ANONYMOUS Twitter accounts are responsible for 'disproportionate' amount of Coronavirus disinformation, a new report has found.
The research, commissioned by campaign group Clean Up The Internet, looked at one million tweets from 285,000 UK accounts.
Published this week, the report found particular between unnamed accounts and the conspiracy theory that 5G networks are related to the disease.
They were also found to have been promoting conspiracies about 5G and Covid-19 five times more often than authentic, named, accounts.
READ MORE: Recovered Covid-19 patients told not to be complacent after Skye care home worker re-tests positive
The report has added to the growing sense of frustration with Twitter among MPs, with John Nicolson, SNP MP confronting the platform's policy chief Nick Pickles, about the link between anonymity and disinformation, and the abuse of minorities on the platform.
Mr Pickles said there was "no evidence" of the problem during the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport(DCMS) committee last week.
Today Mr Nicolson raised concerns about the issue with the head of Ofcom, who said there were serious discussions to be had about fines for social media firms which breach Online Harms laws.
Dame Melanie Dawes, chief executive of the telecoms regulator said anonymity online was " a really important area and one where transparency at the moment is not good enough." and added: "We need to be able to expose the patterns and understand precisely what that link is between anonymity and harm."
READ MORE: PM takes a swipe at Sturgeon for 'uncannily similar' briefings
Following today's committee, Mr Nicolson said: "Clean Up The Internet's new research confirms what we've long suspected - anonymity on social media fuels harmful behaviour.
"If platforms are serious about reducing the amount of vile abuse and dangerous misinformation on their platforms, they need to stop pretending anonymity isn't a problem. It's time for Twitter to stop pleading ignorance and start offering solutions "
Stephen Kinsella, Founder of Clean up the Internet, which commissioned the research, said: "It's time for social media companies to take concerted action to rein in abuse of anonymity on their platforms - because right now it is a major risk factor in the spread of dangerous, false information.
"Twitter have been in denial about anonymity for too long. If the companies won't act, the government should step in and force them to".
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel