The Guardian – by Kate Proctor
“Dangerous quack cures” for the coronavirus being shared online should be reported to social media companies immediately, the government has said.
Lemon juice, liquid silver and hot water are among the remedies being suggested in anti-vaccination Facebook groups that have hundreds of thousands of followers.
YouTube bloggers are also sharing theories that China created the virus as a bio-weapon to attack the US economy and comments are being spread online about the 5G network being able to control the oxygen supply of coronavirus patients.
New social media guidance drawn up by the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) and endorsed by the culture secretary, Oliver Dowden, asks people not to reply to or share misinformation on social media, even if they want to point out it is wrong. This is to avoid spreading it further, as any engagement can place it in other people’s timelines.
Instead people are being asked to report misinformation to social media platforms and group administrators, and to share official NHS information as much as possible to push it into social media algorithms.
Another example of fake information came from one influential YouTube vlogger who told his followers incorrectly that coronavirus tests did not work and advised drinking hot water and taking hot baths to kill the virus.
A post by a Facebook user in Australia that said China had developed a vaccine and was withholding it from the world was shared 130,000 times in just over 24 hours.
Phil Hammond, an NHS doctor and broadcaster, who is also backing the scheme, said: “Misinformation is as dangerous as contaminated water. It causes untold harm and is profoundly disempowering.”
They only want us to take THEIR “cures.” They hate folk medicine, which is any medicine that springs from the folk. They hate that it just might work. Up with garlic!!!
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