Even the most well intended memes and infographics which turn out to be false can undermine public trust, it has been warned.
It comes as First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she would “recognise the importance” of high ranking politicians sharing “fake news” in the wake of deputy first minister John Swinney sharing an unverified image with unsourced coronavirus information on it.
Ms Sturgeon refused to say whether she thought the image was misleading and said the “point” of what Mr Swinney was trying to put across on face coverings was “important”.
Despite criticism, the Scottish Covid secretary has left the image on his personal twitter page, which was shared by other MSPs and SNP senior councillors.
As we move to Level 0 in Scotland – marking good progress on our careful process of relaxing restrictions – this is a helpful graphic showing why we must use face coverings and keep our distance. #staysafe pic.twitter.com/AcyrEBmVgb
— John Swinney (@JohnSwinney) July 19, 2021
Ms Sturgeon told the press during a coronavirus briefing on Tuesday she did not think “well intentioned” fake news undermined public health bodies and scientists nor did it provide “ammunition” to bad actors who disseminate misleading “fake news” for the purposes of public disruption.
Erodes trust
Fergus Bell is a “false information” expert and CEO of media company Fathm.
He said even the most well-intended posts which cannot be verified, or proven false, can erode public trust and undermine message and credibility.
“It’s very difficult to take something back when you share something on social media and context is so important.
“Even if you are sharing something well intended, there is a good chance someone may see it out of context and out of time.
“The internet and citizens are very unforgiving, making it really difficult to put out something wrong and then use that same platform to put something out at a later date.
“It is one of the principal dangers of sharing something wrong, however good the intentions initially were.”
He added: “Social media misinformation is weaponised and if you link it with someone prominent, it has a greater power.
“Overall you will see a decrease in trust, which is overall much harder to get back from.
“And doubling down on a piece of information many would determine as false is going to undoubtedly damage credibility.”
Government promises to “reflect”
Asked whether she was worried about fake news memes and infographics undermining the public health message and whether it would arm bad state actors who use false information for disruption, Ms Sturgeon said she did not.
She added: “I do recognise the importance of people like me and the deputy first minister and ministers sharing verified information.
“The point we’re trying to illustrate is a really important one, it is the case face coverings protect us. I don’t think we should lose sight of that point.”
“The Deputy First Minister tweeted an image yesterday that was intended to illustrate what is absolutely the case – that wearing face masks protects people from transmission of the virus.”
“What I will say in addition to that is that I think we recognise that in seeking to illustrate that, we should take care to use properly verified graphics and we’ll certainly take that on board in terms of how we tweet that information in future.
“But getting the general point across, he is absolutely right to seek to do, as I seek to do on a general, ongoing basis as well.”
Sturgeon’s defence “laughable”
Scottish Conservative shadow cabinet secretary for health Annie Wells MSP said: “John Swinney barely got a slap on the wrist for a misleading graphic that risks undermining public health messages.
“Nicola Sturgeon’s evasive defence was laughable. It seems promoting unverified information is tolerated if you’re a senior SNP politician.
“What is there for the SNP Government to ‘reflect’ on? The Deputy First Minister has punted fake news.
“This is simple – delete it, distance the government from this kind of reckless behaviour, and unequivocally condemn the use of misleading information.”