55 Covid-19: pandemic or infodemic Elizabeth Gallagher

Covid-19: pandemic or infodemic

Elizabeth Gallagher Upper Sixth

Covid-19: pandemic or infodemic ‘5G radiation’ is ‘exacerbating’ the contagion’s spread and making it more lethal.’

These claims were tweeted by the American actor Woody Harrelson in early April, and have since been robustly debunked by leading scientists across the world. However, with this tweet receiving over 25,000 likes before it was deleted and the conspiracies having been similarly propagated by British celebrities such as Amanda Holden and Eamon Holmes, the rumours – at least for a time – got ahead of the facts.

This is the nature of the ‘infodemic’ that we are currently facing; a term coined by the Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO) to describe the phenomenon of fake news ‘spreading faster and more easily’ than the virus itself, potentially hampering a public health response and creating confusion and distrust. The disinformation is spread via human-to-human ‘contact’ and multiplies exponentially, just like the virus.

So, even though the outbreak of a pandemic on this scale is not unknown or necessarily unexpected – for example the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic reportedly killed up to 50 million people, far higher than anything for Covid-19 so far – the current opportunity for information to be disseminated rapidly across the world has created a new set of challenges.

million links to unreliable information had been shared on Twitter alone; one of the few social networks to allow its data to be analysed. His review suggests that It cannot be denied that technology has disinformation was spreading at a far faster in some respects helped the international rate than the virus itself, as the number of community respond to the virus, including links shared on Twitter far exceeded the the sharing of data on vast scale, the rapid number of globally reported infections by deployment of personal that date. protective equipment (PPE) across the world and even moving critical patients [B]y 14th March, 1.7 It is likely that we have all fallen victim to the across borders. The million links ‘infodemic’ at some point problem, however, is not the technology itself, rather who and how it is used: to unreliable information in the last few months. How many of us believed the claim that holding for example, the Chinese government has been accused of being too slow had been shared on your breath for ten seconds without coughing meant you did not have to release the genetic data, Twitter alone. the virus, or hesitated and disinformation has when seeing Facebook spread at lightning speed, whether state- posts claiming that coronavirus ‘hates the sponsored or simply reckless individuals. sun’ and can be prevented by taking ‘a few sips of water every 15 minutes’? Both of In fact, disinformation is arguably these claims lack any scientifically-based worsening the economic, political and evidence whatsoever. social impacts of an already deadly virus and intensifying the threat that What is particularly worrying is the governments and populations alike face. potentially lethal implications of fake news And the scale of misinformation – the during a pandemic such as Covid-19. If an ‘infodemic’ – is extraordinary. For example, individual believes that sipping water is Manilo De Domenico, an Italian scientist, the only preventative measure they have to began collecting data on 22nd January (the take, she could be putting both herself and day that Wuhan was put under lockdown) others at a much greater risk of infection. and discovered that by 14th March, 1.7

The extent of this ‘infodemic’ is concerning. And never more so than when the President of the United States, arguably the most powerful man in the world, himself suggested in his daily news conference on 23rd April that doctors could ‘look into’ injecting disinfectant into patients to ‘clean’ the lungs - an action that anyone with any basic biological knowledge would understand as being potentially very harmful. Despite the public backlash and denouncement by disinfectant manufacturers, this dangerous notion took hold in many communities. For example, both the Maryland Emergency Management Agency and a poison control centre in New York reported a higher than usual number of calls the day following the blunder. The incident begs the question of whether the President of the United States was himself a victim of disinformation. The overwhelming popularity of

‘homebrewed’ cures, data and conspiracy theories, indicates something more than just a desperate search for answers. It implies a global distrust for established and official sources of information; a pattern that was highlighted in a report published recently by the network analysis firm Graphika.

This evident mistrust has had many causes, perhaps most significantly Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, during which he often accused the mainstream media of peddling ‘fake news’ and later called the press ‘the enemy of the American People’ in a tweet. This, as well as accusations that the BBC were biased in their coverage of Brexit in 2016, also cast doubt in people’s minds on both sides of the pond about whether the mainstream media was objective and trustworthy. This has resulted in a largescale shift to the more transparent yet unbridled platforms of social media. But relying on social media as a source of news – largely unfiltered - could prove to be even more of a minefield. Something that is compounded by recent accusations that Facebook profited from controversial or false information being published on its platform.

With the onset of Covid-19, little trust has been rebuilt, so people continue to supplement traditional news sources with online feeds, often populated with rumours and speculation. Moreover, the tangible fear of falling ill has made the need for definitive information more and more urgent. Moreover, the lack of clarity from political leaders, has exacerbated our reliance on unofficial sources and increased our vulnerability to disinformation.

In spite of this, there are some countries where an ‘infodemic’ has been largely avoided. An example is South Korea, which used advanced technology to implement a successful test and trace system. Non-profits and activists are beginning to take action; for example, the South Korean government was forced to back down from rolling out compulsory location-tracing bracelets for people who broke quarantine rules after human rights groups objected to the intrusion. The NGO Human Rights Watch has warned that Covid-19 is allowing governments to ‘institutionalize’ monitoring systems, leading to concerns that these powers will take a long time to be scaled back following the pandemic, if they are at all.

Concerns regarding privacy are more prevalent in Western countries and amongst older generations; a group of society less used to having their data The technology includes a mandatory known and shared. Chinese citizens have government-run app to trace all newcomers long been subject to extensive monitoring, into the country (which can be deleted most infamously with the new Chinese after two weeks). In addition, it will include Social Credit System where all forms of text alerts from the Centre for Disease private data are collected, from restaurant Control and Prevention, detailing the reservations to traffic infringements. anonymous routes of confirmed carriers, The collection of more data during the directly alerting the pandemic has appeared local population. This leaves little leeway for damaging disinformation Chinese citizens have released to be an undesirable yet inevitable progression of state control to many to enter public discourse. And this may have contributed to South Korea’s extremely low death rate although it was one of the first countries to be affected photographic evidence of surveillance equipment being installed outside Chinese people. So, the outbreak of Covid-19 has highlighted two recurring issues: the rapid dissemination of information and the gathering of and is already exercising an easing of lockdown their homes. personal data by national authorities measures. Controlling and corporations. Both information and distributing it effectively, of these have important but potentially especially regarding infected members of harmful consequences, and the ability of the public, appears to be a viable way out of individual governments to maintain the the lockdown. right balance during this pandemic – and avoid an ‘infodemic’ – may determine There are, however, also dangers associated the relationship it has with its citizens with accurate information being too for years to come. Not only is this a effectively distributed. For example, there watershed moment for how governments have been reports of people managing to manage information in an increasingly identify infected individuals by analysing connected world; it also provides a unique the detailed text alert information. South opportunity for people to take action: to Koreans have also become fearful of lobby governments and companies over the stigma attached to becoming ill or how personal data is used, and to seek out inadvertently spreading the virus. A study objective and accurate information. We all conducted by Seoul National University’s need to take more personal responsibility, Graduate School of Public Health found hesitating before accepting news stories at that ‘criticisms and further damage’ were face value, being prepared to checked facts, more feared than having the virus itself. and pressing for ownership of personal data. This is how we can all fight to prevent Breaches of privacy of this kind are an ‘infodemic’. now a global concern: Chinese citizens have released photographic evidence of surveillance equipment being installed outside their homes, and authorities in Kerala, India, have reportedly accessed telephone records to check recent contacts made by those who have tested positive.