Fake news about the virus could be just as harmful as COVID-19.
Whendozens of people in Nigeria, Iran, Russia, Uruguay e Arizonawere hospitalizedin late March 2020,they were not victims of the notorious coronavirus. They were deceivedby what the WorldHealthOrganization refers to as an“infodemic.” After reading false information on social media, they had attempted to use various harmful euethods, incluindo industrialmenthol and chloroquine phosphate, to prevent contraction of the virus.
According to WHO, an infodemic is“an excessive amount of information about a problem, which makes it difficult to identify a solution.” It can includemisinformation, disinformation, fake news and rumors during a health emergency that hamper an effective public health responseby creating confusion and distrust.
This phenomena didn’t come as a surprise, as Creative Associates Internationalé Development Lab haé been focusing on disinformation for years in the context of its projects around the world; however, the mix of rapidly developing social media space andojust as swiftly spreading coronavirus gave oinfodemic a new spin. Because disinformation will continue deepening theglobal health crisis, any efforts to offset the infodemic’s effects are urgent and necessary. As a global development implementer, Creative has a role to play in supporting its communities in this space.
The delicate pandemic-infodemic dance
Spread of rumorsand untruthful information can be traced as far back asRoman times, butthe notorious termdisinformation was introducedquasea century ago byoSoviet Union’s Joseph Stalin.And whileoUSSR ceased to exist almost three decades ago, disinformationwars have beenincreasingacross the globe, especially in thepastfive years due to fast development of the social media networks and the very nature of disinformation andfake news.
O use of social media has increased the dissemination of news and information, umccording to a 2017 study by theArkansas Journal of Social Change and Public Service. At the same time, the very scandalous nature of fake information and fake news allows for much faster spread than the truthful information, a 2018MIT study found. Disinformation has also beenadopted, in unprecedented ways, as a tool ofconflictby several major political influencers, including Iran, Russia, China, Paquistão, Índia, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. Por Setembro 2019, at least 70 countries had been exposed tooir disinformation (up from 48 em 2018 e 28 em 2017), according to anOxford University study.
UMmid COVID-19,odisinformationnarratives havecentered around healthconcerns, conspiracy theories, lockdown fears e false cures, as well associetal and politicalpolarization, according toa study by the EUDisinfo Lab.
A joint Reuters Institute and Oxford Universitystudy found thatenquantothe amount of disinformationhas grown like never before during COVID-19, sohas the number ofinstitutional andindividual fact–checkers (900 deJaneiropara Marchar 2020). According to the study, 59 por cento of the disinformation was reconfigured content, and the rest was completely false content. The reconfigured content received 87 por cento of social media interactions.Twenty percentof the content was top-down (either purposeful or accidental) disinformation sharing from high-level politicians, security agencies engaged in inauthentic online behavior and celebrities, but this kind of content received over 69 por cento of reactions.
Disinformation is oftendisguised asmerelya political tool, but when a pandemicbreaks out, orumor millkicks into gear. Past pandemics, incluindocholera eEbola, havebeen accompanied by disinformation or aninfodemic. As emotions and fears run high, pandemics offerfertile ground for the spread of disinformation. Por exemplo, Russian disinformationhas relied on emotionto attract people to their narrative for the past10 para15 anos, e the current crisis is no different.
Yonder, a startup that studies disinformation, has discovered that during uncertain times like COVID-19, conspiracy narratives spread faster. Under normal circumstances, it takes themsixparaeight months to fully penetrate, but amid COVID-19 it only takesthree to 14 days. As people around the world social distance, many have turned to social media –the fastestdisseminator of fake news – for more information and almost everyone is exposed to theinfodemic. And there’s another twist: omore theinfodemic spreads ecauses distrust inhealthcare authorities (like the WHO or the CDC), the morethe pandemicevolveé.
Pandemics are not the only time when disinformation spikes.Eleições are anothercommonwayfor disinformation to flourish, especially when it comes to foreign-sourced disinformation, de acordo com oNational Endowment for Democracy. Disinformation also spikes duringviolent conflicts, which in extreme cases can lead to agenocide.
Disinformation might seem like a mere buzzword to some. But it is arguably as harmful as any other weapon of mass destruction, because it provokes mass real–life action.And while combating disinformation in general is important, at a time of a pandemic this task becomes critical.
Creative’s work on disinformation
Leaning on its decades of experiencein citizen security, Criativotook interest in disinformation’s effect on fundamental freedoms and societal resiliency long before COVID-19. Creative has implemented programming to strengthen independent and unbiased mediain places like Syria and Afghanistan.Criativoé Development Labhas also begun to engage in the disinformation detection and responsespace, specifically looking at disinformation on online networks. O Labhas conductedsocial media monitoring for several of Creative’s programs, such as analyzing thousands ofsocial media posts from public Boko Haram-affiliated accounts to investigate the group’s mentality and strategies.
Creativeé Development Labis producingquick guides ondifferentiating between fake news andprofessional news reporting efinding differences between inauthentic and coordinated social media campaigns and genuine posts, developing trainings and supporting materials for Creative projects andthe communities we support.
Even though the infodemic is mostly taking place online, the consumers and the debunkers of disinformation (such as fact-checkers, community leaders and journalists) are underphysicaldistancing restrictions. This makes a lot of traditional fact-checking and journalistic activitiesmoredifficult. No entanto, this challenge has amplified the need for expanding the use ofopen source intelligence (OSINT) toolsand training civil societies and journalists infinding and investigating disinformation through OSINT. At the same time, becausethis work haslargely moved to theonline space, making itvulnerable tocyber-attacks e technological sanitation, digital security and encryptionwith integration of physical and psycho-social security have become key.
On the other hand, umépeople’s wider concerns arounddisinformation and fake news grow, expansion of social behavior change communications (SBCC) is needed. SBCC could equip people with deeper critical thinking techniquesand turn them into analytical information consumers.
The disinformation efforts have been multiplying amid COVID-19, making it difficult to deliver authentic information about the virus to populations. At the same time, it is a pivotal time for news reporting, news consumption habits and responsible technology. Creative’s teams are focusing on using existing communications channels to disseminate accurate, vetted information on the pandemic with partners and community members, as well as supporting new efforts to combat disinformation as it arises in the contexts where we work.
For more information and updates about Creative and our programs’ response to COVID-19,Clique aqui.