LETTERS: IN the wake of the global Wuhan coronavirus (2019-nCov) outbreak, the authorities are increasingly concerned about the dangers of medical hoaxes.
Social media is rampant with misinformation and disinformation on the new strain of coronavirus, which originated from Wuhan city, China.
Up to Thursday, there were 9,480 confirmed cases and 180 deaths.
Coronavirus (CoV) is a large genus of virus that causes sickness ranging from the common flu to critical conditions such as the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV) and the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV).
This new strain has not been identified in humans.
Little is known about it except that it is fatal if not treated well. This uncertainty is causing much speculation among the public, which is worsened by the sharing of unverified information on the disease.
Scientists worldwide are working hard to find a cure. The people should play their part by adhering to the recommendations made by professionals and not rely on online posts.
Over the past two weeks, much unverified information on the virus has been shared on social media, stirring public discussion and causing panic.
Medical misinformation and disinformation are two components of information disorder that need the attention of the government.
False content ranges from sharing wrong information on vaccines to distributing inaccurate content on the novel coronavirus. An action plan must be drawn up to curb this information disorder.
There is a difference between misinformation and disinformation in the scholarly context. Disinformation is an attempt to confuse or manipulate people by giving them false information. It is often accompanied by parallel and intersecting communication strategies and tactics, including hacking or impersonating credible individuals.
Misinformation, on the other hand, is misleading information created or disseminated without malicious intent. Both are problems for society, especially during an outbreak that could be globally health threatening.
Most of the people who do it are unaware of the ramifications.
In Malaysia, the spread of medical misinformation is made easier on social media platforms and is worsened by a lack of awareness about the virus.
On Twitter and Facebook, people share information without cross-checking facts, coupled with xenophobic remarks aimed at China.
I sought the opinion of a couple of medical professionals on how the government and we, as society, should respond to the outbreak.
They advised people to be rational in times of a medical
crisis. The public should get information from legitimate sources, such as the Health Ministry or professional news agencies.
They also said that although some Malaysians had a trust deficit towards the government, partisan views should not be entertained during a crisis.
I suggest that the public verify information on social media. If not, we may inadvertently disseminate inaccurate content and can be penalised under Section 233 of the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Act (MCMC) 1998.
The government should establish at least one national fact-checking agency to mitigate this information disorder. It could be under MCMC or an independent body.
Unlike our neighbours, Malaysia does not have an agency that specialises in dealing with hoaxes in the public sphere. There is no active campaign to increase media literacy among the public. Indonesia has set up Masyarakat Anti-Fitnah (Mafindo), an anti-hoax civil society movement endorsed by the government and supported by Google News Initiative.
Malaysia should consider establishing such comprehensive fact-checking agencies too.
DR NUURRIANTI JALLIN
Fellow, Media and Information
Warfare Faculty of Communication and Media Studies, Universiti Teknologi Mara
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times