How to Manage Misinformation

 

Heard a report from BBC recently; BBC is making effort to stop the spread of misinformation because there has been much misleading coronavirus advice spreading around, some may be useful but some are not. A lot of people, in order to give support to their family members and friends, are being emotional to pass on a whole load of unchecked information and incorrect advice, which in return the fake news or information might cause damage instead of help to the receivers.

 

In the COVID-19 pandemic, I have noticed that the word “Misinformation” has become very popular for which appeared in all sources of electronic platforms. With reference to Wikipedia, “Misinformation” is defined as false or inaccurate information. It can be false news, or "fabricated information that mimics news media content in form but not in organizational process or intent".

 

Looking for a common definition from various sources, “Misinformation” can be: “wrong information which is given to someone, often in a deliberate attempt to make them believe something which is not true. Synonyms like the lists below are found, such as: false information, gossip, disinformation, misleading information”.

 

Untruths can always take many forms and they can spread rapidly. For those fake news is passed on by close friends and whose original message might come from a friend’s friend, who might be an expert, a professional, a doctor, a nurse, a soldier, a policeman or a senator who is the key spokesman for the coronavirus or COVID-19. Sometimes the claims are useful and some are not. Some come with pictures taken out of context but they are not yet fact-checked. Coronavirus misinformation is flooding the internet nowadays and experts are calling on the public to practise “information hygiene”.

 

What can we do then? Perhaps, as social media users and good citizens, all of us have a crucial role to play in combating misinformation. Before sharing something, think carefully about where it comes from. Verify the source and its evidence, double-check with independent sources, and report suspicious content to the platform directly. In case we cannot verify the information, we can consult and look for experts, like approaching professional doctors or visiting the website of WHO to search for truths. Now, more than ever, we need information we can trust.