumbai, India

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#COVID19 #India

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EDITOR'S NOTE: We're making some of our coronavirus pandemic coverage free for nonsubscribers. You can read those articles here and subscribe to our newsletters here.

EDITOR'S NOTE: We're making some of our coronavirus pandemic coverage free for nonsubscribers. You can read those articles here and subscribe to our newsletters here.

MUMBAI-Rumor travels faster than the coronavirus in India. False data has flown across social media, and fake remedies have abounded. Conspiracy theories about the virus's origins, and about those responsible for its spread, have gained traction as they move across WhatsApp and Facebook. But rather than tackle the source of the problem, police have been carrying out rampant arrests-raising concerns over human rights and questions over the ability of local and national government to control misinformation.

In Mizoram, at least 15 people were arrested for sharing a fake circular telling locals outside the state to come home immediately. In Odisha, a man was arrested for posting to Facebook "fake news" about a supposedly infected person who arrived from out of state-information he said he received on WhatsApp. In Rajasthan, a health care worker was arrested for posting misleading data on the number of COVID-19 cases. Similar cases have appeared across the country. A recent tally by Agence France-Presse found that nearly 100 people had been arrested in India on charges related to spreading misinformation about the coronavirus. Though India does not have a "fake news" law, most cases have been registered under existing provisions such as the Indian Penal Code and the Epidemic Diseases Act of 1897. At least one state, Maharashtra, has passed orders specifically related to the coronavirus -mandating that any information on the virus must be approved by the government before dissemination.

The coronavirus crisis has hit the country hard, spreading rapidly and ravaging the economy. India now has over 13,800 confirmed cases with 452 deaths, though given the relatively low rate of testing, the real figure is likely to be far higher. On March 24, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a three-week lockdown as a means of slowing the pandemic. The order is among the strictest in the world, covering some 1.3 billion people who are not allowed to step foot outside their homes except to get food and medicine. On April 14, Modi extended the lockdown for another 19 days. With little focus on combating misinformation, erratic and unclear communication from the government allowing rumors to flourish, and rising strain on the population, the number of arrests might be expected to grow.

"Extraordinary times absolutely call for extraordinary measures, but those measures should be positive investments in independent and credible information, not steps that will do little or nothing to stop misinformation while doing great collateral damage to fundamental rights," said Rasmus Nielsen, the director of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford, who has worked extensively on disinformation.

India has 451 million monthly active internet users, according to a 2019 report, and 400 million WhatsApp users, making it the company's largest market. WhatsApp has been one of the key platforms for spreading disinformation in India-to such a degree that the company in 2018 limited how many times a message can be forwarded after a spate of mob killings driven by rumors spread on the platform.

As in other countries, the spread of fake news has long been a concern in India-the rumormongering around COVID-19 is simply following prevailing patterns.

"It is part of a larger ecosystem, it's not like it is suddenly happening now," said Thomas Abraham, a journalist and honorary associate professor at Hong Kong University, whose research work has focused on risk communication during epidemics. "You stop one person, someone else will start doing it. If you have a culture of doing it, it will continue."

In India, this culture has been aided by politicians and influential public figures peddling bogus information. In recent weeks, some leaders advised using cow urine and cow dung to combat the virus. On WhatsApp, netizens have been forwarding messages ranging from the dubious to the dangerous-including advice on gargling with various liquids and avoiding meat, and the claim that the prime minister's recent appeal to Indians to applaud health care workers in unison "will create so much vibrations that virus will lose all potency." Perhaps most worryingly, online conspiracy theories claiming Muslims are responsible for the spread of the virus have led to violence.

Though some of these messages are patently nonsense, the question of how to clearly distinguish real news, opinion, misinformation, and deliberate fakes is a tough one. In the absence of a clear definition of "fake news," allowing law enforcement authorities to exercise their discretion allows arrests to be driven by politics or police whim.

"When you start arresting people what happens is you pick up random people, they haven't necessarily started those forwards. In the age of social media you may never find out who posted it," said Pratik Sinha, the founder and editor of Alt News, a fact-checking site. "So, you will pick on two or three people but a popular forward gets sent thousands of times, are you going to fill jails with thousands of people? No, you pick on a few and put them in jail. Very often you find there is a political slant to it, because you pick up people from opposing parties."

And there is little to suggest arrests work as a deterrent. "China has been extraordinarily draconian in restricting citizens' communication and cracking down on voices, and yet there is plenty of misinformation in circulation," Nielsen pointed out.

It is imperative for authorities to instead begin combating bad information with good information and curtail the room for speculation. "What public authorities can do is to make sure that they are communicating effectively, and they are not leaving a vacuum," Abraham said. "Are they getting through to people? If they are, then the problem of fake news disappears."

But as long as the government benefits from the rapid spread of false information, there is little likelihood of pivoting. "Every single month we have a plethora of political misinformation," Sinha said. "And why do people fall for it? Because they are not taught to think critically toward the information they receive. That is what we as a country need to work on, to think more critically and build more scientific temper, but we are going exactly in the opposite direction."

