This morning, I happened upon a tweet claiming that all British Army leave had been cancelled from April the 1st, the Monday after Brexit. This is a lie.

All British army leave cancelled from April 1st.

Now, what does that suggest the Tories have in mind . . . Hmm? — Ella Jamieson (@Ellajenny2) December 18, 2018

The responses on Twitter, mostly from serving soldiers, have been exactly how you would expect.

The user had claimed to have read the news on Sky News, RT (yes, they really mentioned the bastion of impartiality that is RT) and other sources.

I’ve posted a couple of different sources, e.g. Sky news, RT and I think two others. Check down my timeline. — Ella Jamieson (@Ellajenny2) December 18, 2018

Later the story had changed, the users claims a “trusted person” told them the information. Why the change?

I’ve no reason to hide. Just not one to be bothered arguing with folk, particularly when they are insulting. Only posted what was passed to me along the way through reading different analysis from a trusted person. Don’t like it, ignore it. It’s the internet! — Ella Jamieson (@Ellajenny2) December 19, 2018

That being said, here are people correcting the user on their error. Many, by the way, are being blocked by Ella for doing so and that includes the UK Defence Journal.

So after reading the Sky News article you’ve RT, it says “3,500 troops are on standby”. Not once in said article does it mention their leave being cancelled. Could you link me directly where you find an article where it states this please? — Mike (@MHennessy7) December 18, 2018

Wrong. — Capt Will Matthews RE ?? (@Ubique_Will) December 19, 2018

I’m currently on standby, and on leave. That speaks for itself. Think before you post. — Mike (@MHennessy7) December 18, 2018

I’ll crack the jokes, my leave card will be restocked and getting used? — Fez42nd (@AlanFerrier4195) December 19, 2018

I don’t know where you get your information but I’d look somewhere else in future #wrong #youretheaprilfool — MilitaryBird (@BirdMilitary) December 19, 2018

Well it’s not true so you shouldn’t worry. @Ellajenny2 either misinformed by somebody or willfully misleading people. — Matt Beechey (@MattBeechey) December 19, 2018

That’s because there isn’t one. She made it up. — Alastair Cameron ??????? (@HappyBritScot) December 19, 2018

What is fascinating and equally horrifying is that those pushing this misinformation are using some of the same technique we do when writing tweets, brief but concise sentences. The issue is however that these viral but ultimately incorrect tweets don’t typically have an attached article containing more information and facts.

We want our news articles – vetted, accurate, current – to go viral, so that people can influence their friends and families in discussions regarding defence topics but we always make sure that the headlines written on Twitter are accurate, something Ella has apparently not done.

Events like these are why we spend so much time correcting myths, but we often find that those myths have already made it halfway around the world while our responses have barely made it out the door.

Falsehood consistently dominates the truth on Twitter, according to a study published this year by MIT in the journal Science. ‘Fake news’ and false rumours reach more people, penetrate deeper into the social network and spread much faster than accurate stories.

“False news reached more people than the truth; the top 1% of false news cascades diffused to between 1000 and 100,000 people, whereas the truth rarely diffused to more than 1000 people. Falsehood also diffused faster than the truth. The degree of novelty and the emotional reactions of recipients may be responsible for the differences observed.”

In many cases and simply put, false stories are typically way more interesting than anything the truth has to offer hence why they spread so rapidly.

So what can we do? Refute bad information and keep on refuting it as that’s really all we can do. Is it a losing battle? Time will tell.