False claims that Boris Johnson did not have Covid-19 circulate on social media again
A number of posts on social media are sharing claims taken from a satirical blog post about former Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s time in hospital with Covid-19 as if they were true.
The posts say: “Dorset Eye are reporting that when the PM was admitted to hospital, all staff were required to sign the official secrets act.
“2 doctors who disagreed with his diagnosis refused, and were sent home ‘on leave’. One of the doctors said ‘if he has Covid19 I am not a doctor’.”[sic]
The claim about Mr Johnson appears to come from an article in the Dorset Eye dated 12 April 2020. We also checked a similar claim based on this article back in April 2020, shortly after Mr Johnson was discharged from hospital following his admission with Covid-19, and again in July last year.
As we have said before, there are several reasons not to believe the Dorset Eye article.
- It appears in the website’s “satire” section.
- It begins with the words “Possibly satire, possibly not.” (Although it seems it did not when it was first published.)
- The names of the doctors’ mentioned in the article are “Shirley Knott” (surely not) and “Ashleigh Pullin” (a leg pulling).
- These names do not appear on the General Medical Council’s medical register (nor did they in 2020 when the article was first published).
- A note was added to an earlier version of the article saying “We realise now that this article may well be satire or that the names have simply been made up […] We do however apologise to those who may initially have believed that this article was 100% factual (without satirical substance)”. This note has since been removed.
St Thomas’ Hospital also confirmed at the time that the Prime Minister was treated for Covid there.
False or misleading claims online have the potential to harm individuals, groups and democratic processes and institutions. Online claims can spread fast and far, and are difficult to contain and correct.
Image courtesy of 10 Downing Street.