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EDITOR'S NOTE: We're making some of our coronavirus pandemic coverage free for nonsubscribers. You can read those articles here and subscribe to our newsletters here. EDITOR'S NOTE: We're making some of our coronavirus pandemic coverage free for nonsubscribers. You can read those articles here and subscribe to our newsletters here.

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17 Apr 2020 | Roadblocks to Ensure Safe Distancing. Police Debunks Rumours.

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17 Apr 2020 | Roadblocks to Ensure Safe Distancing. Police Debunks Rumours.

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#COVID19 #SG

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SINGAPORE - To debunk fake news circulating about police operations in the current circuit breaker period, the police released a video on Thursday (April 16) to address the matter.

Their two-minute video, titled Facts Vs Rumours: Stop Spreading False Rumours On Police's Actions, details four untruths making the rounds on social media and messaging apps since the circuit breaker measures came into force on April 7.

The police also urged people to comply with safe distancing measures and not spread false information.

"Police resources are vital to maintaining law and order in Singapore, not spent on debunking false rumours," the police said in the video.

The four falsehoods are:

Rumour #1: Police have set up roadblocks to enforce safe distancing measures

The police were said to have stopped cars at the roadblocks and issued fines of $300 to drivers and passengers whose ICs did not show the same home address, according to a viral message.

Fact: The police said they have not conducted roadblocks specifically to enforce safe distancing measures.

Instead, the roadblocks are for general law enforcement purposes, such as to detect drink driving or wanted persons. However, if officers come across people flouting the safe distancing measures, the police will take enforcement action.

Rumour #2: Police have arrested a man for not wearing a mask in a Toa Payoh pharmacy

In a widely circulated video, the police were seen arresting a man creating a ruckus in a Guardian pharmacy outlet on Monday afternoon. Netizens later speculated that the man was nabbed because he did not abide by circuit breaker measures, like following safe distancing rules or wearing a mask.

Fact: The man was arrested for shop theft and disorderly behaviour, said the police. However, those who do not wear a mask outside of their homes can be fined $300, they added.

Rumour #3: Police will arrest those who flout safe distancing measures

This rumour arose from a viral video that shows a man shouting at two police officers, telling them not to touch him. It shows the police handcuffing him.

Fact: The police said the man was arrested under the Destitute Persons Act for failing to return to a welfare home where he lives. The man had sat on a bench that was cordoned off, and refused to leave the area despite repeated warnings by safe distancing ambassadors and the police, according to an earlier police statement.

The police have not arrested anyone for flouting the social distancing measures, the police said in their video.

Rumour #4: Police carry out random checks on people's homes to enforce safe distancing measures

They were said to be doing it to ensure only family members or the unit's registered residents were present. In one such viral message, a couple claimed they were given a written warning after police turned up at a family member's home and found the couple were at the gathering for non-essential purposes.

Fact: The police said they were at the unit after receiving a phone call asking for help over a family dispute. Officers then found the couple were there for non-essential purposes and issued them a warning letter.

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Coronavirus: Roadblocks to ensure safe distancing? Police video debunks 4 rumours

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SINGAPORE - To debunk fake news circulating about police operations in the current circuit breaker period, the police released a video on Thursday (April 16) to address the matter. Their two-minute video, titled Facts Vs Rumours: Stop Spreading False Rumours On Police's Actions, details four untruths making the rounds on social media and messaging apps since the circuit breaker measures came into force on April 7.

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13 Apr 2020 | Fake News & Fears Putting Lives at Risk - UN News

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13 Apr 2020 | Fake News & Fears Putting Lives at Risk - UN News

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And fears are growing that this phenomenon is putting lives at risk, prompting some with symptoms to try unproven remedies in the hope of 'curing' themselves. UNESCO, the UN educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, is leading efforts to counter falsehoods and promote the facts about the virus.

'Barely an area left untouched by disinformation'

Well before the outbreak of the virus, UNESCO was issuing warnings of the impact that political, technological, economic, and social transformation has had on how we exchange information in recent years, referring to the "contamination" caused by some orchestrated misinformation campaigns, which pose a threat to fact-based journalism and, particularly during the current pandemic, people's lives.

Guy Berger is the Director for Policies and Strategies regarding Communication and Information at UNESCO, and one of the agency's lead officials on the subject of disinformation. In an interview with UN News, he explained that falsehoods related to all aspects of COVID-19, have become commonplace.

"There seems to be barely an area left untouched by disinformation in relation to the COVID-19 crisis, ranging from the origin of the coronavirus, through to unproven prevention and 'cures', and encompassing responses by governments, companies, celebrities and others."

He added that "in a time of high fears, uncertainties and unknowns, there is fertile ground for fabrications to flourish and grow. The big risk is that any single falsehood that gains traction can negate the significance of a body of true facts.

"When disinformation is repeated and amplified, including by influential people, the grave danger is that information which is based on truth, ends up having only marginal impact."

