- Spain. Thus, the government "cyberpatrol" the social networks in search of "dangerous speeches"
- WhatsApp already allows video calls of more than four people in the style of Zoom
This week, a WhatsApp notification about live concerts warned that large international groups would offer their performances on Instagram for free. Coldplay, Arctic Monkeys, Daft Punk, Red Hot Chili Peppers ... or MadCool.
The truth is that these virtual concerts and festivals have been a constant during the quarantine, so this initiative could be true. But it didn't sound too good either. Most bands, both in Spain and abroad are confined to their homes, with their separate members, so a group concert becomes a great feat of engineering. In addition, if the names of the poster include Charles Bradley, who died in September 2017, the hoax begins to be written in capital letters and underlined.
This false news that was circulated on Wednesday, April 15 by WhatsApp and that sneaked into some of my groups of friends is just one example of a large number of lies that have reached our mobile since the quarantine began.
The importance of the problem is such that the Sociological Research Center (CIS) published this week in the advance barometer in April that 66.7% of the 3,000 participants consider that information should be controlled by establishing only an official source to avoid hoaxes.
Curing the coronavirus with remedies such as garlic, the adverse effects of ibuprofen against the virus, the recommendations of supposed doctors from supposed hospitals ... the list exceeds 3,500 hoaxes.
The most curious can gossip all the falsehoods that have circulated through the network since January 25, the date on which the International Data Verification Network (IFCN) launched the CoronavirusFact alliance. In this database, content verifiers from more than 70 countries have been publishing the hoaxes that have circulated in their regions, creating a list that exceeds all previous records.
According to the IFCN directive, Cristina Tardáguila, in an interview in Expansión, in the previous alliances to monitor the false news, all of them carried out during political events such as elections, the G20 or the Climate Summit, such a level of hoaxes had never been detected . "We realized that the volume of disinformation with the coronavirus was beginning to be very important. In fact, the largest collaboration there was before was in Argentina for the electoral campaign and we detected 100 false news in about 10 months with 150 media involved. With the coronavirus we have multiplied this number by 350 in less than four months . "
Why lie on WhatsApp?
According to the latest IFCN reports, since they began to study the hoaxes that have originated taking advantage of the pandemic, they have detected various types of disinformation waves. "Political interest is one of the sources that generates false information and its origin is normally related to the supremacy of race and religion and that they believe that one is better than the other, " they affirm.
An example is the news that went viral in the United States in February and that claimed that the Chinese government had resorted to the Supreme Court to request authorization to kill 20,000 people infected with the coronavirus.
"Another problem is the lack of correct data and it is what initially unleashed more hoaxes. But what is growing the most is something very psychological, which is the desire of people to protect their own. This causes a wave of false information related to cures that is completely different from what we are used to seeing the data verifiers. They do not intend to deceive, if not to protect ", they affirm from the network.
Examples of this type are hundreds, all those homemade tips that quickly go viral as being helpful.
But who originates these messages with magic remedies against the coronavirus?
Alexandre López Borrull, professor of Information and Communication Sciences Studies at the UOC, indicates that on WhatsApp it is practically impossible to know the origin of a hoax. It can be, from a video or information of a person who really believes that it works and sends it, to viral challenges of people who "try to try to sneak a lie and see how far it goes. They want to check the virality, period. In some cases there is a link in which to click, and there what they get are visits to a specific website, but these are not many either ".
In the case of fake news with political intent, the professor has no doubt. "The objective is to promote a certain stage of chaos or mistrust with the administration that can contribute to the growth of that organization that spreads the lie. This is very typical of anti-system and extreme right movements. The objective is to capture ".
WhatsApp, a problem?
The privacy offered by the messaging network is a double-sided coin in which the cross is the inevitable disinformation. "It is very easy to spread a false message on WhatsApp because it is very difficult to pull the thread . It is almost impossible to reach the creator of the lie, not like on Twitter or Facebook, where you can verify and report a false publication and try to locate the origin López points out.
The spread of fake news became a big problem for WhatsApp in 2018 in India, Mexico and Brazil. According to Tardáguila, the proliferation of this type of content was the cause of a wave of lynchings in India. "He left a video edited teaching two men on a motorcycle abducting a child. In the actual video guys the bike turned to the camera and said he had to be careful with the kids. It was a warning message to prevent. But it it spread only the cut part and there were many lynchings to people on motorcycles. It was terrible, "he explains.
At this time, the company decided to limit message forwarding from 20 to 5 contacts at once. The disinformation crisis during the coronavirus has caused the company to reduce it further, to one contact.
In addition, the company has decided to strengthen its verification system and last March it donated $ 1 million to IFCN . "The donation will go towards training in the use of advanced WhatsApp Business functions, including the WhatsApp Business API," explains the social network.
According to the IFCN directive, neither WhatsApp nor they can read the messages of the conversations, and in no case the objective of the verifiers is to access this.
Why do we believe the WhatsApp hoaxes more than any other network?
The hoax of the free concerts on Instagram came to me from a known contact, a close friend who, at first, would not hesitate. And here is the key. "People receive false news from their immediate environment and do not question whether that family member or friend wants to cheat on them . It is not like on Twitter, where you see a stranger hang up information and if you don't like it, you are going to hesitate," he points out. The teacher.
Also, the forward button seems to push itself. Giving forward is a very quick reaction. If it's a funny thing, tap it. If it's scary, forward it. If we think it can help, you forward it too. It is a big problem and disinformation has never created more doubts. It is usually very common in electoral processes, and obviously has effects, but now we are talking about public health, "adds López.
How to deal with this? Using official information channels and, according to the UOC professor, "breathe 10 seconds before sending the message. Why do they send you that news? If it's so important, why haven't the authorities communicated it? Is the time ? to distrust "
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
Know more- Coronavirus
- Social networks
Technology WhatsApp does not share your conversations with Newtral or Damn: This is how the new forwarding limit works
TechnologySo "cyber patrol" the government social networks in search of "dangerous speeches"
AppsWhatsApp in low hours: this is how the Telegram toast eats between accusations of "censorship"