Social media ‘experts’ must stop sharing disinformation

The news that a man has been arrested for posting “fake news” on social media – claiming coronavirus test kits used in South Africa had been contaminated – is welcome indeed.

That is because what he did has the potential to spread alarm and despondency and, more than that, the potential to cause actual harm, and death, to those gullible enough to believe him and refuse to get tested.

This sort of incident can never be covered by the defence that a citizen has a right of free speech, no matter how wacky their beliefs.

The real, additional, danger of the Covid-19 pandemic is that it is not only the infection itself which is spreading – disinformation is also spreading virally like wildfire. And just as the inter-connected nature of the global transport network helped spread coronavirus, so the internet has proved to be a deadly vector for all sorts of insanity.

Prime among those fantasy scare stories is the one about the virus being caused by the roll-out of the 5G communication network, which was pioneered in China, also the place that Covid-19 was first identified.

Then there have been people who have spent the last few days attacking American industrialist and philanthropist Bill Gates for allegedly plotting “genocide” against Africans by planning to test a coronavirus vaccine on the continent. That row, sadly, was sparked by an incorrect report by News 24, which has since apologised to Gates.

The fact that even reputable media can make mistakes should give us all pause for thought – but it should not drive us into the lunatic arms of the social media “experts”.

And therein is another good parallel with the current medical crisis.

While we are urged to “stay at home” to slow the spread of the virus, we should warn people: “Stay away from the ‘share’ button.”

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