ARTS 3810 Media Article PDF

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MEDIA ARTICLE

ARTS3810 (z5205118)

UNSW POLITIK THE KILL COUNT OF A CONSPIRACY Bill gates, bioweapons, 5G networks, Satan-worshipping paedophiles, drinking bleach, and vaccine microchips. Turbocharged by social media, Covid-19 provided highly fertile ground for the breeding of fake news, misinformation, and conspiracy theories. The volume and content of Covid-19 conspiracies were at first glance the pinnacle of humour, shared among friends for a lockdown laugh. However, the repercussion of their existence ranges far beyond a Reddit thread or comment section. It may in fact, be life-threatening. This is why social media, the super spreader of conspiracies and misinformation, must be censored and regulated. Acting on the wrong information is deadly.

THE ‘INFODEMIC’ The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic has prompted significant discussion on the place and influence of misinformation platformed via social media in a global health crisis. It’s forced us to reflect on 18 months’ worth of stories, statuses, and shares- most of which can tell you which family and friends will be getting vaccinated. Thousands of people, some professionals, and some not, took to social media to throw in their two cents about cause and cure. Undoubtedly, the uncertainty of Covid-19 has birthed confusion and mass panic. Heightened substantially by the amount of pandemic related information saturating our social media feeds. Concerningly, conspiracies, myths and fake news grounded in anything but science appeared most liked, viewed and shared- perhaps making it difficult for the average and potentially vulnerable citizen, to form sound (and medically correct) opinions. The “public enemy of the pandemic” is misinformation and conspiracism. The super spreader is social media. SCIENCE VS. THE SOCIALS A theory that has gained significant traction across the world is that coronavirus, is in fact, not real. A study conducted by the University of Oxford surveyed 2500 people, and 1/5 participants believed Covid-19 was a hoax. Most immediately, this conspiracy wreaks havoc on the ability of medical workers to properly provide essential healthcare to sick individuals and facilitates low compliance rates with transmission prevention measures. Propelled by the engine room of misinformation, social media has played a prominent role in platforming the idea that Covid is a hoax. There are instances of Covid-19 deniers breaching hospital security measures and stalking the wards to gather footage of ‘empty’ hospital beds. The illegally obtained footage which supposedly proves Covid-19 is a hoax, is uploaded onto popular social media sites where praise for such ludicrous behaviour, and beliefs is garnered. Support is collectively reiterated through shares, comments, and saves. Although major social media platforms have stepped up their game in removing information that threatens pandemic responses, action is untimely and ineffective. The original post may get deleted but the harm is done and online support is actiavted. Covid-19 deniers frequently dispute their test results, reject treatment, refuse to isolate, neglect to wear a mask and leave the ICU before having recovered. This directly contributes to increased community transmission and higher mortality rate, having a human cost that is likely, impossible to

