Social Implications of Infodemic Concurrent with COVID-19

• Authors: Juliusz Sikorski

Abstracts

EN

The scale of disinformation surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic has been called infodemic. It involved disseminating various messages and theories that had a significant negative impact on limiting the spread of the disease but also exacerbated existing social antagonisms and emboldened and radicalised fringe groups. Infodemic, to a large extent manifested in social media, also fostered the formalisation of denialist circles, who transferred their sometimes very aggressive sentiments from the web to the real world. Negation and contestation of the pandemic were partly born spontaneously but were also created as part of postmodern hybrid activities. Consequently, narratives of infodemic led to difficulties in functioning health services, but above all, to an increase in morbidity and mortality related to COVID-19. The consequences of the infodemic would also include various economic effects, such as increased medical expenses for unvaccinated people or turbulence in the labour market.

Keywords

EN

infodemic; COVID-19; disinformation; misinformation; malinformation

• Publisher: Wydawnictwo Adam Marszałek
• Journal: Polish Political Science Yearbook
• Year: 2023
• Issue: 4(52)
• Pages: 79-89

Dates

published

2023

Contributors

author

Juliusz Sikorski

• The Jacob of Paradies University (Poland)

• https://orcid.org/0000000205790158

References

• AVAAZ. (2021, January 21). Scientists under Attack. How health experts became targets on Facebook & Co.
• Bateman, (2007). Paying the price for AIDS denialism. South African Medical Journal, 97.
• Brenne, J. S., Simon, F., Howard, Ph. N., & Nielsen, R. K. (2020). Types, sources, and claims of COVID-19 misinformation. https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/types-sources-and-claims-covid-19-misinformation
• Centrum Badań Opinii Społecznej. (2019). Komunikat z badań nr 9/2019, Stosunek do szczepień ochronnych dzieci.
• Czystowski, R. (2022, March 28). Ile osób zaszczepiono na COVID-19 w Polsce. https://300gospodarka.pl/live/ile-zaszczepiono-na-covid-polska
• De Palo, F. (2020). W la Cina! Il sondaggio Swg che non ti aspetti. Parla Pier Ferdinando Casini. https://formiche.net/2020/04/cina-usa-sondaggio-swg-casini-ventura
• Delirradl, M., & Mohammadi, A. B. (2020), New Methanol Poisoning Outbreaks in Iran Following COVID-19 Pandemic. Alcohol and Alcoholism, 55(4).
• Demczuk, A. (2021). SARS-CoV-2 i COVID-19. Plotki, dezinformacje i narracje spiskowe w polskim dyskursie publicznych.
• Duplaga, M. (2020). The Determinants of Conspiracy Beliefs Related to the COVID-19 Pandemic in a Nationally Representative Sample of Internet Users. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(21).
• Fildes, N., Di Stefano, M., & Murphy, (2020, April 16). How a 5G coronavirus conspiracy spread across Europe. Financial Times.
• Graham-Harrison, , & Kuo, L. (2020, February 19). China to expel WSJ journalists over 'malicious' coronavirus column. The Guardian.
• Gruzd, A., de Domenico, M., Sacco, P. L., & Briand, S. (2021). Studying the COVID-19 infodemic at scale. Biga Data & Society, 1–6.
• Heiko Schöning. (n.d.). https://www.psiram.com/de/index.php/Heiko_Schöning
• Iran: Over 700 dead after drinking alcohol to cure coronavirus. (2020, April 27). https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/4/27/iran-over-700-dead-after-drinking-alcohol-to-cure-coronavirus
• Islam, M. S., Sarkar, T., Khan, S. H., Kamal, A.-H. M., Hasan, S. M. M., Kabir, A., Yeasmin, D., Ariful Islam, M., Chowdhury, K. I. A., Anwar, K. S., Chughtai, A. A., & Seale, H. (2020). COVID-19–Related Infodemic and Its Impact on Public Health: A Global Social Media Analysis. The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 103(4).
• Jarynowski, A., Wójta-Kempa, M., & Belik, V. (2020). Percepcja „koronawirusa” w polskim internecie do czasu potwierdzenie pierwszego przypadku zakażenia SARS-CoV-2 w Polsce. Pielęgniarstwo i Zdrowie Publiczne, 10(2).
• Koronasceptycy próbowali wtargnąć do Reichstagu. W proteście w Berlinie uczestniczył Grzegorz Braun (2020, August 13). Wprost.
• Marcinkowski, T., & Sikorski, J. (2022). The Europeans Unions Policy Towards the COVID-19 Crisis and the Russian Contribution to Infodemic. In N. Moch, W. Wereda, & J. Stańczyk (Eds.), Information, Security and Society in the COVID-19 Pandemic.
• Marszałek-Kawa, J., & Plecka, D. (Eds.) (2019). The Dictionary of Political Knowledge. Wydawnictwo Adam Marszałek.
• McGreevy, R. (2022, March 22). UCD academic Dolores Cahill resigns as chair of the Irish Freedom Party. The Irish Times. https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/ucd-academic-dolores-cahill-resigns-as-chair-of-irish-freedom-party-1.4517109
• Mead, R. (2020, February 3). China Is the Real Sick Man of Asia. The Wall Street Journal.
• Nogrady, B. (2021). Scientists under attack. Natur, 598, 250–253. https://media.nature.com/original/magazine-assets/d41586-021-02741-x/19756934
• Önnerfors, A. (2021). Conspiracy theories and COVID-19: The mechanisms behind a rapidly growing societal challenge. The Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency.
• Porter, E., & Wood, T. J. (2021). The global effectiveness of fact-checking: Evidence from simultaneous experiments in Argentina, Nigeria, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. TheProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(37).
• Propagandaschau. (n.d.). https://www.psiram.com/de/index.php/Propagandaschau
• Seytre, B. (2020). Perspective Piece Erroneous Communication Messages on COVID-19 in Africa. The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 103(2).
• Sikorski, J. (2021). Infodemia jako czynnik społecznego zagrożenia. Studia Wschodnioeuropejskie, 15.
• The International Scheme of “Doctors for the Truth”: A Denialist Trademark Registered by Natalia Prego. (2021, May 10). https://chequeado.com/investigaciones/the-international-scheme-of-doctors-for-the-truth-a-denialist-trademark-registered-by-natalia-prego
• Tracy, M. (2020, February 22). Inside the Wall Street Journal, Tensions Rise over ‘Sick Man’ China Headline. The New York Times.
• Yang, K.-Ch., Pierri, F., Hui, P.-M., Axelrod, D., Torres-Lugo, Ch., Bryden, J., & Menczer, F. (2021). The COVID-19 Infodemic: Twitter versus Facebook. Biga Data & Society, 1–6.

Identifiers

DOI

10.15804/ppsy202253

Biblioteka Nauki

31342718