Azlan Othman

With Reuters reporting that the increase in “fake news” could make disease outbreaks such as the COVID-19 epidemic spreading in China worse, Brunei’s Ministry of Health (MoH) also urged the public to always check information spread on social media.

The ministry reminded the public not to share information that had not been verified by the MoH.

Spreading false news is an offence under the Public Order Act, Chapter 148, Section 34 which can lead to three months’ imprisonment or a BND3,000 fine.

In an analysis of how the spread of misinformation affects the spread of disease, scientists at Britain’s East Anglia University (UEA) said any successful efforts to stop people sharing fake news could help save lives.

“When it comes to COVID-19, there has been a lot of speculation, misinformation and fake news circulating on the Internet – about how the virus originated, what causes it and how it is spread,” said UEA Professor of Medicine Paul Hunter who co-led the study.

“Misinformation means that bad advice can circulate very quickly – and it can change human behaviour to take greater risks,” he added.

In their research, Hunter’s team focussed on three other infectious diseases – flu, monkeypox and norovirus – but said their findings could also be useful for dealing with the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak.

“Fake news is manufactured with no respect for accuracy, and is often based on conspiracy theories,” Hunter said.

For the studies – published on Friday in separate peer-reviewed journals – the researchers created theoretical simulations of outbreaks of norovirus, flu and monkeypox.

Their models took into account studies of real behaviour, how different diseases are spread, incubation periods and recovery times, and the speed and frequency of social media posting and real-life information sharing.

They also took into account how lower trust in authorities is linked to the tendency to believe conspiracies, how people interact in “information bubbles” online, and the fact that, “worryingly, people are more likely to share bad advice on social media than good advice from trusted sources,” Hunter said.

The researchers found that a 10 per cent reduction in the amount of harmful advice being circulated has a mitigating impact on the severity of an outbreak, while making 20 per cent of a population unable to share harmful advice has the same positive effect.

For information, the public can check the MoH website on www.moh.gov.bn or contact the Health Advise Line at 2381380 or 2381383 or Darussalam line 123.