On Sunday, April 23, an emergency alert test notification will be sent to all phones compatible with 4G and 5G in the UK. It's part of the government testing out a new system that will alert the public to potentially life-endangering threats in their vicinity.
Sunday's test will see people receive a notification on their mobile, accompanied by a loud siren sound, at 3pm. The alert will notify users that the system is being tested and ask them to acknowledge the message before continuing to use their phone.
Ahead of the test, the government has been sharing information about the system to ensure the public know what will happen on the day of the test. However, according to Full Fact, misinformation about the alerts has been spreading online, leading to some people turning off the alerts.
People have the option of opting out of the service, but the government are encouraging people to keep them on so that the system can be used effectively in the future - when it will be used to warn the public about things such as floods and wildfires.
Full Fact's Pippa Allen-Kinross, news and online editor at the fact-checking charity, said: “We have seen multiple instances in which bad information about the emergency alert has already been shared thousands of times online. Be careful what you share on social media. Misinformation about this alert may lead to unnecessary alarm, and in some instances, may even cause people to opt out of future alerts (as many online have claimed they already have) based on incorrect information."
The charity has outlined five claims about the alerts that they have proven to be false - including that having the service enabled will give the government access to your personal data and that the test 'breaches GPDR'. Full Fact has even come across false claims that appear to link the test to the Covid-19 vaccines.
Here are five myths about the alerts debunked.
Myth 1: The emergency alert will access your personal data
The emergency alert will not give the government access to your personal data. When an alert is triggered, all cell towers in the area concerned will broadcast the alert to connected devices.
The government doesn’t need to know your location or phone number to do this, Full Fact said. The Cabinet Office confirmed to Full Fact that no personal data is collected by the alert.
Myth 2: The alert will be a text message you need to reply to
The alert will not be a message that needs to be replied to. It will show up as a notification that will need to be acknowledged before you can keep using your phone as normal, and it may include links to websites that contain further information.
The Cabinet Office also confirmed to Full Fact that phone calls won’t go to voicemail if you haven’t acknowledged the alert and the alert won’t stop a phone call in progress.
Other notifications will also still come through to your phone. However, in order to answer a call or view notifications, you will need to acknowledge the alert.
Myth 3: The alert will match personal data with information collected during the pandemic
Some claims on social media have suggested that the emergency alert system will allow personal data to be collected, and that this will be matched with data collected when people signed into venues during the Covid-19 pandemic. However, this is not true.
As we've already stated, the alerts will not collect personal data. The alerts will also not enable the government to know if phones are active or where they are.
The government website describes the alert as “one-way” and confirms that the alert does not require the government to know any individual phone numbers. Since no data is collected by the Emergency Alert system, it isn’t possible for it to be matched with personal data collected during the pandemic.
Besides, the NHS Covid-19 app did not share personal information, such as someone’s name and address, with local authorities. It shared the time and date an infected person visited a venue.
Myth 4: The emergency alert test 'breaches GDPR’
Full Fact identified claims online suggesting that phone network providers have breached GDPR - General Data Protection Regulation - by allowing the emergency alert to take place. Generally speaking, GDPR legislation dictates how personal data is used by organisations, businesses and the government.
When an alert is triggered, mobile phone masts broadcast it to every compatible phone and tablet within range. The government won’t be using your personal data, like your mobile phone number, to do this.
This means that your phone network provider has not breached GDPR “by giving your number to another agency outside of your permission”, because the alerts are simply sent to phones that are connected to cell towers, not via a list of numbers that networks have given the government.
Myth 5: The alert is designed to 'activate the pathogen in the shot'
One of the more outlandish claims that Full Fact has come across is that the emergency alert test is an “activation signal” to activate the “pathogen in the shot” - which appears to be a reference to the Covid-19 vaccines. Full Fact said the term “the shot” has often been used this way on social media, although none of the posts they have seen directly specify that they relate to Covid-19 vaccines.
There’s no way a signal from a cell tower could “activate” a pathogen or anything that was in the Covid-19, or any other, vaccine, Full Fact said.
Dr Al Edwards, associate professor in biomedical technology at the University of Reading, told Full Fact: “There is no mechanism known to physics or biology that could connect radio signals set by mobile phone data systems, to the biological or chemical materials found in vaccines.”
READ NEXT:
