Misinformation and disinformation in relation to COVID-19

People are regularly exposed to misinformation, and this can have serious impacts on public health (e.g., due to non-compliance with public health guidance, vaccine hesitancy, mental health impacts, and use of non-recommended treatments). Factors that are associated with susceptibility to misinformation include younger age, lower income, and lower levels of trust and numeracy. Strategies to address misinformation include ‘nudging’ (structuring choices in a way that influences behaviour), improving health literacy, and monitoring and debunking misinformation.

• There is a lack of high-level evidence (i.e., evidence from systematic reviews, meta-analysis, or rapid reviews) focused on infodemics or misinformation globally as well as for Canadian contexts.•
• We did not identify any qualitative studies that collected data on the users’ perspective and considered how this data can be used to improve the public health response.
• “Our review highlights the paucity of studies on the application of machine learning on social media data related to COVID‑19 and a lack of studies documenting realtime surveillance developed with social media data on COVID-19” (3).
• “Studies evaluating effective counter-infodemic interventions are also needed (3).

There are currently 10 ongoing Canadian studies looking at misinformation. For example, Dr. Syed at York University is analyzing the viral character and effectsof social media misinformation. Other ongoing studies look at how to best address misinformation such as: Dr. Caulfield’s research at the University of Alberta looking at mapping and countering misinformation; research led by Dr. Fafard at the University of Ottawa includes comparative research related to communication and how misinformation is addressed in five different countries, including Canada. Dr. Fahim, Unity Health Toronto, will look into combating misinformation, fear, and stigma in collaboration with researchers from Singapore; Dr. Gillis, University of Toronto, will look at responding to stigma, fear, discrimination, and misinformation; Dr Parsons, Dalhousie University, will look at how to best educate, engage and empower the public; and Dr. Veletsianos, Royal Roads University will look at inoculating against an infodemic. Two other studies (Dr. Dubé, University of Laval and Dr Genereux, University of Sherbrooke) are examining the behavioural factors affecting the communities’ response. Finally, research led by Dr. Kennedy, York University, is related to understandingsocial perceptions of risk, information sources, trust, and public engagement related to the COVID‑19 outbreak.