Fighting COVID-19 means fighting hoax

The second this is over, I’m going to embark on a stock photo trip. How tangentially related are some of my additions here lately jeeze.

Hello friends!

April Fool’s Day is not really that funny to begin with, but it’s definitely not funny today. Today, let’s take a look at how governments around the region are responding (or spreading!) fake news, hoax and misinformation amid the coronavirus crisis.

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Thanks so much and stay safe out there,Erin Cook

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Thailand isn’t joking around this April Fool’s Day. The government yesterday warned that anyone found to be making gags about the virus, including claiming to have the illness if you don’t, can face penalties up to five years imprisonment. "People around the world are suffering from #Covid19 outbreak, and that's reason enough why people should be more considerate and not use this as a prank or a joke," the government said in a statement on social media. Given we saw a few nasty ‘jokes’ in the aftermath of the Korat shooting in February, it seems sadly necessary. 

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Indonesia’s ‘hoax busters’ are working overtime with a flurry of fake news and hoaxes spreading worse than the virus itself. Home remedies (and this is certainly not a strictly Indonesia thing, we’re seeing it everywhere!) are pushed as an alternative to actual healthcare administered by professionals. Busting these stories are a touch harder than elsewhere, given the Health Minister himself has some dubious understandings of medicine and science. Still, I’m going to hope no one actually believed this so we’re allowed to laugh. Can boiled eggs stave off coronavirus? This baby sure thinks so. 

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We all saw this coming! The Singaporean government has used the outbreak to justify its draconian fake news legislation. Prior to the outbreak, it had been used to target critics of the government and snuff out dissent. But now it’s rolled out to stamp out fake news and hoaxes on the virus. With social media giants now managing this on their own (good on YouTube, but is there any way to make that pop-up a little smaller I need to see what Tana Mongeau is being roasted for), is it really a justification at all? I don’t know but I’ll be keeping an eye on it for sure. 

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A suite of extraordinary powers granted to President Rodrigo Duterte as part of the outbreak in the Philippines includes heavy penalties for the spreading of fake news and hoax. There’s certainly a dark irony with that, but we’ll go into it deeper via Filipino analysts soon. Anyone found to be manufacturing or spreading fake information can now face up to two months in prison and fines up to PHP1 million (AUD$31,000). 

The law has a test case in the form of a very allegedly naughty mayor. Noveleta Mayor Dino Reyes Chua is facing charges from the Philippine National Police stemming from allegations the mayor, using a fake Facebook account created in 2010, spread false information about a COVID-19 death in Cavite City. This is one of the most stupid, reckless and bizarre things I’ve read in the whole region on this. Real weird one. 

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And there’s the Malaysian Health Minister, Adham Baba. 

"Do not drink water that is not boiled. Drink a glass of water that is warm because the virus does not like warm things. Make sure (the water) is not too hot.

"The virus will go down (the oesophagus) and when it reaches the stomach which has acids, the virus dies. That's how we eliminate the virus.

"What's important is that we have to kill the virus in our throats before it reaches our lungs.

"This virus, it likes the lower part of the lungs. It likes to stay there. That's why it is said that this virus loves human beings," he said.

I know we’ve talked about that one already but I can’t get over it.

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Myanmar publication the Irrawaddy has last week interviewed the assistant director of the Ministry of Health and Sport, Dr. Htoo Myint Swe. He is tasked with monitoring information about the outbreak and dispelling rumours and myths. The Q&A is an interesting look at how the government and health authorities identify misinformation. Still, there’s a worrying line here about Facebook not taking down all instances of alleged hoax and fake news. 

“Facebook already has a function to report for controversial issues. When we find out about fake news, we report it to [Facebook] to check it carefully and to take it down. But they don’t take down every post that we report. They only take down posts when they don’t follow their community standards,” the doctor said. Which is a worry given everything we know about Facebook’s struggles with Myanmar.