It would be a better chart if - for example - you were comparing more like with like; more countries in general for instance.
Mobility changes 29th March 2020
Retail - figures make sense given that Italy and Spain are basically at a standstill, the others are all pretty close to each other
Italy -94%
Spain -94%
France -88%
UK -85%
Switzerland -81%
Germany -77%
Grocery & Pharmacy - I don't think it's a good sign if pharmacists and food shops are hugely down
Italy -85%
Spain -76%
France -72%
Germany -51%
Switzerland -51%
UK -46%
Parks - parks are officially closed in Italy, Spain and France and they're not in UK, Germany and Italy.
Italy -90%
Spain -89%
France -82%
UK -52%
Germany -49%
Italy -41%
Switzerland -41%
Transit Stations - the UK is lower than the other countries the FT used in their graph; but why didn't they include this set of results in article? Is it because a 75% reduction in public transport doesn't help their argument enough? Why didn't they include Germany (for example) at all?
Spain -88%
Italy -87%
France -87%
UK -75%
Germany -68%
Switzerland -68%
In terms of the statistics that were available why didn't they include possibly the most relevant ones: Workplaces and Residential?
WorkplacesSpain -64%
Italy -63%
France -56%
UK -55%
Switzerland -46%
Germany -39%
ResidentialItaly +24%
Spain +22%
France +18%
UK +15%
Switzerland +15%
Germany +11%
The wider set of numbers are interesting -
https://www.google.com/covid19/mobility/But I think it serves a wider and better illustration of why reliable sources on twitter might not be all that reliable.
You have a certain point of view.
You are more likely to notice a twitterer who shares your point of view
They are more likely to notice newspaper articles (for example) that share their point of view
But the newspapers have an editorial stance and they are the ones who will show the data which supports it rather than questions it. Most importantly they will select the data that supports it out of a wider set that might not be quite so conclusive.
That then feeds it's way back down the echo chamber.
That's why you will get a chart that compares park usage comparing countries where parks are officially closed to ones where parks are still open for example; but will ignore data that shows where countries are broadly similar or, when there is a difference, it is statistically insignificant.