Falsehood Flies; Truth Comes Limping After: Misinformation in the Social Media Age
Our responsibility is to recognize and protect ourselves and others from the dangers of misinformation.
The satirist, Johnathan Swift, once lamented that falsehood flies, and truth comes limping after it. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, we glimpsed the rise of an “infodemic”, the dissemination of disinformation across social media. The World Health Organization (WHO) has defined an infodemic as an overabundance of information, some accurate and some not, that makes it difficult for people to find trustworthy sources and reliable guidance when they need it. This can lead to confusion and mistrust of health officials, as well as risk-taking behaviors that can have negative consequences for public health.
The infodemic has been fuelled by social media and other digital platforms, which have made it easy for false or misleading information to spread rapidly. This has included conspiracy theories, fake cures, and other types of misinformation that can undermine public health efforts to control the spread of the virus. The spread of disinformation and conspiracy theories related to COVID-19 has also been linked to vaccine hesitancy and a reluctance to follow public health guidelines.
While the conspiracy theories surrounding COVID-19 are novel, infodemics are not a new phenomenon and have been around for a long time. Even the term “fake news”, which has achieved considerable contemporary prominence, was first coined in 1925, when an article in Harper’s Magazine, entitled “Fake News and the Public” mourned how newswires were allowing misinformation to disseminate rapidly.
However, the growth of the internet has enabled misinformation to spread rapidly, causing concern about potential “digital wildfires” of intentionally or unintentionally misleading information. With ideas no longer limited by geography, what was once spread locally can quickly become global.
Defining terminology: what’s in a name?
Misinformation involves information that is inadvertently false and is shared without intent to cause harm, while disinformation involves false information knowingly being created and shared to cause harm.
In practice, however, it often seems difficult to differentiate between these categories due to issues with intent. It can be challenging to determine the intent behind the spread of misinformation, as it may be motivated by a range of factors, including ideology, politics, financial gain, or a sincere belief in the false information being shared. In the case of anti-vaccine propaganda, for instance, some individuals may be spreading misinformation out of a genuine concern about vaccine safety, while others may be intentionally spreading false information to advance a particular agenda or undermine public trust in government or scientific institutions. Misinformation narratives often induce fear, anxiety, and mistrust in institutions, which can make people more susceptible to false information. Correcting false information is difficult once it gains acceptance, and the effectiveness of interventions varies based on personal involvement, literacy, and socio-demographic characteristics.
The triumph of emotive fictions over reality
As human beings, we are often driven by our emotions and instincts, and we may react impulsively to information that resonates with us emotionally. This can make it easier for false or misleading information to take hold and become established, particularly in the fast-paced, emotionally charged environment of social media.
Social media is unique in its capacity to amplify and distort information, and it can be difficult for individuals to separate fact from fiction in the midst of the constant flow of information. The algorithms used by social media platforms can also contribute to the spread of misinformation by promoting content that is likely to engage users, regardless of its accuracy.
As humans, we emote first and reflect after, and this propensity to react before reflecting is a trojan horse for devious fictions to become established. The prevalence of fake cancer cures and other forms of health misinformation on social media highlights a larger issue of the triumph of emotive fictions over reality.
This is a concern not just for health information, but for all kinds of information that can impact our beliefs, attitudes, and behaviours. Misinformation and conspiracy theories are not harmless. They can have real-world consequences, such as discouraging people from seeking medical treatment or vaccinations, or even inciting violence.
As observed by Wang et al, 2017, there is limited understanding of why certain individuals, societies and institutions are more vulnerable to misinformation about health. This is perhaps surprising, as health promotion and public health researchers now pay considerable attention to the potential of the internet as a tool to diffuse health-related information
The infodemic of false and misleading information in the age of social media is a pervasive problem that can have harmful consequences for individuals and society as a whole. Falsehoods and conspiracy theories can take hold and spread quickly, while accurate information may struggle to gain traction.
Interventions to correct misinformation should target both individual psychological responses and social contexts. Wang et al caution against retraction efforts that can backfire, and suggest that improving critical thinking and media literacy would be a constructive approach. Researchers, policymakers, social scientists, psychologists, computer scientists, medical professionals, industries, and consumers must collaborate at the system level in order to reduce selective exposure and opinion polarization.
Further Reading
COVID-19 Misinformation And Social Media: A Deadly Infodemic
A New Application of Social Impact in Social Media for Overcoming Fake News in Health
JMIR Infodemiology — Online Search Behavior Related to COVID-19 Vaccines: Infodemiology Study
The use of social media and online communications in times of pandemic COVID-19 (sagepub.com)
WHO launches a chatbot on Facebook Messenger to combat COVID-19 misinformation
What social media told us in the time of COVID-19: a scoping review — ScienceDirect