Misinformation on Covid-19 still an issue

Experts advise social media users to be responsible, trust only reliable sources

- LINETTE LAI & CLARA CHONG

When Mr Jeswant Singh, 68, wants the latest update on the Covid-19 pandemic, he scrolls through his mobile phone for WhatsApp messages from his friends.

He showed The Straits Times messages he had received with charts, videos and big words.

The information must be true because “all these messages and information are going viral already”, said the retired maintenance officer, who has received two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine and is waiting for his third.

Professor May O. Lwin from Nanyang Technological University’s WeeKim Wee School of Communication and Information noted: “The public, and even those studying the virus, have to navigate, decipher and respond to rapidly evolving sets of information – which may not always be consistent – on numerous platforms.”