The coronavirus pandemic has captivated the world, and
simultaneously been insanely difficult to follow. With so many different daily takes
on what to do, what the future will look like, and constantly putting blame on people
for numerous reasons, it’s difficult to keep track on where exactly the state
of the world is right now. Especially when this historic event has proven to be
a landfill for conspiracy theories about the truth of coronavirus. With the
golden age of social media and mass communication currently, plenty of people
have been able to use the media to spread a wide range of theories about
coronavirus. This includes 5G towers emitting radio waves that give us the virus
and the coronavirus being a lab produced weapon of mass destruction. There’s
even one claiming that Bill Gates (yes, billionaire Bill Gates) is using
coronavirus as a way track people with a vaccine.
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These theories are just plainly detrimental to our response
to the coronavirus pandemic. It not only just further spreads a lot of false
information into the minds of Americans, but it also stokes more fear in the
overall unknown that is the coronavirus. It is damaging, and the foreign governments
and social media brands have taken notice and action. When it comes to 5G
conspiracy theorists, Facebook has been removing pages that support the theory
and encourage the destruction of 5G towers, and YouTube has regulated content
of 5G conspiracy theorists. Furthermore, government agencies such as US
intelligence are debunking those conspiracy theorists claims of 5G towers and
the virus being man made.
Now, this seems like the correct thing to do. These people
are purposefully spreading misinformation and false narratives, which strikes
up more fear and anxiety in the public’s mind, so allowing government and
social media to censorship and remove their comments helps keep the public more
well informed. What’s so wrong with that?
Well, there is an issue when it comes to this. Simply put,
it gives governments and officials all over the world the excuse to censor those
who criticize the actions and response that have been made during this crisis. Way
back in February, when the virus was first becoming known around the world, people
began hearing about the downplaying and censorship of the virus over in China.
There was the Wuhan doctor who tried to alert the China about the virus, but was
silenced after being told that he was just “spreading rumors”. After that, the
discovery of the Chinese government controlling the news networks to silence
and downplay the coronavirus deaths and illnesses, just as they have been doing
for years. Personally, this sounds a lot like the government officials comparing
the coronavirus to a conspiracy theory at the time.
As the pandemic has progressed and spread throughout the
world, China has not been the only government silencing its critics. This ForeignPolicy.com
article outlines how Cambodia has arrested more than 17 people on “fake news”
charges, Thailand arresting a man criticizing an airport’s coronavirus protection
system, along with similar actions being done in Turkey, Russia, Iran, and so
many more. Even in the democratic country of Hungary, where the prime minister has
been given the power to imprison those who spread “fake news” up to five years.
Due to the lax definition of “fake news”, it seems as if he can define it as
goes. All in all, censorship has become an issue for whistleblowers and journalists
in countries where the freedom of speech isn’t as prevalent. It’s as if the government
has used the censoring of conspiracy theorists as ways to silence those who
pose a threat to their public reputation.
Now, I’m not trying to support the conspiracy theorists who
put out wild claims about the coronavirus’ true nature. I am just trying to say
how allowing the censorship of conspiracy theories can, and has led, to
government’s justifying silencing the news media and anybody criticizing them for
their coronavirus response. The spread of misinformation is certainly an
important topic to keep an eye on during these times, but I don’t believe its
worth censoring people who want to keep their government’s in check and ask the
questions that need to be asked to eventually get out of this pandemic. Honestly,
if governments keep on abusing their censorship power, it might be worth it to
just let the conspiracy theorists theorize all they want in order to see a
stronger resemblance of freedom the speech and freedom of the press around the
world. I think governments have to be able to put more trust in the majority its
people to not be gullible and trust the sources that are trying to correctly
inform the public. Censoring these people won’t completely stop the spread of
disinformation, and its worth it to maintain the freedom of speech amongst all the
public.
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