'NHS Susan' and those Twitter bot rumours: What we know By Marianna Spring

Specialist disinformation reporter, BBC News Published duration 22 April

image copyright Getty Images

There is no verifiable evidence for viral rumours implying the Department of Health was behind a network of Twitter accounts posing as NHS staff.

In fact, there is not currently any verifiable evidence that these accounts existed at all.

The claims, which began on Twitter but spread to Facebook, were called out as "categorically false" by the DHSC.

Twitter said it had not seen evidence linking the government to a network of fake accounts.

These accounts, allegedly fake "bots" posting in support of the government, appear to have been deleted.

It is unclear whether this was by whoever was running the accounts. or by Twitter who say they "remove any pockets of smaller coordinated attempts to distort or inorganically influence the conversation".

The only thing we have to analyse is an alleged screenshot of one of the fake accounts which was shared as an example of this network. There's also a Google cache of tweets posted under that Twitter handle.

It used the name NHS Susan and claimed to belong to a junior doctor. There are immediately a number of red flags.

The profile in the screenshot was using a photo of an actual NHS nurse with a different name.

The description in the profile's bio said she was "transitioning in 2020" and "fighting COVID on behalf of all LGBTQ & non-binary people'. 'Susan' was also said to be deaf.

This description, along with a number of tweets allegedly made by the account, could point towards the profile being satire or looking to provoke a reaction.

Misleading information or accounts that evoke an emotional reaction are more likely to go viral as are claims that inspire an emotional reaction from us.

During the general election, there was evidence of people pretending to be bots on Boris Johnson's Facebook page as a joke or in order to inspire a reaction.

Until there is any evidence to suggest these allegations are true, whilst it's useful to interrogate them, it is unhelpful to re-share them.