Social media platforms battle to remove harmful coronavirus conspiracies

Social media platforms including Facebook and YouTube are clamping down on a host of absurd conspiracy theories claiming the coronavirus is a hoax, including at least one that irresponsibly implored viewers to disregard safety restrictions such as social distancing.

Of course it was inevitable that various conspiracies would proliferate online, especially across social media, as we’ve encountered countless times in the aftermath of national or global incidents.

Again predictably, the theories have been as prolific as they have been diverse and wide-ranging, with various conspiracists promoting their own versions of what they think is happening. But social media platforms have been forced into action as many videos and posts popping up on their platforms in an endless game of whack-a-mole are claiming that viewers should not be following advice set out by most governments and health organisations, such as social distancing.

One such video that has been removed from both Facebook and YouTube is a video claiming that people “cannot catch a virus” unless it is covertly injected into a person. That video, by an Australian man called Tom Barnett, had been viewed over 200,000 times and purported that coronavirus was not real and is being used to remove the rights and freedoms of citizens. Barnett even told his viewers to ignore social distancing recommendations and go outside and “do normal things” – advice that could ultimately cost some people their lives if taken seriously.

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Like many of the conspiracies spreading online, Barnett provided no evidence or sources for his claims, other than his own speculative thinking and self-grandiose assertions of how smart he was, even claiming he had once been “interrogated” after finishing an exam under suspicion he had cheated.

Another popular video, apparently made by a former “boss” at Vodafone, took a different approach and claimed the coronavirus was the product of the new 5G technology, the successor to 4G, that allows devices to connect to the Internet without a cable or Wi-Fi Internet connection. Such 5G related theories have been incredibly popular, despite being dismissed by public health organisations and the fact that many countries with high infections like Iran, Japan and Malaysia have not yet rolled out 5G. That video has also been taken down by YouTube for “violating their guidelines”.

While many online conspiracies amount to nothing more than the sharing of ridiculous videos and statements across small online communities, they can have serious real world consequences, especially as their popularity continues to be amplified thanks to social media.

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In the US, popular conspiracist Alex Jones of the Info Wars brand has been sued a number of times after parents of children killed at the Sandy Hook school massacre claimed his theories about the shooting being staged by the government led to them being harassed and receiving death threats. Jones has since disavowed the conspiracy.

Also, during the run-up to the 2016 presidential elections, a conspiracy theory known as PizzaGate claimed that emails of Clinton’s campaign manager John Podesta that had been leaked online by WikiLeaks contained secret code alluding to a child abuse ring centered around a pizza outlet in Washington DC. A theory that ultimately led to someone turning up to the pizza outlet with a gun. No one was injured.

And just like with many other health based conspiracies, conspiracies that coronavirus is a hoax is one that may well encourage people to ignore common sense medical advice that can put themselves and others into harm’s way. Hopefully social media platforms will continue to remove such potentially harmful conspiracies before they receive too much attention.