Infodemics occur when too much information, including false or misleading information, is available in digital and physical environments. This can pose a big health risk, which is often exacerbated during emergencies. To mark the publication of a new toolkit, Cristiana Salvi, WHO/Europe’s Regional Advisor on Risk Communication, Community Engagement and Infodemic Management, explains the importance of addressing dangerous health narratives.
What is infodemic management?
Health emergencies throughout history have been accompanied by infodemics, meaning excess information, both true and false, that makes it hard for people to find reliable guidance and take appropriate action to protect their health. While this is not a new phenomenon, the COVID-19 pandemic has created conditions akin to a “perfect storm” in which infodemics can easily spread.
To combat this, WHO has developed the concept of infodemic management, which is a systematic way to prepare for, address and mitigate the dangers of false information, as well as information overload or voids, in health emergencies. Managing infodemics is about making sure that everyone can find and use accurate, timely and reliable information to protect their health and the health of those around them.
Why is it so important to address false information in emergencies?
People face a lot of uncertainty and fear when an emergency of any type occurs, be it an infectious disease, a natural disaster, or a military conflict. This is when they need timely, accurate and consistent information and advice to understand the situation and make informed decisions about their health risks and necessary actions. If there is confusion, if there is no clarity, if there are no reliable sources of information, that adds to the fear and uncertainty, paving the way for the spread of false information.
A recent World Economic Forum report makes the case that manipulated and false information is the most urgent short-term risk to the world. False information can cause death, distrust, and division in our society. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown this clearly. For example, a study estimated that some 17 000 people may have died after using hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malaria drug that was wrongly promoted as a COVID-19 cure.
Furthermore, it is becoming easier to produce and spread false information with new developments in artificial intelligence (AI).
While false information will always exist in a free society, we can still limit its damage. We need to be better at providing accurate and reliable information at the right time and in the right way; detecting false information early and debunking it as necessary; and empowering at-risk people with the skills to assess whether a piece of information is true or false.
WHO/Europe has published a new operational toolkit to respond to false information in a health emergency. What are the key steps it describes?
The toolkit outlines 5 key steps, offering a structured approach to managing false information in complex and intense situations such as emergencies.
The first step is signal detection, which involves understanding the health narratives, questions, concerns, and information gaps of the audiences at risk. This can be done through online and offline methods, such as social media monitoring, focus groups and community engagement.
The second step is signal verification, which requires fact-checking the information, analysing the source’s credibility, and comparing the information with other sources for accuracy and consistency.
The third step is risk assessment, which evaluates the potential harm of the false information based on factors such as source credibility, spread, and public health impact.
The fourth step is response design, which develops a communication plan to counter the false information and address the risks.
The final step is outreach, which delivers the key messages to the targeted audiences, persuading them to adopt the desired health behaviours.
What good practices can you share with practitioners who want to use the toolkit?
The toolkit offers users a rich array of tactics and systemic approaches that can help them to deal with false information, all of which are based on good practices from Europe and other parts of the world. One particularly vital practice is using multiple data sources to understand the false narratives that are circulating – social media monitoring alone cannot generate accurate insights.
Another good practice is working together: we learned the hard way from recent emergencies that false information cannot be handled by one entity alone. Academics, journalists, fact-checkers, and community organizations must join forces to manage this complex and growing problem. Establishing collaborative platforms at regional, national, and local level is key to leveraging each other’s resources and outreach.
What 3 steps would you recommend to health authorities dealing with false information today?
It really boils down to 3 main actions: listen, understand, and engage.
When it comes to listening, you need to know the risks and the context before you act. This means using online and offline data sources that are reliable and current. This is the basis of any risk communication, community engagement, or infodemic management intervention in an emergency.
Understanding means that you check the signals and evaluate the risks. This is not something that computers or AI can do for you. You need to track the conversations and narratives and use your judgment to determine whether and how to intervene.
Engaging with communities to debunk false information through messages that are tailored, appropriate, and respectful of their culture is key to increasing their acceptance and uptake of protective measures.
These are all activities that require considerable resources, and policy-makers should see infodemic management as an investment that helps not only during emergencies, but also beyond them, as false information in health is a problem that will not go away.
How can WHO help governments and stakeholders in the European Region?
The pandemic has put infodemic management high on governments’ agendas, and demands for support and capacity building have spiked over the last 2 years. To address the need, we have established an infodemic management function within our WHO/Europe Health Emergencies Programme that is fully integrated with risk communication and community engagement to build trust and empower individuals and communities to take informed decisions to protect their health.
Various forms of support are available to stakeholders in the European Region. These include guidance, tools, and resources, such as this toolkit, to manage false information; technical assistance to establish systems for social listening; capacity building to strengthen skills of government officials, partners and community players; research to advance understanding and use of AI; platforms to facilitate operational collaborations on infodemic management; and finally, evidence and best practice generation to inform policy and practice.