The Problem of Misinformation and Fake News

Introduction

The increasing use of social media has affected how people connect and communicate and changed the way people seek and obtain information. Social media platforms have become important information outlets that function as an indirect source of knowledge and are utilized for different purposes such as health, education, and entertainment. Hence, this has elevated the amount of fake news and misinformation shared, making it difficult for ordinary people to distinguish between credible information and misinformation. Notably, social media’s nature allowed the increase of misinformation and fake news, reducing the ability to control the flow of this type of information between users.

Fake news is considered fabricated and misleading information deliberately formulated and distributed for political or personal gains or other reasons. Fake news is similar to misinformation which is considered a manipulated content shared by people through social media or any information outlets and often spread inadvertently as individuals share and repost without confirming the information’s credibility. Misinformation and fake news are not confined to social media; they are often reported in traditional print or television/radio media for sensationalism, entertainment, or political gain.

While fake news and misinformation are not recent phenomena, it was noticed that there has always been an increase in this type during crises and political events. The US 2020 elections and the COVID-19 outbreak, for example, were accompanied by an excessive amount of misinformation. Interestingly, the misinformation that spread during these events were not only caused by unknown individuals, but politicians, presidents, and doctors were also responsible for sharing misinformation.

The problem of fake news and misinformation is that this type of information circulated through the Internet and social media is usually accompanied by incidents that may harm people and sometimes cause severe consequences. Online rumors and misinformation are rife in a crisis when people seek information to ease their anxiety or uncertainty and make sense of the situation, especially when accurate scientific facts are not available. These might include, for example, false advice on virus cures or prevention strategies or rumors about shortages of essential items and localized virus outbreaks. Their negative impacts can severely undermine efforts to manage the pandemic, including disrupting supply chains through panic buying and hoarding, increasing pressure on healthcare services, or discouraging people from complying with lockdown or social distancing measures. They can also result in xenophobia, increasing hate messages, discrimination, or racism directed at people believed to be from countries where the virus originated or have high infection rates.

Social media platforms, governments, and public organizations are working to negate the effect of fake news by taking many measures. These measures aim to control the flow of information in social media and to spread trusted information through official governments or organizations’ pages on social media. Social media platforms have also worked on tools that detect misinformation, notify users of this type of information, or even hide or remove misinformation. For example, in the US 2020 election, Twitter removed some tweets related to the elections with a warning about spreading misleading and harmful information. However, of critical interest is these sites’ ability to detect misinformation and differentiate between credible information and misinformation, making it difficult to control the spread of misinformation. As a result, a growing number of techniques have been implemented to check the credibility of information on social media and to detect this type of information. Hence, AI, deep learning, natural language processing techniques, and the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process were suggested to help with this issue.

This chapter will cover several themes related to misinformation and fake news in a time of the pandemic, including:

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  The types and the nature of fake news and misinformation and how they spread via social media.

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  Impacts of fake news and misinformation on pandemic management.

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  Impacts of fake news and misinformation on individuals and communities.

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  Fake news and misinformation in the traditional media.

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  The role played by governments, social media platforms, organizations in responding to misinformation and fake news.

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  Challenges and efforts associated with identifying and detecting misinformation and fake news.