Mythbusting, and the dangers of promoting unproven medicines

Because of the scale of the problem, the World Health Organization ( WHO), which is leading the UN's response to the pandemic, has added a " mythbusters " section to its online coronavirus advice pages. It refutes a staggering array of myths, including claims that drinking potent alcoholic drinks, exposure to high temperatures, or conversely, cold weather, can kill the virus.

Mr. Berger noted that some people believe, wrongly, that young people or those of African descent are immune (some disinformation has a racist, or xenophobic, tone), and that those in warm climates or countries where summer is on its way, do not need to worry too much. The likely consequence, he says, is complacency, which could fuel more premature deaths.

The UNESCO official also pointed to a more harmful example of disinformation: encouraging the taking of medication, approved for other purposes, but not yet clinically proven as being effective against COVID-19.

The good, the bad, and the gullible

Sadly, says Mr. Berger, some have capitalized on the pandemic, to spread disinformation for the purposes of advancing their own agendas: "The motives for spreading disinformation are many, and include political aims, self-promotion, and attracting attention as part of a business model. Those who do so, play on emotions, fears, prejudices and ignorance, and claim to bring meaning and certainty to a reality that is complex, challenging and fast-changing."

But, he adds, not everyone responsible for spreading untruths is doing so maliciously. Well-intentioned people are also uncritically circulating dubious content. Whatever the reasons, he warns, the outcome is the same: "These different motives require different responses, but we should not lose sight of the fact that, irrespective of intention, the effect of sharing falsehoods is to disinform and disempower the public, with deadly potential."

Supplying and demanding the truth

Against this, what can be done to ensure that truthful, helpful and potentially life-saving information gains wider prominence? UNESCO's answer, says Mr. Berger, is to improve the supply of truthful information, and ensure that the demand is met: "We are underlining that governments, in order to counter rumours, should be more transparent, and proactively disclose more data, in line with Right to Information laws and policies. Access to information from official sources is very important for credibility in this crisis."

"However, this is not a substitute for information supplied by the news media, so we are also intensifying our efforts to persuade authorities to see free and professional journalism as an ally in the fight against disinformation, especially because the news media works openly in the public sphere, whereas much disinformation is under-the-radar, on social messaging apps."

UNESCO, continued Mr. Berger, is particularly urging governments "not to impose restrictions on freedom of expression that can harm the essential role of an independent press, but to recognise journalism as a power against disinformation even when it publicises verified information and informed opinion that annoys those in power. There is a strong case to be made that the media deserves to be recognised and supported by governments as an essential service at this time."

To satisfy the demand for authoritative facts, UNESCO is circulating as much reliable public health information as possible, via the media, channels, in partnership with agencies like WHO.

UNESCO is also working to help people become more critical of what is being presented to them online and elsewhere, as fact, so that they are less likely to believe, and spread, falsehoods. The agency is using the hashtags #ThinkBeforeSharing, #ThinkBeforeClicking, and #ShareKnowledge, and promoting the view that the rights to freedom of expression and access to information are the best remedies to the dangers of disinformation.

These rights, says Mr. Berger, "enable governments and the public to take evidence-based decisions about reality, and to put in place responses that are founded on both science and human rights values, and which can get us through the pandemic in the best way."

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During this coronavirus pandemic, 'fake news' is putting lives at risk: UNESCO

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And fears are growing that this phenomenon is putting lives at risk, prompting some with symptoms to try unproven remedies in the hope of 'curing' themselves. UNESCO, the UN educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, is leading efforts to counter falsehoods and promote the facts about the virus.

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16 Apr 2020 | Facebook to tell millions of users they’ve seen ‘fake news’ about coronavirus

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16 Apr 2020 | Facebook to tell millions of users they’ve seen ‘fake news’ about coronavirus

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#COVID19 #tech

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The decision, in part, comes after the campaign group Avaaz discovered that over 40 percent of the coronavirus-related misinformation it found on Facebook - which had already been debunked by fact-checking organizations working with the tech giant - remained on the platform despite the company being told by these organizations that the social media posts were false.

In total, Avaaz said that these fake social media posts - everything from advice about bogus medical remedies for the virus to claims that minority groups were less susceptible to infection - had been shared, collectively, 1.7 million times on Facebook in six languages.

"Facebook, given its scale, is the epicenter for misinformation," Fadi Quran, Avaaz's campaign director, told POLITICO, adding that the company's efforts to combat the problem had steadily improved since the social network announced it would do all it could to stop the spread of such life-threatening falsehoods.

Facebook said Thursday that its existing steps, including pinning government public health warnings to the top of people's news feeds, had led to 350 million people worldwide clicking through to authoritative sources in search of accurate information.

"Facebook should be proud of this step," added Quran in reference to the company's decision to retroactively notify people they had seen misinformation. "But the step doesn't reflect the full gamut of what we would like to see them do."

As part of its latest push to quell the spread of coronavirus misinformation, Facebook will show people who engaged with false content, which has now been deleted, messages that debunk those claims based on fact-checking efforts by the WHO. That includes claims that 5G mobile networks can spread the disease and rumors that hot climates can render people immune - posts that have since been removed.

