Fake news about Covid-19 more contagious than the virus itself
• The big challenge the public faces is being able to separate what is factual from what is not
Did you hear drinking cow’s urine is a cure for coronavirus? Or was it Dettol? Maybe it was garlic? That’s a claim that should give South Africans with half-decent memories Mantoinduced PTSD flashbacks.
Did you read how the government financial support for small businesses will only go to 51% black-owned companies? And I heard there’s going to be mass disinfection spraying conducted by helicopter and that the Western Cape is closing all police stations.
All of those stories are untrue false, misleading, unverified, scaremongering fake news with zero merit — but they’re spreading around the globe at a pace to rival Covid-19’s contagion factor. It’s remarkable how these stories proliferate, but even more remarkable that people have the time, energy and inclination to create fake news.
On a practical level, when someone creates a fake story this means they not only had the inclination to do so but then actually sat down and typed it out. They took time to give it the hallmarks of officialdom, to pass — at a glance — for something legitimate. And to what end? To drum up fear for one’s own twisted gratification?
We see this with faked “screenshots” of tweets. On Tuesday, a more insidious one gave some people near heart attacks. The “support only for black-owned enterprises” rumour spread quickly on social media, supported by an apparent screenshot of a governmental document outlining the regulations. The department of trade & industry was asked about this on Twitter and responded that it was a “draft document over a week ago in the department and was still under revision. It was not meant to be shared with the public.”
Some didn’t like that this
— proviso was even considered, but I think it is deeply unfair to have people answer for their early drafts and initial gut instincts, because those also tend to be driven by fear and barely acknowledged beliefs. Fake news, like satire, works best when it pivots on a grain of truth.
Fake news is big business. It drives advertising dollars to dodgy sites. Research from the compilers of the global disinformation index shows that at least $235m is paid annually to disinformation sites through the placement of adverts from legitimate brands. These brands include household names: Audi and Honda, American Airlines and OfficeMax.
According to the index’s risk assessment report for SA, something in the region of “R5bn was spent on digital display adverts [in 2018], more than a 24% increase over 2017”.
Fake news creators are looking to cut into that pie. When they do so they diminish the share legitimate news websites take, or they can even shut down that pipeline altogether.
As the report explains: “Worries over media quality and disinformation also have led some advertisers to bluntly block news sites entirely due to concerns about risks to their brand safety. This has worsened the declining advertising revenues that news sites have suffered in recent years due to the exponential increase in content and news-related content online.”
This means less money to support those who are committed to researching their writing, those who are governed by a press code and whose articles go through a series of checks and edits. These are people who are incentivised to verify their claims because their names are attached to them and they can be held responsible.
They do occasionally get it wrong, but there is a clear chain of command and consequences for grievous error or intentionally misleading their audiences.
Not all publications and information outlets are created equal. I know this sounds self-serving. I do. I’m saying this to you from the pages (online and off) of Business Day. But there’s never been a more important time to scrutinise your news. Even us.
When assessing fake news, ask yourself if the sources and content creators are clearly identified and — this is the tough one — ask what bias they are tapping into that makes you want to hit the share or forward buttons so quickly.
I like to think I’m well versed in spotting fakers, but I got duped last week. I shared that heartwarming story about swans and dolphins returning to Venice’s canals (since people are staying away), and I was horrified to see it debunked a day later.
President Cyril Ramaphosa and his de facto deputy (actually health minister) Zweli Mkhize have both warned of the dangers of spreading disinformation while we are fighting a battle against this viral enemy. And the government moved swiftly (more swiftly than I’ve seen in years) to gazette emergency regulations that, among other things, have given them teeth to bite back against the fakers.
It is now illegal to intentionally share and spread fake news about Covid-19, and penalties range from a fine to jail time. I’d be interested to see how prosecuting this works.
Hopefully, when Covid-19 has been managed and we all emerge from our homes, we’ll have a tried and tested mechanism for combating a viral threat of another sort: fake news.
Amarket crash is always scary, but this time the fear and panic of huge daily drops are compounded by the dread of a global pandemic. As the markets crash and the virus spreads, many of us are watching in unprecedented social isolation.
Investors need to understand the havoc this kind of stress wreaks on the human brain.
“Stress is going to make investors less of who they are, an impoverished version of themselves,” says Peter SokolHessner, a cognitive neuroscientist at the University of Denver. “It causes you to fall back on simpler methods of approaching your world. You have a decreased ability to use your experiences and knowledge to make smart choices in new settings.”
Stress narrows your attention and focus.
Stress intensifies the negative. “As your threat sensitivity rises, you’re more likely to bias your predictions towards something bad happening,” says Candace Raio, a cognitive neuroscientist at NYU Langone Health.
Stress can tatter your ability to think for yourself. “In looking for the quickest way to resolve uncertainty and to assure survival,” says Raio, “you might also be weighing what other people are doing more than the objective information in front of you.”
Stress also impedes your working memory, narrowing the variety of choices you consider. A few techniques can help. First, take charge of whatever you can. To keep other people’s panic from dominating your decisions, decide what to do only when the financial markets are closed. Take small steps, not big leaps. If you feel you can calm yourself only by ditching some stocks, sell a fixed amount each month. And automate that. You could direct your dividends into cash, rather than shares, for now.
AT LEAST $235M IS TO DISINFORMATION SITES THROUGH THE PLACEMENT OF ADVERTS FROM LEGITIMATE BRANDS
I SHARED THAT HEART-WARMING STORY ABOUT SWANS AND DOLPHINS RETURNING TO VENICE’S CANALS