INFORMATION OVERLOAD: THE CASE OF COVID-19 DIS- INFORDERMIC
In the face of COVID-19, solidarity and cooperation are the most powerful weapon — Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The coronavirus pandemic has once again proved that all countries are members of the global community with a shared future. As the impact of COVID-19 continues to be felt across the globe, one way to flatten the curve is through sharing accurate and credible information on the internet. In this fight against COVID-19, the World Health Organization (WHO) observed an overwhelming overabundance of information, referring to it as an ‘info-dermic’. While some of this information was factual and accurate, some were not, therefore making it a challenge for most people to distinguish between the falsehoods and the true, accurate information.
This surge in mis and disinformation regarding the indications, preventive, and curative measures of the disease led to numerous incidents of mishaps with some resulting in fatalities. Additionally, the rise in disinformation has also made it difficult for people across the globe to find trustworthy information sources and reliable guidance when needed. To address this issue, we need to heed the call of the Chinese President Xi Jinping in urging countries to act with unity and work together in coming up with collective responses. There is a greater need for global thinktanks to foster greater synergies in winning this battle for humanity and to protect the community for a shared future against disinformation.
The Rise of Disinfordemic
In our fight against the COVID-19, the Internet has played a pivotal role in combating the outbreak. However, on 11 March 2020, when the WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic, the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres also noted an increased proliferation of misinformation and disinformation emanating from the pandemic that directly impacted lives and livelihoods across the world. This he referred to as a ‘poison’ and new ‘enemy’ to humanity. This misinformation and disinformation masks healthy behavior (such as wearing face masks, social distancing, handwashing, etc.) and promotes specious practices that contribute to the spread of the virus resulting in poor mental and physical health outcomes.
According to recent research by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), they used the term dis-infordemic to refers to false information that fuels the pandemic[1]. This is because of the huge presence of potentially harmful misinformation and disinformation on the internet. This disinformation hides false information amongst the truth, concealing itself in regular familiar formats. Furthermore, disinformation also utilizes the same distribution methods of sharing and also creating culturally acceptable memes thereby trapping innocent unsuspecting people into clicking links associated with unlawful cyber activities. This disinformation is not only limited to individuals but can also be shared by the news media, organized groups, and official channels, either knowingly or unknowingly.
Impact of Dis-infordemic
However, as the pandemic hits its fifth month, the impact of this dis-infordemic is felt around the world. Dis-infordemic has affected all aspects of the COVID-19 crisis, extending from the origin of the coronavirus to myths about prevention and curative measures and also including responses from government, global organizations, and celebrities too. The biggest risk with dis-infordemic is that a single falsehood has the potential to negate the significance of a body of truth, resulting in awful consequences.
In March 2020, there were 44 fatalities reported by the Iranian Media due to disinformation that alcohol could cure COVID-19[2]. In Nigeria, there were several reported cases of chloroquine overdose after the news went viral that this malaria drug could effectively treat COVID-19[3]. In Kenya, there were myths about black tea as a preventive measure for COVID-19, with the city governor including alcohol in the food supplies as a ‘throat sanitizer’[4]. In Ghana, the preventive myths which included face steaming and inhaling neem tree leave dominated most social media platforms[5]. In addition, the disinformation and mixed signals about wearing face masks and the lockdown by most governments across the world, also sent people on a shopping frenzy disrupting the supply chain as well as aggravating food insecurities, especially among vulnerable populations. The falsehoods and rumors have also contributed to social stigmatization around those infected, resulting in reducing compliance with government interventions of home quarantine and social isolation.
Also, some of the disinformation propagated on the internet had racist and xenophobic tones as witnessed in several countries across the world. In the West, there were several incidents where people called on the governments to take urgent steps to prevent racist and xenophobic violence and discrimination linked to the Covid-19 pandemic. They also called for the prosecuting of racial attacks against Asians and people of Asian descent in various countries across the world. It is inevitable that these incidents resulting from dis-infordemic pose a serious threat to humanity and the fabric of a global community with a common future.
Countering Dis-infordemic
The whole world is interconnected in fighting the surge of disinfordemic as the virus respects no borders. President Xi Jinping in the recent Extraordinary China-Africa Summit on Solidarity against COVID-19, took leadership in urging for solidarity and cooperation and called for more efforts to mobilize the necessary resources, collaborate, and do whatever it takes to protect people’s lives and minimize the fallout of COVID-19.