The U.N. agency has become a political target after President Donald Trump announced the U.S. was cutting its funding from the WHO.

Facebook would not give a figure on the number of its users who would see the notifications. But as the company said it had removed hundreds of thousands of posts containing misinformation - and because the number of its global users now tops more than 2.2 billion people - it's likely that millions of users will be told they have engaged with some form of coronavirus misinformation.

Despite this latest step, the company will not run similar labels next to more politically motivated content, promoted by global leaders such as Trump and Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil's president, stating that certain medical treatments like hydroxychloroquine may aid recovery from the coronavirus. There is no clear evidence that is the case.

So far, Facebook said that, based on the work of independent fact-checking organizations, it had labeled 40 million Facebook posts with warnings that the content may be false.

"We will need more transparency and better access to data for researchers to fully verify the scope and impact of false content," Vêra Jourová, the European Commission vice president, told POLITICO in a written statement. She welcomed Facebook's latest announcement, but added: "I'm worried to see such high volumes of harmful content and misinformation spread in times of pandemic."

Fake content not removed

Since the global crisis began in late December, coronavirus misinformation remains widespread on Facebook and its other digital services, Instagram and WhatsApp, often fueled by people's desperate efforts to protect themselves from a global pandemic that, so far, has left almost 140,000 dead.

To check how the social network was handling the flood of false posts, Avaaz tracked 104 claims debunked by fact-checkers to see how quickly they were removed from the platform. Along with its use of artificial intelligence to clamp down on misinformation, Facebook has promoted its work with these independent organizations as a cornerstone of its response to the global pandemic. It is now working with 60 organizations across 50 languages.

While the sample size of its fact-checked reports was relatively small compared with the millions of daily social media posts, Avaaz said that 41 percent of those posts remained online without any warning labels telling people that they contained misinformation.

For English-language posts, that figure fell to 29 percent. But for coronavirus fake reports in both Italian and Spanish, roughly 70 percent of these fact-checked false posts had not been removed from Facebook. In response, the company said it had taken down 17 of the false posts flagged by Avaaz, and it was prioritizing fact-checking work that debunked the most viral forms of digital lies.

While the company subsequently deleted some posts, Quran from Avaaz said identical social media messages, including the same images and texts, had often spread like wildfire globally as others copied the misinformation to share it with their friends and families.

"Facebook takes the 'mother' misinformation down, but its 'babies' stay online," he added.

The campaigning group also said that, on average, it took Facebook a week to remove fact-checked fake reports from its platform after being informed by independent groups the posts contained misinformation. The delay, according to Quran, allowed millions of people to view the falsehoods after the company knew they were bogus.

Clara Jimenez Cruz, a co-founder of Maldita.es, the Spanish fact-checking service, who was not affiliated with Avaaz's report and worked closely with Facebook, said the social networking giant's existing debunking system, which tells told people if they have seen a fake post, was working relatively well. But, she added, misinformation continued to be shared widely and Facebook had to do a better job at promoting fact-checkers' work to those being bombarded with digital lies about the coronavirus.

"We still need them to work on how to increase the reach of what we're doing," she said. "We need to get better at finding related content."

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Facebook to tell millions of users they've seen 'fake news' about coronavirus

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The decision, in part, comes after the campaign group Avaaz discovered that over 40 percent of the coronavirus-related misinformation it found on Facebook - which had already been debunked by fact-checking organizations working with the tech giant - remained on the platform despite the company being told by these organizations that the social media posts were false.

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15 Apr 2020 | Cyprus slams 'fake news' over corona-5G attack

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15 Apr 2020 | Cyprus slams 'fake news' over corona-5G attack

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Nicosia (AFP)

Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades on Wednesday condemned the spreading of fake news on COVID-19 conspiracy theories after a telecoms tower was vandalised.

Police said 18 people had been summoned for questioning for alleged incitement to vandalism after Saturday's arson attack in Limassol on the south coast.

"The culmination (of such fake news) was the criminal act against a Cyprus Telecommunications Authority antenna," the president said in a statement.

Anastasiades said it resulted in "interruption of mobile telephony services, endangering the lives and the health of vulnerable groups" during the coronavirus epidemic.

Conspiracy theories falsely claim the deployment of 5G technology has caused or helped accelerate the spread of the novel coronavirus.

"No licence for the installation of 5G (on the island) has been granted to any company," said the Cypriot president.

Police said those being questioned were suspected of posts on social media that could incite attacks on 5G masts allegedly being set up in secret.

Amid a spate of such attacks in several countries, the British government on Wednesday dismissed claims of a link between 5G and coronavirus as "complete nonsense".

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Cyprus slams 'fake news' over corona-5G attack - France 24

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Nicosia (AFP) Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades on Wednesday condemned the spreading of fake news on COVID-19 conspiracy theories after a telecoms tower was vandalised. Police said 18 people had been summoned for questioning for alleged incitement to vandalism after Saturday's arson attack in Limassol on the south coast.

