NetHui 2020: Covid 19 & Fake News (Charlotte Wells)

• Oh, I’m sick of having to do all these “Take me back” Instagram posts, you know? I was meant to go on a third Greece trip this year and of course it got cancelled because of all these bloody coronavirus cases. And I’m just like, I can’t even buy anything online because anything made in China comes with the coronavirus nowadays and it’s just like… Oh, what am I supposed to do with my time? I just– I hate coronavirus. You guys know that the coronavirus started when some Chinese person ate a bat in bat soup? Bat soup! Have you seen how ugly bats are? Like you know, that Snapchat filter that has the bat? You know, yeah, imagine eating that. Oh, can you all shut up? I’m trying to film a TikTok here, plus I’m also trying to figure out what kind of drink I’m going to have this weekend.

00:51 - Cause you know, obviously I can’t have a Corona beer because it will give me the coronavirus. You young ones with all your stupid worries. You know, back in my day, we didn’t actually have to wear masks. The government’s really overreacting, I think. This lockdown, COVID-19, it’s all just the government making stuff up. I can’t even breathe in my mask. It’s a breach of human rights, quite frankly. Stop, stop, stop. You guys are so addicted to your social media sites. You can’t even work out what is real and what’s not. You need to start becoming a data detective to work out what’s actually right and what’s fake news. Whatever, Facebook would never lie to me. It’s all just my friends trying to share stuff with me. They wouldn’t lie. My friends, you know, count on me. She wouldn’t lie to me. That’s why we’re talking about Facebook.

01:44 - Sometimes people in our lives don’t know everything either. It’s best to trust websites with minimal errors, referenced evidence and an S after HTTP bit in the URL. Ugh, that’s way too much effort. I don’t even care that much. SnapChat, you should, fake news is very detrimental. Those rumours you guys were saying before have the ability to ruin people’s lives. No, no, no! My reputation has to be saved. I can’t have people knowing that I ruin people’s lives. Thank you, Instagram, at least you get it. What about you, TikTok, are you done dancing over there? Well, yeah, I mean, we can’t blame all this on China. China’s made TikTok, and TikTok’s pretty great. Not even, you can’t even talk to people on it.

02:34 - But I see your point, fake news is something we should all be on the lookout for. Those dodgy satire websites, looking to steal all my money and data. Precisely! I’m happy all of us can get along about this now. Well, I’m gonna have to message Karen and tell her that protest is a lie. She’s been lying to me. Karen, lying to me. Well, whatever you do ladies, make sure you’re getting the information you want about COVID-19 from the official websites. Like covid19.govt.nz or health.govt.

nz 03:08 - Otherwise, make sure to thoroughly investigate the website to make sure it’s telling the truth. You guys got this. .