Powered by
Sponsored by

How fake posts and ads on social media are adding to chaos amid COVID-19 crisis

Social media in India is turning into an endless 'doom-scroll' in this time of crisis

social-media-facebook-snapchat-whatsapp-smartphone-instagram-afp

At 2.30pm on April 23, a certain Twitter handle posted details of bed availability in Mumbai's 10-bedded Ghazi hospital in Mira Road and in Kondhwa in Pune. The pictures accompanying the tweet said that it had been verified an hour back that there were beds available at these two places and the contact numbers of the people concerned, too, were given.

An hour later, when THE WEEK tried connecting on the given numbers, one went unanswered (thrice) and the other was answered by Dr Khan, owner of Mira Road's Ghazi hospital. Upon inquiring if a bed either in the ICU or general ward was available, he said, "Not a single bed is available. We have even used up the space inside the Operation Theatre to accomodate a COVID-19 patient. All 10 beds are occupied by COVID-19 patients, two of whom are severely infected and are on oxygen at present." He feared that the facility might "soon" face an oxygen shortage. What was he to do then? "I'll take help from people in our community service. I'm sure they'll help us."

In another thread, close to 10 names and contact details of people offering oxygen cylinder facilities were advertised, of which when THE WEEK tried to connect, not a single call was answered. At a time when people are struggling for oxygen to survive and beds for treatment, such fake messages and adverts circulating on social media are further adding to the chaos in times of desperation.

When Archita tried connecting with her network on social media by posting an 'urgent need of Itolizac in Mumbai, (Itolizumab, used to fight the COVID-19 infection), a number of leads showed up. However, after frantically calling them up for the next three hours, she realised that a few actually went out of stock in a matter of two hours, while most simply posted fake pamphlets. Anuradha Kadam has been trying since the last 24 hours to get her 34-year-old cousin, who is now a "serious" COVID-19 patient, the Tocilizumab drug. She has been desperately seeking help from the local authorities, friends and family as well as strangers on social media. "He's got severe lung infection, which has only gotten worse in a span of 24 hours. They administered Remdesivir yesterday but his body did not respond to the medication. Now, the situation is so bad, that Tocilizumab is our only hope and procuring it has become a herculean task," says Kadam. Her cousin, whom she did not want to name, is currently admitted in Criticare hospital, Airoli, and is on oxygen at present. Kadam sounds frustrated as she says, "I personally tried calling thousands of numbers that came my way on social media, including Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp and to my utter dismay, none actually worked. Only the collector's office number worked and they told us they will try. At present we are back to square one. It's already 48 hours now."

Archana Agarwal feels lucky to have her requirement met within hours of posting the details. Her father Rakesh Agarwal, 56, admitted at Kasturi hospital in Mumbai's Bhayandar west was in "desperate" need of plasma B+ve as his oxygen saturation had dipped to 87. While they found a donor in time, she recalls her sister's experience in finding a suitable plasma donor just a day before. "In one picture there were details of a number of people promising to connect us with plasma donors. But not a single one of those numbers worked, leading to even more frustration."

Sagar Deshmukh is flustered by the constant barrage of calls on his phone ever since his number was mentioned in one of the posts on Twitter, that said, 'Oxygen cylinders in Mumbai - Contact' followed by his number. "I have no idea about all of this. I'm getting calls from as far as Delhi and Noida. I don't even have an account on Twitter and have no idea who posted my number there. I couldn't sleep all of last night."

As social media in India turns into an endless 'doom-scroll', with people around the country posting about their search for oxygen cylinders and beds with oxygen support, a number of fake messages, promises, adverts and posts add to the tension, frustration and chaos. 

📣 The Week is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@TheWeekmagazine) and stay updated with the latest headlines