{"id":27328,"date":"2020-04-17T00:18:52","date_gmt":"2020-04-17T00:18:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/new-wp\/?p=27328"},"modified":"2020-04-17T00:18:52","modified_gmt":"2020-04-17T00:18:52","slug":"stop-the-spread-of-misinformation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/stop-the-spread-of-misinformation\/","title":{"rendered":"Stop The Spread Of Misinformation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">COVID-19, a\ndisease caused by the virus known as SARS-CoV-2, is spreading across the globe\nat a rate unseen before in mankind\u2019s history. The severity of the infection\nrate has resulted in the World Health Organization (WHO) declaring the outbreak\nas a pandemic on 12<sup>th<\/sup> March 2020. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As the virus\nspreads across continents around the world, so too is misinformation about the\ndisease, so much so misinformation regarding COVID-19 has become a pandemic which\nhas gained a life of its own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In this day and\nage, when social media is widely used, information can easily be shared with\nbut a touch of the screen. With COVID-19, we note that people are sharing\nmisinformation based on conspiracy theories, myths and pseudoscience, regarding\nmatters like the origin of the virus, reasons for the rapid spread, remedies for\nthe infection, and other aspects regarding the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With regards to\nthe medical aspects of COVID-19, the WHO has taken the lead to debunk myths and\npresent scientific facts on the coronavirus in its website. Some of the\nmisinformation tackled by the WHO include claims that the virus is being spread\nby 5G technology, high temperatures can prevent the disease, and being able to\nhold your breath for more than ten seconds without coughing is a sign that you\nare free from COVID-19. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Most of these\nmisinformation may seem harmless on the surface but if left unchecked could result\nin indifference in society vis-\u00e0-vis the real science behind SARS-CoV-2. This\nindifference would then lead to people doing things which can actually increase\nthe risk of themselves getting infected by the coronavirus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It has been\nreported that there are people in certain countries who regard COVID-19 as a\nfearmongering tactic used by politicians to gain mileage. This thinking has\neven reached our country when a segment of society uses the term \u201cplandemic\u201d to\ninsinuate that the pandemic is a planned conspiracy at the global level to\ninstill fear amongst the populace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This begs the\nquestion, why is it that many people easily believe misinformation? To make\nmatters worse, we see people easily share and spread misinformation around\nwithout first checking and authenticating the information. Psychologists have\nactually identified that one of the reasons behind this is information\noverload. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the age of\nsocial media, we face a constant barrage of information that forces us to\ndepend on our instincts to determine the accuracy of information that we\nreceive. In a journal article entitled \u201cNonprobative photographs (or words)\ninflate truthiness,\u201d a team of psychologists from the Australian National\nUniversity noted that by simply accompanying a false claim with a photograph,\nan aura of plausibility and credibility is created.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When\nmisinformation is then repeated and shared by many people \u2013 often appearing\ncontinuously on social media newsfeeds \u2013 the probability of people regarding it\nto be true would increase. In other words, a simple repetition of misinformation\ncreates an illusion of truth to the masses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As such, it is\nimperative that we do not easily spread any information that we are unsure of.\nIt is worth checking and authenticating all information that we receive.\nSharing may not necessarily be a caring thing to do, especially when the\ninformation that we share is fake news or false claims. If we are uncertain of their\nauthenticity, then the safest action is not to share them at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Unfortunately,\nsometimes our ego gets the better of us. We want to be the first to share\nsomething we deem as important with other people. The instinctive act to share\ninformation without checking its authenticity has resulted in many fake news making\nits round in social media. Some of these may seem harmless, but others are not\nso.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Misinformation and\nfake news have resulted in some people regarding COVID-19 as simply another\ntype of flu. Hence, in their minds, there is no need to look after our hygiene\nor to practice social distancing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In an extreme case\nthat took place in a province in Iran, a false claim that drinking alcohol can\nprotect people from being infected has resulted in many people dead after drinking\nindustrial-strength alcohol. Surely we do not want ourselves to be purveyors of\nfalse information that leads to the loss of lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That is why the\noft-quoted verse 6 of Surah al-Hujurat in the Quran serves as an apt reminder\nwhich should not just be read, but also practiced with seriousness: \u201cO ye who\nbelieve! If a wicked person comes to you with any news, ascertain the truth,\nlest ye harm people unwittingly, and afterwards become full of repentance for\nwhat ye have done.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Quran enjoins\nthe act of <em>tabayyun<\/em> that is\nauthenticating any information that we receive to ascertain its accuracy and\ntruth. The need for <em>tabayyun <\/em>is\nimportant in ensuring that we do not spread lies and falsehood to others. In\nessence, <em>tabayyun <\/em>should be ever-present\nin our online behaviour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Muslims are\nreminded that serious punishment awaits those who spread lies. This is\nmentioned in verse 11 of Surah al-Nur in the Quran, translated thus: \u201cThose who\nbrought forward the lie are a body among yourselves, think it not to be an evil\nto you, on the contrary it is good for you; to every man among them (will come\nthe punishment) of the sin that he earned, and to him who took on himself the\nlead among them, a penalty grievous.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With regards to\nfighting misinformation during this pandemic, it is commendable that the\nMalaysian National Security Council has taken the initiative to provide\nclarifications to the public. Almost like clockwork, the council puts out notifications\non fake news three times a day which touch on misinformation being circulated\non social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Another government\nagency, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission through its\nSebenarnya portal also plays an important role in verifying information being\nshared in social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The fact of the\nmatter is that it is not just the responsibility of the authorities to stop the\nspread of fake news. All of us have critical roles to play in ensuring that\ndissemination of misinformation is curtailed especially as the COVID-19 crisis\nintensifies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>COVID-19, a disease caused by the virus known as SARS-CoV-2, is spreading across the globe at a rate unseen before in mankind\u2019s history. The severity of the infection rate has resulted in the World Health Organization (WHO) declaring the outbreak as a pandemic on 12th March 2020. As the virus spreads across continents around the&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_analytify_skip_tracking":false,"_wpzoom_pinterest_image_url":"","_wpzoom_pinterest_hidden_image":"0","_wpzoom_pinterest_description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[139],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-new-straits-times","category-139","description-off"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27328"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27328\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}