Plague of Disinformation
Written by Beatrice Giribaldi Groak Photography by AronPw
In April, TV presenter Eamonn Holmes landed himself in hot water when he appeared to endorse an internet conspiracy theory connecting 5G masts to the spread of COVID-19. His apparently innocent remark, made on prime-time television, was seized upon by malign and misguided actors who helped the clip go viral. It was just one example of a much bigger problem – the challenge of responding to mis- and disinformation – which governments, businesses, and other organisations face particularly at sensitive times such as these. Beatrice Giribaldi Groak of digital risk and intelligence firm Digitalis explores the nature of the problem and offers a perspective on how best we can all respond.
In a recent speech, UN Secretary-General António Guterres described the disinformation challenge surrounding the coronavirus pandemic as a, “global ‘misinfo-demic’ dangerously filling the airwaves with falsehoods”. Potentially just as nefarious as the virus, false information regarding sources, prevention, and cures for COVID-19 have been proliferating online and creating a new public health concern, as well as a considerable headache for health authorities trying to communicate and cut through the noise.
The spread of fake news has long been a priority for governments to tackle, however the challenge today is more important than ever, with citizens bearing for the first time the consequences of fake news ‘on their own skin’, as serious health concerns have arisen due to members of the public following harmful advice found online.
The World Health Organisation (WHO), along with most governments and international organisations, has set forth clear advice to tackle disinformation: trust only authoritative sources of information regarding COVID-19 spread, use common sense, and help by not sharing dubious information online. Social media platforms too are a big part of the equation, which is why internet tech giants were asked by governing bodies to, “promote authoritative sources, demote content that is fact-checked as false or misleading, and take down illegal content or content that could cause physical harm”, anticipating this would assuage the problem.
Google too has completely reconfigured its search engine results for keywords matching searches for coronavirus. Today, should a user google ‘coronavirus’, they would find: information boxes redirecting them to verified and official information pertaining to the spread of the virus; two trusted sources for further information (in the UK that is the NHS and .gov sites); prevention measures enumerated and URLs linking to public health advice. In light of the acknowledged power that Google has in shaping opinions (to put things into perspective, there are on average 2.2 million monthly searches for ‘coronavirus’ in the UK and 29.1 million worldwide), the drastic change from usually news-filled listings has certainly been important in lessening the exposure of individuals to inaccurate information. Yet with all the above enacted, why are false claims still proliferating online?
It has become apparent in the past few months that the disinformation challenge regarding the coronavirus pandemic is really a ‘misleading information’ challenge, and that is what makes everything more complex. In April, the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism published a study into the spread of misinformation regarding COVID-19. The report found that 59% of false news found online was in fact ‘reconfigured’ information, i.e. true information which was spun, twisted, recontextualised or re-worked, eventually making the information incorrect. A common example would be the ‘benevolent fake news spreader’, a Facebook user incorrectly sharing medical advice from an uncle who is a doctor: it was not his intention to spread fake news, however, he is now part of the problem, as well as his close network which shared the information. Only a small percentage of coronavirus misinformation studied was actually fully fabricated. Interestingly, the Reuters Institute found that reconfigured misinformation accounted for 87% of social media interactions, whilst fully fabricated content only saw 12% engagement. This reminds us that the real threat lies in the reconfigured information. It is often the hardest to fact-check, particularly if related to medical information, thus making everyone a potential vector of fake news.
To add to the complexity, whilst types of actors and sources of misleading claims are mushrooming, existing and historical key protagonists in disinformation (with deliberate intention of causing confusion) are still active and in fact add fuel to the fire when possible. The latest 5G conspiracy theory is an example of this. Even if the Belgian media outlet, Het Laatste Nieuws, which first reported the theory that 5G networks were to blame for COVID-19, took down its article for lack of sourcing, the false narrative still found breathing room worldwide with conspiracy theorists. By the time it had been labelled as fake news, the damage was already done – the false narrative had spread and people were setting telecoms masts and network equipment on fire all over Europe.
From a digital perspective, monitoring for false claims is challenging due to the number of mediums used to communicate, as well as the never-ending number of sources and topics. Numerous false claims are shared on TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook daily; some identified, some not. Even as fact-checkers work harder than ever flagging up false information, a lot of claims remain online. The Reuters Institute study found that on Twitter, 59% of posts rated false regarding COVID-19 remained visible to the public without a warning notice, on YouTube 27% and Facebook 24%, which in itself is problematic. This does not include closed networks, such as emails, WhatsApp or Signal chats, which play a significant role in the spread of misinformation today. A considerable quantity of inaccurate health advice is still circulating on those closed streams. The phenomenon caused the WHO to create an official ‘Myth Busters’ page and a verified WhatsApp message group dedicated to debunking inaccurate claims amplifying on- and offline.
Ideally, to be able to anticipate the next set of false news, you should be able to map out the potential actors and preempt the next source of false information, monitor the streams it travels on, understand the potential spread, suspect the possible engagement, and have a potential solution to rectify the damage before it continues spreading (if not taken down). However, today, most parts of the puzzle remain blurry. So, the reality is, to tackle the challenge of mis- and disinformation at this time of unforeseen crisis, we need to remain humble about what can be achieved overnight. We are faced with a huge challenge and we won’t get everything right. We will miss sources, we may continue to unwittingly share inaccurate information, more absurd theories may spread organically. Most key actors are doing their best coming up with new solutions, however we will also have to rely on ourselves and play our part, by using common sense and learning how to fact check and properly research online. That is our own personal challenge. As advised by the UN Secretary General: “with common cause for common sense and facts, we can defeat COVID-19 – and build a healthier, more equitable, just and resilient world”.
These extraordinary times may just equip us with the right skills needed to navigate through fake news and hopefully cause us to become more immune to misinformation pandemics in the future.
Beatrice Giribaldi Groak
Beatrice Giribaldi Groak is a digital risk and reputation management specialist at online reputation management firm Digitalis. She advises a range of public and private companies, as well as UHNWIs and governments, on risk and vulnerabilities originating online. Prior to joining Digitalis, she worked at a strategic communications consultancy, where her portfolio included asset managers, international banks, and private equity firms. Beatrice is fluent in English, French, and Italian. She was named in Spear’s 500 Reputation Management ‘Rising Stars’.