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14 Apr 2020 | Fighting fake news: The new front in the coronavirus battle - Al-Jazeera

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14 Apr 2020 | Fighting fake news: The new front in the coronavirus battle - Al-Jazeera

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London, United Kingdom - The theories have spread almost as fast as the new coronavirus: Chloroquine is a proven cure, children are immune and 5G caused the pandemic.

From the seemingly plausible to the predictably untrue, fake news about COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, is flooding the internet as we scramble to make sense of a crisis that has wrought havoc around the world.

More:

Unchecked, this so-called "infodemic" threatens to hamper the world's collective best efforts to curtail the coronavirus, which has killed more than 115,000 people in a little more than 100 days since news of its emergence in Wuhan, China, consumed the world's media.

"Were we to view this [pandemic] as a conflict, then we could talk about two fronts," Carl Miller, research director of the Centre for the Analysis of Social Media at United Kingdom-based think-tank Demos, told Al Jazeera.

"The first is the public health reaction, and the second front are the waves of social and political chaos that have been caused by the virus and our response to it - this is a key battle on that front."

'So much misinformation'

While millions of us remain cooped up in our homes under strict lockdown laws, on WhatsApp, Facebook, YouTube and elsewhere, a range of bogus stories and half-baked conspiracy theories concerning COVID-19 have gained considerable global momentum.

Top tips for tackling misinformation

* Stop and think. If you have any doubts about something's accuracy, don't share it.
* Check the source. The most reliable sources of information on coronavirus are public health bodies, such as the World Health Organization.
* Pay attention to quality. Reputable sources have high standards when it comes to grammar and presentation. Typos and odd formatting may be an indicator of inaccuracy.
* Beware emotional posts and consider biases. We are more likely to share content that corresponds with our own opinions or that excites powerful emotions, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's accurate.
* Ask a pro. Several reputable media organisations offer fact-checking services free of charge, or have fact-checking teams tasked with identifying misinformation on social media.

In the UK alone, nearly half of all adults have been exposed to false claims or misleading information online about the virus, according to research published last week by the country's media watchdog, Ofcom.

Some 35 percent have seen claims that drinking more water can help flush out the disease, for example, while around a quarter have seen advice suggesting the infection can be treated by gargling salt water - both of which have been rubbished by the World Health Organisation and contradict UK public health guidelines.

Among those to have personally witnessed the pernicious advance of misinformation is Ahmed Aweis, a business owner in London, itself the epicentre of Britain's coronavirus caseload.

For weeks, he has seen fake news spread freely on WhatsApp and Facebook.

Towards the end of March, Aweis said, up to 25 videos a day spouting mistruths were being shared across a handful of his online groups of friends and relatives - all while COVID-19 tightened its grip on swathes of Western Europe.

Despite his best efforts to rebut the claims, "everybody was just sharing stuff left, right and centre", he said, including content that purportedly proved coronavirus was man-made, or caused by the rollout of 5G mobile technology.

"It was frightening and infuriating because you know this information is false, but the people who are sharing it have the confidence this will help or save humanity - and other people pick up on that," Aweis told Al Jazeera.

"I am very, very worried; there is so much misinformation being spouted around."

Platform to platform, country to country

According to the Ofcom survey, which was based on a weekly poll undertaken by around 2,000 people, some 40 percent of adults in the UK are "finding it hard to know what is true or false about the virus".

Professional fact-checkers said the widespread confusion partly stemmed from the overwhelming amount of available content online concerning COVID-19, which has had an impact on every continent except Antarctica.

"Every country in the world is talking about this," Claire Milne, deputy editor at UK-based fact-checking charity Full Fact, told Al Jazeera.

"And so a large number of false claims are starting off in one place and then being translated into lots of different languages, and moving from platform to platform and spreading from country to country."

Full Fact has so far debunked a slew of incorrect stories and claims, and it expects more to emerge.

Among some of the more notable stories to be disproved were reports shared on Facebook suggesting Russia had unleashed 500 lions to prevent people from going outdoors, and Twitter posts claiming UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson - who recently spent several days in hospital after contracting coronavirus - was dead.

Above all others, Milne said, one particular thread of misinformation had been especially prominent online in recent weeks - the theories linking the pandemic to 5G mobile technology.

The 'meta conspiracy theory'

Anti-5G conspiracy theories are not new. For decades, every successive generation of mobile phone technology has attracted baseless claims about supposed associated health risks.

But at the beginning of this year, Belgian doctor Kris Van Kerckhoven breathed new life into the claims when he claimed there was a "possible link" between 5G and coronavirus.

Van Kerckhoven's comments went public in January in an article published online - and later deleted - by a Belgian news website. Within weeks, his words had been seized on by the anti-5G movement, which in turn sent conspiracy theories racing through the internet.

Now, Demos's Miller said, the scale of the crisis is unlike anything seen before.

My very strong sense is that this completely blows anything out of the water that we have seen before, just in terms of sheer volume and virality across social media.
Carl Miller, Centre for the Analysis of Social Media

"We are seeing the emergence of the meta conspiracy theory," he said, citing the "congealing together" of QAnon, a set of right-wing conspiracy theories, and the "9/11 truther", as well as pre-coronavirus anti-5G movements, among others.