MEDIA ARTICLE

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determine. Frontline workers are stigmatised, verbally abused and murals celebrating their heroism are vandalised. Because Covid-19 is fake. We now face a second safety threat- Civilian ignorance, or more specifically- a social media elixir encouraging covid denial and anti-maskers. A prominent myth, apparently a covid ‘cure,’ has facilitated the consumption of methanol or alcoholbased cleaning products that will ‘disinfect the body and kill the virus.’ Despite bold product warnings stating disinfectants shouldn't be “ingested, inhaled, or injected”, it is estimated 800 citizens died as a direct cause of such misinformation. 5876 have been hospitalised and 60 have developed total blindness after drinking methanol. Unfortunately, one cannot employ the aid of a mask or the help of a hand sanitiser to repel the plague of misinformation infecting social media. It’s difficult to reconcile how one could conclude that drinking bleach provides a health benefit when the very purpose of bleach is to kill organic matter, which includes human tissue. However, when Executive in Chief of Fake news, former United States President Donald Trump pondered out loud about whether disinfectant could be used for an “injection inside or almost cleaning of the body,” naturally, his loyal bandwagon of staunch supporters started sharing this cure on Twitter. When such information is platformed through the most powerful office in the world and amplified on social media, it’s no surprise people, acted on it. While Trump later declared he was being “sarcastic,” the impact of such loosely spoken words is detrimental. The American Poison Control Centre recorded a 122% increase in poisoning caused by disinfectants in 2020. In India, 12 individuals including 5 children became severely unwell after drinking a liquid containing the highly toxic Datura seed believing it would build coronavirus immunity. Consumption occurred after viewing a YouTube video. Covid-19 falsehoods littering social media may ultimately have the same outcome as contracting the virus itself. Death. A video taken inside a UK hospital in January 2021 a time where 31,624 covid-19 positive patients resided in UK hospitals, proceeded to go viral on Facebook. The video explicitly shows a man abusing a nurse, demanding a seriously ill covid positive patient have his oxygen tube removed and be sent home because it’s just a ‘cold.’ When asked how this severely unwell patient would be medically treated from home, the answer given was that vitamins were a “proven” cure. When quizzed about where such information was obtained, the answer given was concerning- A Reddit thread. SOCIAL MEDIA: A CHANGE IN STATUS Whether you choose to drink bleach or hot lemon water with a touch of bicarbonate because the virus is “pH-sensitive” a common theme emerges- a failed belief in medical advice, science and government bodies. “The pandemic is a crisis of trust.” The agent corroding this trust is social media. Social media is heralded as an agent of change. A place we meet for news, connection, communication, advocacy and entertainment. As of 2021, 3.96 billion people use social media globally. 37.7% of Australians have nominated social media as their main news source. Operating under the veneer of convenience, in an analysis of 112 million social media posts on public forums relating to Covid-19, 40% were deemed to come from unreliable sources and 42% were attributed to bots. The yardstick for measuring the extent to which unqualified information influences our behaviour and opinions consciously or subconsciously is impossible. Addressing misinformation in the public domain is highly difficult and complex. “Debunking misinformation requires the person or body doing the debunking to be a trusted source,” while at the

MEDIA ARTICLE

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same time, the catalyst for misinformation is distrust in experts and authorities. To bridge the gap between science and conspiracy, major social media sites must do better at censoring and controlling site content. Collaboration between health authorities and social media platforms is required to push science to the forefront of social media Covid-19 discussions, drowning the influence of misinformation and preventing corruption of vulnerable minds. Ultimately human lives and safety are at stake. Social media censorship is not a new phenomenon. Major platforms routinely remove posts outside the scope of community guidelines. However, the problem with these guidelines is their ambiguity. For example, Facebook Objectionable content includes “hate speech,” “glorification of violence” and “harmful and dangerous content.” This gives the gatekeepers of social media content broad scope to determine what our news feeds look like, making them some of the most powerful figures in “politics and war.” CONCLUSION Conspiracy theories were once seen as bizarre, perhaps comical, manifestations of benign eccentrics. Today conspiracy theories, arm in arm with first cousin fake news, pose a genuine threat to human safety. Misinformation propelled by social media has a human cost. While it may be easy to dismiss misinformation and conspiracies promoted by a minority of society, a successful pandemic response hinges on everyone, including non-state actors “doing their part.” Social media platforms must censor and moderate Covid-19 information because acting on the wrong information is deadly.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Banerjee, D & Meena, K 2021, ‘COVID-19 as an “Infodemic” in Public Health: Critical Role of the Social Media’, Frontiers in public health, vol. 9, pp. 610623–610623.

Chamary, JA 2020, ‘Drinking Bleach doesn’t Cure Coronavirus. So why do it?’, Forbes, 29 August, accessed 1 July

Cinelli, M et al. 2020, ‘The COVID-19 social media infodemic’, Scientific reports, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 16598–16598. Coleman, A 2020, ‘’Hundreds Dead’ because of Covid-19 misinformation,’ BBC News, 12 August, accessed 1 July...