		<div class="wpcnt">
			<div class="wpa">
				<span class="wpa-about">Advertisements</span>
				<div class="u top_amp">
							<amp-ad width="300" height="265"
		 type="pubmine"
		 data-siteid="111265417"
		 data-section="1">
		</amp-ad>
				</div>
			</div>
		</div><p>Alan Sugar has been criticised for sharing a coronavirus conspiracy theory on social media.</p>
<p>The Apprentice star tweeted a claim purported to be from a Japanese scientist saying that Covid-19 was man-made.</p>
<p>Independent fact-checking charity Full Fact later debunked the claims.</p>
<p>A statement on their website said: <i>“Various posts on Facebook claim that the Nobel Prize-winning scientist Professor Tasuku Honjo has said that coronavirus is ‘not natural’.</i></p>
<p><i>“The claim was also shared on Twitter, including by Lord Sugar.</i></p>
<p><i>“We’ve been asked to check this by lots of readers.</i></p>
<p><i>“This claim is false.”</i></p>
<p>Lord Sugar later tweeted to say that he believed his earlier tweet to be <i>“fake news”</i>, but defended his decision to share it.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Looks like, to quote Donald, that was fake news&#8230;<a href="https://t.co/9923Dh0Nn4">https://t.co/9923Dh0Nn4</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Lord Sugar (@Lord_Sugar) <a href="https://twitter.com/Lord_Sugar/status/1255887806737547265?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 30, 2020</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>He wrote: <i>“I just passed it on. I didn’t write it.”</i></p>
<p>When Alan Sugar was asked by one Twitter user what the source of the information in his original tweet was, he replied <i>“who knows?”</i></p>
<p>In a separate post addressing someone who had told him to “<i>concentrate on removing fake news from your feed”</i>, he said: <i>“Shut your face.”</i></p>
<p>Earlier this week, Professor Honjo released a statement via Kyoto University about him being used to spread unfounded conspiracy theories.</p>
<p>It said: <i>“In the wake of the pain, economic loss, and unprecedented global suffering caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, I am greatly saddened that my name and that of Kyoto University have been used to spread false accusations and misinformation.”</i></p>
<p>On Wednesday, Digital, Culture, Media and Sport minister Baroness Barran urged celebrities not to “<i>fan the flames”</i> around coronavirus by spreading misinformation.</p>
<p>She also stated the need for people to follow public health guidance as members of the House of Lords warned of a rise in <i>“fake news”</i>.</p>
<p>On Monday, British MP Julian Knight, who chairs the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee suggested that Twitter should remove the verified <i>“blue tick”</i> status for accounts that shared misinformation about the pandemic.</p>
<p>He told the Commons:<i> “Some of the most pernicious pieces of disinformation – such as 5G and, let’s be frank, the lie about the Government’s fake NHS accounts – have been amplified by blue tick verified users on Twitter.”</i></p>
<p>Mr Sugar has been contacted for comment.</p>
			<div style="padding-bottom:15px;" class="wordads-tag" data-slot-type="belowpost">
				<div id="atatags-dynamic-belowpost-68ed321ad1094">
					<script type="text/javascript">
						window.getAdSnippetCallback = function () {
							if ( false === ( window.isWatlV1 ?? false ) ) {
								// Use Aditude scripts.
								window.tudeMappings = window.tudeMappings || [];
								window.tudeMappings.push( {
									divId: 'atatags-dynamic-belowpost-68ed321ad1094',
									format: 'belowpost',
								} );
							}
						}

						if ( document.readyState === 'loading' ) {
							document.addEventListener( 'DOMContentLoaded', window.getAdSnippetCallback );
						} else {
							window.getAdSnippetCallback();
						}
					</script>
				</div>
			</div>
Discover more from London Glossy Post
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
