Hoaxes and campaigns

There’s been a lot of hoaxes/campaigns/fake news in recent years, and sometimes a small Google search can easily disprove them.

I’m not even sure if there was an outcome to the campaign against the communication app House Party; which was accused of hacking into people’s bank accounts. Even one of my colleagues shared that one, and actively encouraged people to uninstall the app. I pointed out it was probably just a cause of reusing passwords, which also was the opinion of security expert Troy Hunt.

Another recent example is 5G causing Coronavirus.

Troy Hunt’s blog on Let’s Stop the 5G Hysteria: Understanding Hoaxes and Disinformation Campaigns is brilliant, so go and read his blog instead of mine.

Here is a summary of the headers:

Insight 1: You can tell a lot about the credibility of a claim by observing those attracted to it.

Insight 2: Understand the difference between people who have formed their own opinion versus those who are qualified enough to influence your opinion.

I enjoyed Zombieland, but not once did I stop and think “here’s a guy who looks like he’d know a thing or two about voltage-gated calcium channel activation exacerbating viral replication”. Yet here he is, broadcasting it to 2M Instagram followers. Fortunately, he’s since deleted the post.

Troy Hunt on Woody Harrelson’s level of expertise

Insight 3: Consider whether you believe a claim because the evidence supports it, or simply because you want to believe it.

Insight 4: When faced with alternative theories, consider which one is the simplest and therefore most likely to be true.

Insight 5: Question why you’re being encouraged to influence others and if you’re sufficiently informed to do so.