Buju Banton back to COVID-19 uploads after post is flagged by Instagram

Buju Banton is back to posting about COVID-19, this after a post made to his Instagram account was flagged for false information.

The post, a screenshot, claimed that there was a plan to release different strains of the coronavirus over the next two years, and alleged that a well-known university was associated with the information. It was posted a day ago with the caption "IN PLANE SIGHT (sic)" and has received more than 1,500 likes and 400 comments.

Instagram fact-checkers found that not only was the chart showing the schedule of release dates untrue, but that the flawed variant information fuels baseless COVID-19 theory.

This is not the first time that Banton has posted on social media about COVID-19. Last October, he posted three videos on Instagram hitting out against COVID protocols, particularly the wearing of masks. One of the videos generated over 300,000 views with over 7,000 comments.    

Instagram's fact-checking feature was implemented in May 2019. In December of that year, it was expanded globally, and is said to be made up of over 50 independent fact-checkers in over 30 countries.  

We want to hear from you! Email us at star@gleanerjm.com and follow @thejamaicastar on Instagram and on twitter @JamaicaStar, and on Facebook: @TheJamaicaStar.