THREAD: Just had a head-in-hands chat with my dad about a Coronavirus conspiracy theory he emailed me. Not having a go at him - he’s awesome. But the chat once again made me realise how dangerous these forwards are. You’ve probably seen the message which looks like this:

The email claims the Coronavirus is a biological weapon unleashed by China. The writer points to ‘evidence’ that no major Chinese cities have been affected by the virus and suggests the country may be hiding an antidote. After every statement it says ‘SOMETHING IS FISHY!’

Not going into the flaws in logic or outright falsities of the email but here’s how my dad (74,m) reacted when he got the email from a mate. ‘I read it and thought it was interesting so I forwarded it onto 5 people to see what they think’. But he didn’t ask for their opinions.

Dad says he thought it was ‘a bit dodgy’ but didn’t ask his mate who sent it to him where it came from. He didn’t see the problem with passing it on to maybe ‘start a conversation’. But I was the only person he actually talked to about it.

The partial email chain shows 14 people. If they did what dad did and sent it to 5 friends that’s 70 other’s who got it. If THEY did what Dad did that’s 350 etc etc. No questions asked about veracity or source. Dad agrees it’s probably ‘not great’ and ‘a bit harsh on the Chinese’

Dad says he realises how dangerous forwarding without questions is. He’s an avid BBC News viewer/ listener but says he wants more reporting on this stuff. I told him we have an entire team on this full time (!). Clearly, as others have said, this is a cultural problem.