The Times - UK (2020-08-01)

12 2GM Saturday August 1 2020 | the times

News

Social media influencers and celebri-
ties with millions of followers are
boosting anti-vaccination messages
worldwide, as more people say that
they will not take a coronavirus vaccine.
Politicians and experts have given
warning that the rapid spread of misin-
formation about a Covid-19 vaccine
could mean that it cannot be rolled out
effectively.
Damian Collins, a former chairman
of the Commons committee on digital,
media, culture and sport, said that the
findings required urgent legislation.
“I think it’s utterly irresponsible and,
in some cases deliberately malicious, to
share false or misleading health stories
on social media,” he said. “We now face
an unthinkable crisis where 31 per cent
of Britons could refuse to be vaccinated
once a Covid-19 vaccine is found. This is
pure and simple negligence from the
platforms and requires urgent ‘online
harms’ legislation.”
This week the singer Madonna and
the Formula One driver Lewis
Hamilton were forced to take down
Instagram posts that contained in-
accurate claims about a coronavirus
vaccine. Behind their posts is a network
of fake information with its own
celebrities, some of whom have hun-
dreds of thousands of followers.
The video removed by Hamilton was

News Coronavirus

D

avid Cameron may have

started the trend when

he revealed in 2017 that

he had been writing his

memoirs in a shepherd’s

hut, but it will be this summer when

most Britons get their first taste of

spending time in one, amid a boom

in glamping (Tom Ball writes).

With many people having

cancelled trips abroad, up to 14

million are expected to go on a UK

break

before their children go

back to school next month,

according to Visit Britain. But for

those looking for somewhere to

spend their summer holidays there

are slim pickings and canny

entrepreneurs are snapping up

shepherd’s huts to cash in on the

British holiday market.

Hut makers say inquiries are up

as much as 50 per cent this summer,

compared with last year. Emma

Warren, of Blackdown, a

manufacturer in Somerset, said that

the company had been receiving

commissions from a range of

customers, including farmers and

estate owners. “People who have a

bit of land are looking for ways to

leverage that space and create an

alternative income source,” she

said. “With shepherd’s huts, owners

can get year-round usage from what

is essentially a mini hotel room in

the great outdoors.”

In the past week, Britons have

made more than 50,000 searches

for shepherd’s huts on Airbnb, the

online rental platform. The huts

typically accommodate two people

and have a kitchenette and

Shepherd’s

delight as

landowners

cash in

may have

d when

017 that

bbbbbrbrbrbreak

bbebebebbeffffore their children

back to school next month

Devon

£144 per

night

Scottish

Highlands

£70 per

night

East

Sussex

£121 per

night

Shepherd’s huts are in demand but

even the most basic structures can

prove expensive for holidaymakers

networks about how a vaccine can be

made so fast,” she added. “We have

more funding mechanisms [and] new

technology which allows it to be safely

made faster. We’re not taking old sys-

tems and short-changing them, but

that message isn’t out there.”

Jo Stevens, the shadow digital secre-

tary, said: “The rapid spread of false

information could literally be a ques-

tion of life and death. The fact that

social-media platforms facilitate the

spread of this dangerous content shows

why we desperately need legislation.”

John Nicolson, an SNP MP who sits

on the Commons online harms sub-

committee, said that social media

groups did not take the UK govern-

ment seriously. “For far too long the

government has talked about how it

will get tougher eventually. I think

[social media firms] think it’s all hot air.

It is high time that we showed it’s not.”

Facebook said: “We are continuously

working to stop harmful misinforma-

tion from spreading on our platforms

and we removed seven million pieces

of Covid-19-related misinformation

between April and June. We’ve also

been focused on amplifying credible in-

formation, and have connected over

two billion people to resources from

health authorities through our Covid-

information centre and pop-ups on Fa-

cebook and Instagram, with 600 million

people clicking through to learn more.”

Emma Yeomans, Tom Knowles

a clip of Bill Gates

talking about the

safety and efficacy

of a Covid-19 vac-

cine, captioned to

imply that he was

lying. It originated

from the influencer

Andrew Bachelor,

who has nearly

20 million follow-

ers. The influencer

Melvin Gregg, who

has nearly three million follow-

ers, commented: “I’m not buying it”,

while another claimed that Gates was

trying to “kill us all”.

Some anti-vaccination campaigners

have built up huge followings with

seemingly little action taken. Ashley

Everly is a self-proclaimed toxicologist

with nearly 42,000 fans on Instagram.

As well as claiming that a vaccine could

increase the chance of developing the

virus, she is also an anti-mask advocate.

Jodie Meschuk, with nearly 30,

followers, says that vaccines cause

autoimmune disease and autism, while

Taylor Winter-

stein tells her

58,000 fans that

vaccines are not

safety-tested.

Celebrities and

influencers are a

megaphone for

false claims,

warned Professor

Heidi Larson, di-

rector of the Vacci-

nation Confidence

project at London

School of Hygiene

& Tropical Medi-

cine (LSHTM).

“Often people will

repost or share material without realis-

ing the multiplier effect it can have,” she

said. “In the case of celebrities, some

have really jumped on to this issue. It’s

more stage time.”

At the start of the pandemic polling

by LSHTM found that 5 per cent of

people would turn down a vaccine but

this has tripled to 15 per cent.

Professor Larson said that the

authorities must answer questions

before anti-vaxxers capitalised on

uncertainty. “That’s when things get

dangerous: when people who are open

start to wonder and then they start

looking online.

“In the area of the Covid vaccine, we

need to get information into these

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Anti-vaxxers

push their view;

Ashley Everly, far

right, is an online

influencer; below,

a post by Taylor

Winterstein

Anti-vaxxers on social media could

ruin chance of an effective treatment