‘Gargling to beat the virus’: minister warns against spread of fake news on social media
FAKE news about coronavirus spreading on social media “could cost lives”, the Culture Secretary has warned, as Facebook posts have been uncovered telling people they can protect themselves by gargling water. Oliver Dowden said a No 10 rapid response unit had been set up to rebut and remove claims encouraging people to ignore medical and government advice, pushing false claims about how the virus spread or attempting to incite panic.
In an exclusive op-ed for The Telegraph, the cabinet minister said civil servants were now tackling up to 70 dangerous and misleading posts a week. Among the claims the unit has dealt with are Facebook and Whatsapp posts citing false advice from the “Stanford Hospital Board” telling people to gargle water every 15 minutes to “wash the virus down into the stomach, where acid could kill it”.
Another was a doctored image of a Gov.uk message falsely claiming people would face criminal charges if they left their homes “for no urgent reason”.
Mr Dowden said: “We need people to follow the instructions of medical experts so that we can reduce the infection rate and protect the NHS. Misleading information about coronavirus online, whether maliciously intended or not, could cost lives.
“Our counter-disinformation unit has seen completely unfounded posts shared on social media. One was telling people that gargling warm water could kill the virus, with this advice purportedly from the Stanford Hospital Board.
“Last week a video from the 2011 London riots was being passed off as what is happening on our streets today. And we saw dated footage being used to try to drive divisions among communities by falsely claiming that Muslims were flouting advice on social distancing.”
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has also set up a counter disinformation cell of government and tech industry experts to analyse how fake news is spreading during the pandemic. Alongside this, ministers are launching a public SHARE campaign, urging people only to share online posts they know are from credible sources. Last week ministers also endorsed a new app by the fact-checking organisation Newsguard that filters out websites hosting “dangerous information” about coronavirus.
Penny Mordaunt, Paymaster General, added: “Gargling water for 15 seconds is not a cure – this is the kind of false advice we have seen coming from sources claiming to be medical experts.
“But the public can also help with this effort, so today we implore them to take some simple steps before sharing information online, such as always reading beyond the headline and scrutinising the source.”