Given the unprecedented scale and pace at which misinformation can now travel online, research has increasingly relied on models from epidemiology to understand the spread of fake news 16, 17, 18. The debunked link between the MMR vaccine and autism was associated with a significant drop in vaccination coverage in the United Kingdom 12, Listerine manufacturers falsely claimed that their mouthwash cured the common cold for many decades 13, misinformation about tobacco products has influenced attitudes toward smoking 14 and, in 2014, Ebola clinics were attacked in Liberia because of the false belief that the virus was part of a government conspiracy 15. Of course, misinformation was a threat to public health long before the pandemic. Other research finds that exposure to misinformation about COVID-19 has been linked to the ingestion of harmful substances 10 and an increased propensity to engage in violent behaviors 11.
Analyses of social-network data estimate that, without intervention, anti-vaccination content on social platforms such as Facebook will dominate discourse in the next decade 9.
Experimental evidence has found that exposure to misinformation about vaccination resulted in about a 6-percentage-point decrease in the intention to get vaccinated among those who said that they would otherwise “definitely accept a vaccine”, undermining the potential for herd immunity 8. For example, research across different countries has shown that the endorsement of COVID-19 misinformation is robustly associated with people being less likely to follow public-health guidance 4, 5, 6, 7 and having reduced intentions to get vaccinated 4, 5 and to recommend the vaccine to others 4. Although researchers have debated the effect of fake news on the outcomes of major societal events, such as political elections 2, 3, the spread of misinformation has much clearer potential to cause direct and notable harm to public health, especially during a pandemic.
An infodemic is characterized by an overabundance of information, particularly false and misleading information 1. In early 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a worldwide ‘infodemic’.
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