By Lance Johnson
Utah’s lieutenant governor is hoping a new social media campaign will help combat “fake news” about Coronavirus in his state.
“An information vacuum will always be filled,” Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox said, “so we want to make sure it is filled with accurate facts.”
The Utah Coronavirus Task Force was created to help limit the spread of COVID-19, more commonly referred to as Coronavirus. The task force is using social media as a way to combat inaccurate information that has spread across those same platforms.
Cox encouraged Utahns to follow the task force Twitter account, @utahcoronavirus, for updates, prevention tips and additional instructions.
“We primarily use Twitter since it is the preferred platform for most members of the media and they help us spread the information,” Cox said.
The Twitter account had nearly 7,600 followers as of late Saturday.
The Task Force is also utilizing Facebook and Instagram, using the same @utahcoronavirus handle. The accounts include answers to frequently asked questions, and confirmed case updates.
“False and misleading information is often circulated on Facebook and in other media,” Cox said. “The social media profiles were created to keep the public informed through this unnerving time.”
Some of the claims that have circulated include prevention formulas, temperatures at which the virus will supposedly die, and the contention that a runny nose rules out COVID-19. These assertions have all been debunked by health experts.
Fake news expert Ellada Gamreklidze believes there are several dimensions to the phenomenon of social media’s ties to false reporting.
“People do not know much about how viruses work,” said Gamreklidze, a communication and mass media professor at Angelo State University in Texas who formerly taught at Utah State University. “Science communication is still struggling to speak the language of an average information consumer.”
Trust is another reason people believe fake news.
“People are always more willing to believe a friend or a person just like them than an expert,” Gamreklidze said.
Social media figures can also be particularly influential.
“There are opinion leaders who are active on social media,” Gamreklidze said, “and people, again, will believe them over experts.”
Some of those voices include far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and televangelist Jim Bakker, who advertised to their followers products they claimed would kill coronavirus. Both men were sent cease-and-desist orders by New York Attorney General Letitia James this week.
“When faced with the unknown and dangerous, people will seek comfort and solution even if there really is none,” Gamreklidze said, “especially if it goes along with what they already believe.”
Alison Berg, a journalist for The Utah Statesman, sees the benefit of social media when reporting on COVID-19.
“College students aren’t likely to pick up a physical newspaper, but we all live on social media and, to that extent, social media is great,” Berg said.
But it isn’t all great.
“On the other side of that, social media journalism is on the rise, which means anyone and everyone can just pick up a phone and say whatever they want,” Berg said. “That can be a problem because that’s what partly leads to actual fake news.”
The Utah Coronavirus Task Force is working closely with the World Health Organization, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Cox identified these additional sources as trustworthy.
“We ask the public to exercise caution when consuming information from other sources other than the WHO, CDC, or our state’s task force,” Cox said. “We hope people will look to a trusted source and we are that source.”
The Utah Department of Health announced on Saturday a new case of COVID-19 that was the first known instance of community spread in Utah —meaning the sources of the infection was unknown.
Additional information on the Utah Coronavirus Task Force is available at coronavirus.utah.gov.
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