In today’s digital age, dealing with dis-infordemic amidst the coronavirus pandemic on the internet requires global think tanks to step up exchanges and cooperation, to explore approaches to development and internet content governance that lead in the direction of protecting humanity. In heeding President Xi’s call there is a need to foster more collaborations between all countries, where think tanks can share knowledge, technology, and experiences and also carry out exchanges in technological innovation policies and regulations to counter the dis-infordemic threatening the fabric of our community with a shared future.
It is commendable to note that the WHO partnered with the major social media platforms and technology companies to curb the disinformation on the internet and also in promoting accurate facts and information from health care agencies[6]. Moreover, the organization offered clarity on the several myths that were dominating the internet with disinformation on COVID-19 cures by creating a ‘Myth-busters’ section on their online coronavirus advice pages[7]. This was aimed at refuting a staggering array of myths propagated online about preventions and self-cures for the coronavirus. However, social media messaging platforms such as WhatsApp despite putting in place measures to combat disinformation also noted some challenges occasioned by the end-to-end encryption[8]. This has made it difficult to not only trace the source but also to identify or even remove the disinformation.
These challenges signify the need to consider the co-regulation concept of governance in the regulation of content on the Internet. This would entail a cooperation framework that involves the global and national level authorities, internet platform companies, media organizations, academia, and other stakeholders in working together to overcome the dis-infordemic affecting the internet. A study by Durach, Bargaoanu, Nastasiu[9], further elucidates the importance of promoting media literacy and empowering internet users across the world to tackle disinformation on a daily basis. This implies empowering our citizens to discern between falsehood and credible information, to develop critical thinking skills and fact-checking reflexes, and to build resilience to disinformation. Besides, the coregulation framework would also enable the global and national authorities involved in cyber governance to find a compromise that would allow the implementation of content regulatory measures by the platform companies while monitoring them as well. The key principle in this concept is cooperation and working together in solidarity with a unity of purpose, which in this case is curbing the dis-infordemic on the internet.
As we look forward to a community with a shared future, global think tanks have to be at the forefront in following the advice of President Xi to ‘oppose politicization and stigmatization of COVID-19 and oppose racial discrimination and ideological bias’. As thinktanks, we ‘have to stand firm for equity and justice in the world’. Global think tanks have to creatively network the society and provide a conducive environment between academia, researchers, government, health professionals, innovators, and the media to overcome these difficulties and firmly believe that we will prevail over this outbreak. Our joint efforts, our solidarity, and cooperation in addressing the dis-infordemic challenges will be further deepened with more fruitful outcomes.
Conclusion
It is indisputable that COVID-19 has caused major disruptions causing profound changes around the world. However, as we deal with the health issues from the pandemic, we have to protect our people and their livelihood. Countering dis-infordemic calls for our solidarity and cooperation as global think tanks in internet governance to ensure that our people access accurate and factual information and that they can distinguish disinformation and to take collective action to secure our global community with a shared future.
[1] https://en.unesco.org/sites/default/files/disinfodemic_deciphering_covid19_disinformation.pdf
[2] https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2020/03/10/44-dead-iran-drinking-toxic-alcohol-fake-coronavirus-cure/5009761002/
[3] Busari S, Adebayo B. Nigeria records chloroquine poisoning after Trump endorses it for coronavirus treatment. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/23/africa/chloroquine-trump- nigeria-intl/index.html. Published 2020.
[4] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-51710617
[5] https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/Neem-traditional-herbal-practices-can-help-fight-coronavirus-Traditional-Medicine-Practitioners-898801
[6] Major tech platforms say they’re ‘jointly combating fraud and misinformation’ about COVID-19. The verge. https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/16/21182726/coronaviruscovid-19-facebook-google-twitter-youtube-joint-effort-misinformation-fraud
[7] https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public/myth-busters?fbclid=IwAR0lZC3z65LXsX1Sfn7Yxan3WjLdUvqHa9Yam85NuUuurtSR11RIMFkQICk
[8] Coronavirus misinformation on WhatsApp is going viral, despite steps to combat its spread https://abcnews.go.com/Health/coronavirus-misinformation-whatsapp-viral-steps-combat-spread/story?id=69688321
[9] Durach, F., Bârgăoanu, A., & Nastasiu, C. (2020). Tackling Disinformation: EU Regulation of the Digital Space. Romanian Journal of European Affairs, 20(1).
