30 APRIL-06 MAY 2020 BIGISSUE.COM| 11
55 percentofpeoplepolled
byOfcomareignoring false
claimsseenonlineBut 40 percent
arefinding
itdifficultto
distinguish
betweentrueand
falseinformation
aboutthevirus89 percentbelievewhat
theyarebeingtoldby
the governmentfact/fiction. Old news, truthfully retold
FACTS. CHECKEDCurrently,thereisnoevidencethatthegovernmentis
behindthiscampaign– sothemediaoutletsreporting
thestoryarecorrect.
Theclaimshave,sofar,beencheckedbyBigIssue
ChangemakersFullFactaswellasTwitterandHootsuite,
themass-tweetingplatformusedtosendtweetsonmany
oftheaccountsinquestion.
Twitterrespondedbysayingthat“specialistteams
currentlydonotseeevidenceoflarge-scalecoordinated
platformmanipulation”,whileHootsuitehasalsofoundno
evidenceafteraninternalinvestigation.
AsFullFacthasalsonotbeenpresentedwithevidence,
theytooareunabletoverifytheclaims,whilethe
DepartmentofHealthandSocialCaretweetedthatthe
claimsare“categoricallyfalse”.
Onethingisforsure:the@nhs_susanaccountwasfake.
Ituseda displaypictureofa nursetakenfromtradeunion
Unison’swebsite.TheWestHertfordshireNHSHospitals
Twitteraccountconfirmedthattheyhadreportedthe
accountasa fake,whichledtoit beingshutdown.
Butuntilthereisanyproofthatshowsgovernment
involvement,it mustbeconsideredunproven.
O’Connellhasvowedtoprovidemoreevidence,saying
ina statement:“Weknowthestorythatwehave,andwe
havefullconfidenceinthedataanalysedsofar.”Andhe
conceded that news articles and fact checks were correct,
statingthat:“Wehavenoproblemwiththesearticles,they
are,indeed,factualinsayingso(thatnoevidencehasbeen
suppliedyet).”
Butit isa usefullessonindemonstratingwhyit is
importantinthesetimesnottotakeinformationpostedon
socialmediaatfacevalue– eitherfromaccountsclaiming
tobefromNHSworkersormakingaccusationswithout
evidencetobackit up.
WiththeCovid-19crisis,therehasbeena huge
increaseinpeopletuningintobroadcastnewschannels
andbulletins.Beforethelockdown,PressGazettereported
thattheBBCNewsChannelhadseenitsbiggestweekly
audiencesince 2015 andChannel4 News’Saturdayslotwas
seenby 78 percentmorepeopleyearonyear.
AnOfcomsurveyfound 82 percentofpeoplethey
quizzedusedtheBBC’sTVandonlineservicesforCovid-
updates,with 83 percenttrustingtheBeebandChannel
4 comparedtojust 21 percentand 26 percentforsocial
mediaorclosedmessaginggroups.However,it should
benotedthatOfcomisthewatchdogresponsiblefor
broadcastmedia,notsocialmedia.
Thatuptickinviewershipandtrustisnotableand
underlinesthatwhereveryougetyournews,it’svitalto
lookforevidencetosupportwhatyouarebeingtold.
Peopleareturningtojournalistsinthistime of crisis.
And they are needed now more than ever.Is the government using Twitter
bots to spread propaganda?
HOWITWASTOLDClearandup-to-date,trustworthydatahasbarelybeenmorevital
thanrightnow– gettingthecorrecthealthinformationtopeople
lockeddownathomeislife-saving.
That’swhyanysuggestionofmisinformationthattamperswithor
disruptsthatinformationflowisbignewsinitself.
OnApril20,itwasclaimedthatfakeNHSstaffaccountsonTwitter
werebeingsetupwiththesupportoftheDepartmentofHealthand
SocialCareandtheirmarketingagency.JohnO’Connellwhorunsthe
websiteFarRightWatchfirstmadetheclaim,pointingto 128 accounts
thatappearedtoshowNHSstaffpostingabout“herdmentality”and
postedtweetsinsupportofthegovernment.
O’Connell’stweetinitiallymakingtheclaimswentviral,beingshared
33,000timesonTwitteratthetimeofwriting.
Thenow-deleted@nhs_susanaccount,whichclaimedtobea
juniordoctor,wasusedasanexampleandwasalsoreferredtointhe
BBC’swrite-upundertheheadline:“‘NHSSusan’andthoseTwitterbot
rumours:Whatweknow”.
TheGuardianreportedthattheclaimshadyettobeproven.They
wentfor:“NoevidenceofbotsimpersonatingNHSovercoronavirus,
saysTwitter”.
AndthestorywasalsocoveredbyTheIndependent, whichoptedfor:
“Coronavirus:Governmentdeniesclaims it created fake NHS Twitter
accountstosupportBoris Johnson”.
But is it true?
Illustration:Miles ColeREPEATINGWORTHWanttoknowwhether
playinggolfasa pensioner
willextendyourlife?
Ordidgoingtothecinema
(rememberthat?)countas
a lightworkout?Readall
ourFact/Fictionsonlineat
bigissue.com/tag/
fact-fiction/