澳门六合彩

Misinformation and conspiracy theories about COVID-19 are spreading online聽like a global聽wildfire. For public health officials who are trying to keep public attention聽on scientific聽evidence and advice聽based on medical guidelines, this misinformation has the potential to do great harm. Some experts are calling this an 鈥渋nfodemic鈥�, as misleading information about聽how the virus聽spreads and how it鈥檚 cured is reaching global audiences.聽In the Middle East, social media platforms聽have become聽鈥榗arriers鈥� of false messages like, 鈥渢he virus causes infertility in men,鈥� 鈥渄rinking warm water every 15 minutes stops the virus鈥� or if you鈥檙e religious enough, you鈥檙e 鈥減rotected by God鈥� -- complicating response efforts.聽In addition, false information about the origins of the virus have taken a political dimension, setting the stage for a regional battle for outside interests.

Selected Quotes:

Nina Jankowicz

"I was struck not by what made disinformation specific to the Middle East, Europe and the United States Different, but rather that it was a uniting trend. We are all dealing with an unprecedented onslaught of information from both legacy an social media."

"[L]ocal news is atrophying and people are trying fill that gap, and the remaining news rooms are trying to find new and innovative ways to connect with their audiences, but also to make money to break even, and this is an environment in which disinformation flourishes and thrives and we are all experiencing it."

Bayan al-Tal

"So misinformation and disinformation spreads really quickly, and lots of people and organizations do not post the denial or do not admit that they made a mistake, and that鈥檚 something we need to deal with as journalists and its important here鈥o refocus our work as journalists on the need to hold other journalists to account in addition to our work in holding the government to account and other organizations just so we can protect our profession."

Faisal al-Mutar

"The way I look at conspiracies, as far as that question: why do people believe them? 鈥hat they do is they offer a very simple understanding of how the world works, and they try to kind of create this confidence that you know more about the world than most people do and you have this mysterious information, and the fact that you are able to access it makes you much stronger and smarter."聽聽