"My very strong sense is that this completely blows anything out of the water that we have seen before, just in terms of sheer volume and virality across social media."

On YouTube, the 10 most popular 5G coronavirus conspiracy videos posted in March were viewed millions of times. Meanwhile, content linking the pandemic to mobile technology continues to spread on Twitter, and Facebook groups - still active today - are filled with misinformation of the same sort.

Milne said Full Fact had identified three broad strands around which the 5G theory appeared to be coalescing; one stating it weakened peoples' immune systems, another claiming the pandemic had been invented to cover up the health impact of the rollout of the mobile technology, and the third suggesting 5G was accelerating the spread of the virus.

"There's no evidence for any of these," she said.

More:

'Crackpot' 5G claims

Despite being refuted by scientists as "complete rubbish", the theories over 5G and coronavirus have been amplified on social media platforms by a string of celebrities including British boxer Amir Khan and US actor Woody Harrelson.

And in an even more worrying turn, the conspiracies have now started spilling out into the real world.

In Britain, where the claims over 5G appear to have particularly resonated, dozens of phone masts and other pieces of critical communications infrastructure have been vandalised since the beginning of April. The Netherlands also reported several instances of cellular broadcasting towers being damaged by arson or sabotage last week.

Meanwhile, footage of UK telecoms engineers - among those designated by the British government as key workers during the coronavirus outbreak - being harassed by members of the public has surfaced online.

"You know when they turn this on it's going to kill everyone," an unidentified woman featured in one such clip posted on April 2, and since viewed millions of times on Twitter, can be heard telling technicians laying fibre-optic cables.

"Do you have children, do you have parents?" she asked the pair of workers. "Are they paying you well enough to kill?"

@ashindestad come and see omg ????? pic.twitter.com/jzUF3Z2Q2E
- I've got all the time today (@aaqua_mel) April 2, 2020

UK government officials said such incidents appeared to have been fuelled by "crackpot" theories circulating - conspiracies that were separately branded by Stephen Powis, national medical director of the National Health Service, as "the worst kind of fake news".

We have received several reports of criminal damage to phone masts and abuse of telecoms engineers apparently inspired by crackpot conspiracy theories circulating online. Those responsible for criminal acts will face the full force of the law.
The facts ⬇️ https://t.co/QWYcc4bOEg
- DCMS (@DCMS) April 5, 2020

Calling tech giants to account

Taken together, the litany of falsehoods spread about COVID-19 are "a prime example of how bad information can ruin lives", Full Fact's Milne said.

"People are relying on the information they are seeing to keep themselves safe at this time," she said.

In a situation where online falsehoods could directly result in offline harm, "we all have a responsibility with what we choose to share", she said.

Senior British politicians have meanwhile aimed their scrutiny elsewhere, and called on the tech giants to do more in combating misinformation on their platforms.

Julian Knight, a member of the UK Parliament who leads a committee investigating coronavirus-related online misinformation, recently urged social media companies to play their part and "stamp out deliberate attempts to spread fear about COVID-19".

"It is right that they are being called to account," he said in a statement issued on April 6, a week after the UK government announced it was pressing social media firms to crack down on fake news and harmful content online.

A spokesperson for Facebook, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, told Al Jazeera the company was taking "aggressive steps to stop misinformation and harmful content from spreading on our platform".

"This includes false cures, false claims that 5G technology causes the symptoms or contraction of COVID-19 and posts encouraging attacks on 5G masts," the spokesperson said, adding that Facebook was also focused on promoting "official guidance from local health authorities".

As for the encrypted messaging service WhatsApp, the spokesperson said moves were being made "to reduce and address virality on the platform" including reducing users' capacity to forward messages to large numbers of people.

Twitter, which has previously announced taking action against misleading and harmful content about the illness, and YouTube, which has banned all conspiracy theory videos falsely linking coronavirus symptoms to 5G networks, were yet to respond to requests for comment at the time of publication.

'A wake-up call'

But despite these moves, misinformation continues to spread online, raising the spectre of official public health guidance aimed at curbing COVID-19 falling on deaf ears, with possibly fatal consequences.

Complicating matters further, tech giants' decisions to censor inaccurate content linked to COVID-19 risks feeding into the narrative that conspiracy theories have in the first place, Miller warned, creating a kind of negative online feedback loop.

"They see it as when they're getting close to the truth, the establishment will react," he said.

"And the burning of 5G masts is a wake-up call," he added.

"It very clearly tells us this is not something we can ignore, and I am dreadfully worried that unless we can find some kind of effective response ... we will see a breakout into at least some significant public disobedience."

But Aweis, for his part, thinks the tide can be turned.

Since the end of March, the amount of misinformation spread on his WhatsApp and Facebook groups has dropped sharply. Part of the reason, he thinks, is his refusal to let a falsehood lie.

He knows he won't win over everyone, but he's already had some success convincing several friends and relatives not to share bogus claims or to buy into baseless conspiracies - and instead heed potentially life-saving official public health advice.

