Skip to main content

Infodemic Disorder: Covid-19 and Post-truth

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Infodemic Disorder
  • 115 Accesses

Abstract

This chapter explores the concept of infodemic, which appeared following the overabundance of information linked to the Covid-19 pandemic. The overabundance of information circulating in the media ecosystem has two main consequences: on the one hand, the selection of relevant information is problematic and therefore it is made complex for public opinion to find the right answers to its questions; on the other, the amount of information that is produced, together with its rapid circulation makes it more complex to distinguish between reliable and unreliable sources, producing the risk of informations “pollution” and increasing the risk of coming across false or misleading information.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 109.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Arceneaux, K., & Johnson, M. (2013). Changing minds or changing channels?: Partisan news in an age of choice. University of Chicago Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Beam, M. A. (2014). Automating the news: How personalized news recommender system design choices impact news reception. Communication Research, 41(8), 1019–1041.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bennett, W. L., & Iyengar, S. (2008). A new era of minimal effects? The changing foundations of political communication. Journal of Communication, 58(4), 707–731.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boccia Artieri, G., Brilli, S., & Zurovac, E. (2021). Below the radar: Private groups, locked platforms, and ephemeral content—Introduction to the special issue. Social Media+ Society, 7(1), 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305121988930.

  • Bradley, W., Sparks, L., & O’Hair, D. (2013). Health communication in 21st century. Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brenan, M. (2020). Americans remain distrustful of mass media. News Gallup. https://news.gallup.com/poll/321116/americans-remain-distrustful-massmedia.aspx

  • Brennen, J. S., Simon, F. M., Howard, P. N., & Nielsen, R. K. (2020). Types, sources, and claims of COVID-19 misinformation. Doctoral dissertation, University of Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chadwick, A. (2013). The hybrid media system: Power and politics. Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, E. (2010). The empowered patient: How to get the right diagnosis, buy the cheapest drugs, beat your insurance company, and get the best medical care every time. Ballantine Trade Paperback Original.

    Google Scholar 

  • Colombo, F. (2022). An ecological approach: The infodemic, pandemic, and COVID-19. In K. Kopecka-Piech & B. Łódzki (Eds.), The Covid-19 pandemic as a challenge for media and communication studies (pp. 35–48). London.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Doctorow, C. (2017). Three kinds of propaganda, and what to do about them. https://boingboing.net/2017/02/25/counternarratives-not-fact-che.html

  • Ferguson, T. (2007). e-Patients: How they can help us heal healthcare. White Paper. San Francisco, Society of Participatory Medicine. https://whatsthefix.info/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/e-Patient-White-Paper-with-2013-Afterword-SPM-logo.pdf.

  • Fletcher, R., & Park, S. (2017). The impact of trust in the news media on online news consumption and participation. Digital Journalism, 5(10), 1–19.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Freelon, D., & Wells, C. (2020). Disinformation as political communication. Political Communication, 37(2), 145–156.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Giglietto, F., Righetti, N., Rossi, L., & Marino, G. (2020). It takes a village to manipulate the media: Coordinated link sharing behavior during 2018 and 2019 Italian elections. Information, Communication & Society, 23(6), 867–891.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Himelein-Wachowiak, M., Giorgi, S., Devoto, A., Rahman, M., Ungar, L., Schwartz, H. A., Epstein, D. H., Leggio, L., & Curtis, B. (2021). Bots and misinformation spread on social media: Implications for COVID-19. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 23(5), e26933. https://doi.org/10.2196/26933

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hodgetts, D., Chamberlain, K., Schammell, M., Karapu, R., & Waimarie Nicora, L. (2008). Constructing health news: Possibilities for a civic-oriented journalism. Health, 12(1), 43–66.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jenkins, H. (2006). Convergence culture. New York Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, N. F., Velásquez, N., Restrepo, N. J., Leahy, R., Gabriel, N., El Oud, S., Zheng, M., Manrique, P., Wuchty, S., & Lupu, Y. (2020). The online competition between pro-and anti-vaccination views. Nature, 582(7811), 230–233. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2281-1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee, K., Hoti, K., Hughes, J. D., & Emmerton, L. M. (2015). Consumer use of “Dr Google”: A survey on health information-seeking behaviors and navigational needs. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 17(12), e4345.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lupton, D. (2016). Toward critical digital health studies: Reflections on two decades of research in health and the way forward. Health, 20(1), 49–61.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maddalena, G., & Gili, G. (2020). The history and theory of post-truth communication. Springer.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Maksimainen, H. (2017). Improving the quality of health journalism: When reliability meets engagement. https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2017-09/Maksimainen%2C Improving the Quality of Health Journalism_0.pdf.

  • Malone, R., Boyd, E., & Bero, L. (2000). Science in the news: Journalists’ constructions of passive smoking as a social problem. Social Studies of Science, 30(5), 713–734.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Menczer, F., & Hills, T. (2020). Information overload helps fake news spread, and Social Media Knows It. Scientific American, 323(6), 54–61.

    Google Scholar 

  • Merton, R. K. (1996). On social structure and science. University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. (2017). Communicating science effectively: A research agenda (study report). National Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • OECD. (2020). Combatting COVID-19 disinformation on online platforms. OECD Policy Responses to Coronavirus (COVID-19). OECD Publishing, Paris. https://doi.org/10.1787/d854ec48-en.

  • Papacharissi, Z. (2015). Affective publics. Sentiment, technology, and politics. Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Phillips, W., & Milner, R. M. (2017). The ambivalent internet: Mischief, oddity, and antagonism online. Polity.

    Google Scholar 

  • Prior, M. (2005). News vs. entertainment: How increasing media choice widens gaps in political knowledge and turnout. American Journal of Political Science, 49(3), 577–592.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rothkopf, D. J. (2003). When the buzz bites back. Washington Post, May 11. Retrieved https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/2003/05/11/when-the-buzz-bites-back/bc8cd84f-cab6-4648-bf58-0277261af6cd/

  • Sacco, P. L., Gallotti, R., Pilati, F., Castaldo, N., & De Domenico, M. (2021). Emergence of knowledge communities and information centralization during the COVID-19 pandemic. Social Science & Medicine, 285(114215), 1–10.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shelton, T. (2020). A post-truth pandemic? Big Data & Society, 7(2), 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1177/2053951720965612

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shoemaker, P. J., & Vos, T. (2009). Gatekeeping theory. Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Walsh-Childers, K. (2016). Mass media and health: Examining media impact on individuals and the health environment. Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Wardle, C., & Derakhshan, H. (2017). Information disorder: Toward an interdisciplinary framework for research and policy making. Council of Europe Report, 27, 1–107.

    Google Scholar 

  • World Health Organisation. (2020). Situation Report n. 45. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/situation-reports/20200305-sitrep-45-Covid-19.pdf?sfvrsn=ed2ba78b_4.

  • Zarocostas, J. (2020). How to fight an infodemic. Lancet, 395, 676.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zuiderveen Borghesius, F., Trilling, D., Moeller, J., Bodó, B., de Vreese, C. H., & Helberger, N. (2016). Should we worry about filter bubbles? Internet Policy Review, 5(1), 1–16.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Giovanni Boccia Artieri .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Boccia Artieri, G. (2023). Infodemic Disorder: Covid-19 and Post-truth. In: La Rocca, G., Carignan, ME., Boccia Artieri, G. (eds) Infodemic Disorder. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-13698-6_2

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics