The president of the US stood at a podium with the White House seal emblazoned across the front and suggested that sunshine, household bleach and disinfectant might be a treatment for Covid-19. Newspapers around the world reported his remarks, but with a disclaimer that people should not be drinking or injecting themselves with cleaning products. The companies that manufacture the brands the president mentioned also had to disavow his remarks. Three weeks prior, the same president erroneously suggested that chloroquine might be a treatment for the same disease, leading to a shortage of the drug in many countries and to a spike in chloroquine poisoning cases in places as far away as Nigeria.
This information age looks very different from the version we were promised. Instead of a highly informed public consuming an array of high quality media, it seems that people are increasingly susceptible to misinformation and disinformation. President Trump is not the only national leader that has made questionable statements regarding the treatment of Covid-19. President Andry Rajoelina of Madagascar launched an untested herbal remedy for the disease which the government is now distributing door to door across the country and exporting to other African countries. A politician in India encouraged members of the public to drink cow urine. When powerful people become the mouthpieces for such lies, they can travel around the world fast and cause a tremendous degree of harm because of that stamp of authority.
