Viral Virus Fake News
- Meshanah Mendoza
- Apr 1, 2020
- 2 min read
Updated: Nov 7, 2020
“Stomach acid can kill the coronavirus”, “it’s just the flu”, “the virus is a biological weapon”, “at least 6 percent of the population needs to be exposed [to the virus] to build up resistance”. Alongside this, unethical businesses have begun to market and send direct scams to social media users, promoting products that seem to be the ‘cure’ for the virus. Some examples include medicines, dietary supplements, creams and even toothpastes. As the COVID-19 pandemic sadly spreads, misinformation like this has become prevalent on every social media platform.
Being a frequent social media user myself, I’ve found it difficult to distinguish between what is fact and what is just another viral fake new message. So many of us including marketers to politicians are pressing the ‘post’ or ‘retweet’ button without even properly fact checking. And I know during these scary times it’s only human for us to panic, and spread these tweets and posts to our followers, including our loved ones because we all just want to protect each other.
So what are ways we can tackle this infodemic?
CatFish accounts: There are many fake accounts that have been created to imitate the official social media site. For example @BBCNewsTonight is a fake replica of the actual @BBCNews Twitter account.
Check the source: Be weary about if the post has general references, and make sure that the actual website has the stories or recommended products being shared there.
Fact Checking: This can be achieved by using Full Fact for example as it’s a website that identifies viral fake news automatically.
It's important that we continue to take care of one another, so leave a comment below about other ways we can identify fake news.
References
I agree with you Bahar! It’s terrible that individuals are spreading fake news during this situation and creating more issues within society.
It's appalling to see how some people are taking terrible advantage of scamming innocent people in such a uncertain and unsettling time. I think the best piece of advice I could give is to not believe anything that isn't coming from a legitimate, verified source. I wouldn't take any advice from social media - just newspapers, journals and articles. I appreciate that you mentioned the pandemic with this topic as it's very relevant to us right now.
Thank you Shashika! I do the exact same process as you, when I read articles as well.
I think fact checking is crucial in times like this global pandemic we are experiencing at the moment. I find myself reading an article, gathering information and then reading several other articles just to validate the original information I read! Might sound a little too much, but I can never just settle for what one article is telling me. Great work Meshanah!
Thanks for reading my post Alysha! I agree with you, I think that people should only read the news from credible sources like The Age or else this viral information will continue to spread.