The World Health Organisation (WHO) already has a word for this other terrible, viral spread of disinformation, calling it an "infodemic". It’s travelling almost faster than the pandemic itself: waves of blatantly false information.
In the UK people have burnt about 20 base stations — doing untold damage and prompting anger and disbelief from cellphone networks — because of unsubstantiated claims that 5G has caused the coronavirus.
This spectacularly stupid and self-defeating vandalism means crippling the critical infrastructure most of those vandals are using for internet access to read those absurd conspiracy theories.
Even more painfully ironic is that most of those towers don’t have 5G equipment on them yet. There is obviously no scientific proof for these wild theories about 5G, which a simple dose of common sense can easily dispel. But that doesn’t stop the scaremongers.
I can never understand why people do this kind of crazy Alex Jones (of the notorious conspiracy theory website InfoWars) thing. Cape Town’s Stephen Birch, who posted a video on Facebook claiming coronavirus testing kits were already infected, takes pole position for sheer lunacy. At least he got his day in court, very swiftly. If only that was the punishment that all disseminators of such disinformation faced all the time.
I sometimes fear the worst: that people actually believe this patent drivel. They must be those who get conned by 419 scams or click on the clickbait adverts with improbable headlines that promise fortunes or just distraction.
Those who spread and believe fake news must be the people who also get conned by 419 scams
Last week another conspiracy theory with an SA connection took hold. The Daily Show host Trevor Noah, who has been filming from his New York home for the past few weeks, interviewed Bill Gates. The Microsoft founder is now the biggest philanthropist globally and has dedicated his huge wealth and enormous brain to solving the world’s most pressing health problems.
Despite vaccines not having been discussed on that show, the conspiracy nuts on Twitter managed to get their fictitious fable that vaccines were going to be tested in Africa going viral. When President Cyril Ramaphosa tweeted a link to the interview (which was actually fascinating and worth watching), the nutters were in full meltdown.
To counter the 5G conspiracy theories, YouTube is blocking them. One can only wish it adopted the same vigour for antivaxxing videos.
WhatsApp is also limiting the number of times a message can be forwarded to five in an effort to halt the spread of disinformation. Sadly, it is WhatsApp’s biggest flaw that it is used widely for the spread of conspiracy theories, fake videos and xenophobia — and it has been used in contentious political campaigns the world over.
At least one positive thing is spreading through the internet, and it relates to 3D-printed and homemade faceplates and masks. Old T-shirts and scrubs clothing can be used for a sew-less variety of masks, laser-cut faceplates have been designed by Wits engineering students and a fashion house is sewing face masks from traditional shweshwe material.
This useful information at least balances out the blackness.
- Shapshak is editor-in-chief and publisher of Stuff magazine (stuff.co.za)
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