"My wife always asks me why I waste my time with it, and why on earth I stay in the groups," Aweis said.

"But I say to her that if I don't challenge them, I don't see anybody else doing it," he added.

"My motto is - if they have the time to constantly spout fake stuff, I'm going to make the time to challenge it."

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Fighting fake news: The new front in the coronavirus battle

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London, United Kingdom - The theories have spread almost as fast as the new coronavirus: Chloroquine is a proven cure, children are immune and 5G caused the pandemic. From the seemingly plausible to the predictably untrue, fake news about COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, is flooding the internet as we scramble to make sense of a crisis that has wrought havoc around the world.

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7 Apr 2020 | WhatsApp to impose new limit on forwarding to fight fake news

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7 Apr 2020 | WhatsApp to impose new limit on forwarding to fight fake news

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WhatsApp is to impose a strict new limit on message forwarding as the Facebook-owned chat app seeks to slow the dissemination of fake news, the company has announced.

If a user receives a frequently forwarded message - one which has been forwarded more than five times - under the new curbs, they will only be able to send it on to a single chat at a time. That is one fifth the previous limit of five chats, imposed in 2019.

Quick guide
How you can help US food banks in the Covid-19 pandemic

How to help

Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, more than 40 million Americans relied on food banks to get enough to eat. Now, the demand for emergency food aid is growing exponentially as millions of people lose their jobs.

As this demand grows, food banks are receiving far fewer donations from retailers as people are buying in bulk, so stocks are low. This means food banks must buy more supplies to make sure they have enough to feed every hungry American asking for help.

Donate money or supplies

The Feeding America network of 200 food banks secures and distributes 4.3 billion meals each year through 60,000 food pantries and meal programs. They help vulnerable communities including the elderly and disabled, as well as providing free nutritional lunches for school children from low-income families.

If you want to help, find your local food bank, and go to their website to donate. You can also donate to Feeding America's Covid-19 response fund.

Volunteers

Food banks rely on volunteers, and Feeding America and food pantries across the US urgently need help as most regular volunteers are senior citizens who are particularly vulnerable to Covid-19. If you are interested in becoming a new volunteer, use Feeding America's tool to find your local food bank or pantry but please get in touch with them first before showing up. Remember, if you're worried about your own health or the risk to a family member, "stay home" is the advice.

Social media

Feeding America also says you can help in small ways like following your local food bank on social media and sharing what they are doing online, or by becoming an advocate for the fight to end hunger in America.

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The change does not completely prevent widespread forwarding, since ultimately a message can be passed on however many times a user is happy to hit the forward button.

But by inserting friction into the process, the company hopes to slow some of the most viral messages on its platform, such as the widely spread false hood that coronavirus is related to 5G. That claim has led to the vandalisation of more than 20 phone masts in the past week.

"We've seen a significant increase in the amount of forwarding which users have told us can feel overwhelming and can contribute to the spread of misinformation," said a WhatsApp spokesperson in a blogpost on Tuesday morning.

"We believe it's important to slow the spread of these messages to keep WhatsApp a place for personal conversation."

Because of the encryption WhatsApp uses, the company cannot see the contents of messages sent on its platform. That prevents it from employing the same moderation strategies as Facebook or Twitter, which can take down harmful content that is flagged.

Instead, the company has long worked to introduce friction into messaging more generally, as well as provide users with information that could help them know whether a message is trustworthy.

The latter is achieved by noting when a message has been forwarded or frequently forwarded - indicated with a double arrow icon - while the former has led to progressively stricter limits on mass mailings.

Until 2018, for instance, users had been able to forward a message to 250 groups at once; that was reduced to 20 that year, five in 2019 and one now. WhatsApp says those measures reduced message forwarding by 25% globally.

Widely forwarded messages can be particularly dangerous on WhatsApp, where they often come with the implicit approval of a friend or family member, and are rapidly disconnected from their initial context.

But the company argues that not all forwarding is bad. "We know many users forward helpful information, as well as funny videos, memes and reflections or prayers they find meaningful. In recent weeks, people have also used WhatsApp to organise public moments of support for frontline health workers."
Topics

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WhatsApp to impose new limit on forwarding to fight fake news

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WhatsApp is to impose a strict new limit on message forwarding as the Facebook-owned chat app seeks to slow the dissemination of fake news, the company has announced. If a user receives a frequently forwarded message - one which has been forwarded more than five times - under the new curbs, they will only be able to send it on to a single chat at a time.

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30 Mar 2020 |  Fake news in the time of coronavirus: how big is the threat? - Guardian

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30 Mar 2020 |  Fake news in the time of coronavirus: how big is the threat? - Guardian

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n times of crisis, misinformation abounds. Covid-19 can be cured by ingesting fish-tank cleaning products. Coronavirus was developed in Chinese (or American, or French) labs. Cristiano Ronaldo and the pope tested positive.

Why does misinformation flourish? Does all this fake news mean that people are hopelessly gullible, their anxiety making them receptive to the most blatant baloney?

