What practical strategies can be taken to prevent spreading fake news about a life-threatening disease such as CODVID-19 ?
Answers
Answer:
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Explanation:
Everyone is responsible for slowing the spread of the disease. Every action counts. This is also the case in the fight against misinformation, which intrudes on the overabundance of news, mixing facts, rumours and fake news. The World Health Organization (WHO) has described this phenomenon as an infodemic.
Our research on social media propaganda shows that bystander inaction can encourage the proliferation of fake news. Anyone with access to the internet can contribute to the war on misinformation; for example, many are already doing so by creating videos or songs with prevention messages.
As dangerous as the virus
According to the WHO, the COVID-19-related infodemic is just as dangerous as the virus itself. False preventive measures, such as traditional African treatments and fake remedies, like eating garlic, drinking warm water with lemon slices or adulterated alcohol, hinder the fight against the illness.
Similarly, conspiracy theories accusing China of manufacturing the virus, blaming 5G cell towers for spreading the disease or falsely accusing business magnate Bill Gates of causing the epidemic to sell us a vaccine may have consequences that go beyond public health.
Answer:
How can we protect ourselves from COVID-19 hoaxes?
We can assume, with caution, that the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic is behind us. Most of the affected countries are also gradually starting to ease lockdown measures to varying degrees.
The huge health crisis at the beginning of the epidemic has evolved into a situation where everything seems to be a little more under control, in which most hospitals and health centers are starting to have the capacity to treat all coronavirus patients, while the race to find a reliable and effective vaccine against this virus is underway.
One thing that seems never-ending is the chain of hoaxes and fake news stories, mostly aiming to misinform citizens. They spread through social networks and apps like WhatsApp and Telegram, reaching a huge percentage of the population.
What’s the point of spreading disinformation and fake or even harmful news? These initiatives are always driven by dubious motives, ranging from political interest to causing social panic, to doing (unethical) business at the expense of people led to believe they are purchasing a solution to the problem (from masks to “natural” remedies).