Mitigating Medical Misinformation

Résumé du livre

"Media manipulation is a specific and pernicious problem exacerbating what the World Health Organization has termed the "infodemic." Though it can often result in the spread of harmful medical misinformation, media manipulation is understudied and therefore currently remains a major vulnerability for public health. During the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic, media manipulation campaigns focused on pushing harmful medical misinformation have targeted health experts, undermined legitimate advice, and sowed mistrust at a time when reliable information is needed the most. By grabbing the public's attention during an information and health crisis, media manipulation that spreads medical misinformation can result in people not following expert advice, which, in turn, can exacerbate the spread of the coronavirus and result in illness and death. Media manipulation is a sociotechnical process, whereby motivated actors leverage conditions or features within an information ecosystem to manipulate the public using the press, networked technology systems, and influential organizations to advance their agenda. It is undertaken by both state and non-state actors. It can have widespread impacts on societies across the globe."--Page 3