Hardly. In many cases, people actually share fake news for fun. We are titillated by gross stories (it all started with bat soup) and celebrity gossip (Ronaldo, the pope). This follows a familiar pattern: in 2018 the most popular fake story on Facebook was about a lottery winner dumping $200,000 of manure on his ex-boss's lawn, the second most popular about Barbara Bush dying.

In any case, believing that Ronaldo has been infected, or that the virus came from a failed biological experiment isn't all that consequential: it doesn't make a difference in how we behave. Fans who believed Ronaldo to be sick might still have been thrilled to shake his hand; and no one is besieging virology labs to demand the truth.

No, the more worrying fake news regarding Covid-19 is about potential cures. A few days ago, a man died after ingesting a product meant to clean fish tanks, as it contains chloroquine, a drug currently being tested ( inconclusively so far) as a treatment for Covid-19, and hailed by some as a miracle cure. But even here, instances of fake news affecting behaviour are very much an exception. Hundreds of millions of people have heard about the supposed virtues of chloroquine, yet such attempts at self-medication remain rare. In the vast majority of cases, people either ignore the supposed curative properties of certain substances, or use them to justify behaviours they wanted to engage in anyway: suspiciously, among the supposed panaceas, we find tea, red meat, alcohol, and even cocaine.

Still, even if fake news isn't as consequential as is often feared, it's better to be able to spot it (at least to avoid looking like an idiot when sharing on social media). A reliable cue is the source: many successful pieces of fake news circulating on WhatsApp about Covid-19 start with "A friend who has an uncle in Wuhan" or "A friend whose dad works at the Centre for Disease Control."

Such attributions to a (supposedly credible) friend of a friend have always been a staple of rumours and urban legends, and they are a reliable way of telling that a message is bogus. More generally, an online search - about the supposed causes, effects, or cures for Covid-19 - provides reliable information in nearly all cases, especially if several well-recognised sources concur.

As in every other crisis situation, the main issue isn't that people gullibly accept whatever they're told. On the contrary, the problem is that people fail to absorb recommendations. Again and again, helpful warnings have gone unheeded and advice ignored. Why? People might believe the information is mistaken, or even manipulative. Some mistrust towards politicians is unfortunately understandable, since a number of governments haven't been fully transparent (and that's an understatement). Again, this is a pattern: widespread mistrust of officials - among other factors - led 100,000 residents of New Orleans to ignore the evacuation warnings and suffer the full force of Hurricane Katrina's landfall.

The present situation is no exception. The day after the French government announced that all schools would close, and pressed the population to practise physical distancing, my great-aunt - a 96-year-old smoker with chronic lung problems - went to play slots at the casino. Parisian markets were crowded.

Even that most emblematic of supposed panic reactions - stockpiling pasta or toilet paper - reflects a lack of trust: a lack of trust in the authorities' promise that supply lines are sound; and a lack of trust in others to refrain from stockpiling (which makes stockpiling rational for ourselves).

Humans are by nature careful about the messages they receive. When evaluating information, we first compare what we're told (or have read) with our existing beliefs: if it fits, we tend to accept the information. Fake news takes advantage of this by reinforcing our prejudices: drinkers believe that alcohol is a cure, and racists blame Chinese scientists. By contrast, any message that clashes with our personal experience, in particular if it calls for some costly action, is initially rejected. Early warnings were thus, for many, difficult to hear: confinement seemed drastic in reaction to a threat that hadn't affected us or anyone we knew yet.

Overcoming this initial reaction requires trust: a recognition that whoever is addressing us is competent, and isn't trying to manipulate us. This is why checking information is so important. Not so much because it helps us avoid misinformation: most of us will only be exposed to a tiny amount of misinformation in the first place.

Instead, checking is crucial to reinforcing our belief in real news, and in sound advice. If you aren't persuaded that several healthcare systems are crashing under the strain of Covid-19, that physical distancing is, in many countries right now, crucial, or that you should practise systematic handwashing, please check as thoroughly as you like, but don't dismiss good advice out of hand. We must strive to be vigilant, but being vigilant is only useful it if helps us remain open to valuable information.

Hugo Mercier is a cognitive scientist at the French National Centre for Scientific Research and the author of Not Born Yesterday: The Science of Who We Trust and What We Believe

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Fake news in the time of coronavirus: how big is the threat? | Hugo Mercier

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n times of crisis, misinformation abounds. Covid-19 can be cured by ingesting fish-tank cleaning products. Coronavirus was developed in Chinese (or American, or French) labs. Cristiano Ronaldo and the pope tested positive. Why does misinformation flourish? Does all this fake news mean that people are hopelessly gullible, their anxiety making them receptive to the most blatant baloney?

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5 Mar 2020 | Fake News Is Spreading Faster Than CoronaVirus

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5 Mar 2020 | Fake News Is Spreading Faster Than CoronaVirus

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Fake news spreading faster than Covid-19 in Malaysia | New Straits Times

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KUALA LUMPUR: The Health Ministry has warned the public against spreading fake or unverified news on Covid-19, as they face being dealt with in accordance with the law.