Tiding over the Infodemic in this age #Covid-19, writes Neelatphal Chanda

=Neelatphal Chanda=

April 4: Fake news, bots, disinformation, misinformation, deepfakes and alternative facts are buzz words in the age of Covid-19. Before moving into the detailed discussion on Covid-19 and the measures adopted to combat the #infodemic, we need to understand few terminologies.

• Fake news: Fake news is defined as the false information that is intentionally fake, and are often malicious stories propagating conspiracy theories (Molina & Sundar, 2018).
• Bots: These are internet robots that work autonomously on social media platforms and often engineered with the purpose of influencing the course of civic engagement and public opinion.
• Disinformation: Information which can be categorized as false and intentionally created to harm a person, community, social group, organisation and country.
• Misinformation: Information that is false and inaccurate in nature and is not created for the purpose of causing harm.
• Deepfakes: It is a technique of image doctoring which is considered as the 21st century’s technique of photo shopping. It uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies to create images of fake events and satiations.
• Alternative Facts: The banner of alternative facts constitutes multiple things such as untruths, falsehoods and delusions. In 2017, this phrase was used by Kellyanne Conway (Counselor to the US President) during an interview.

The range of fake news and Covid-19 discussion is vast and involves multiple approaches. In this discussion, I am going to delineate with a specific approach on ‘identifying’ the measures adopted by various organizations in streamlining the free flow of ‘information’ and countering the menace of #infodemic. This process of ‘identification’ is continuous in nature. This process of identification is continuous in nature and on a daily basis new methods of debunking are generated.

To counteract this issue in effective manner ‘WHO’s risk communication team’ launched a new information platform called ‘WHO Information Network for Epidemics’ (EPI-WIN). It provides access to accurate, time-bound, and easy to understand information from reliable sources. Separate sections are there such as myth busters, graphical representation, audio-visual clippings and outreach activities. According to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus “We’re not just fighting an epidemic; we’re fighting an infodemic”.

To counter the menace of misinformation on Covid-19, tech professionals from Barak valley have developed ‘Q&A system’ using Amazon Web Services (AWS) Kendra an index of 60K research papers on Covid-19. The team comprises of Joinal Ahmed, Bishwa Bikash Das, Nadir Laskar, Pratap Deb and Debolina Paul. They did their graduation from Assam University, Silchar. The system provides quick access to various quick answers, research papers on Covid-19.

Facebook also has launched ‘COVID-19 Information Center’ that provides a central resource for Facebook users to get the latest news and information on Covid-19. This platform remains synced with the Facebook account of a user and remains on the top of a news feed. This platform provides updates from the Ministry of Health, UNICEF, and WHO.

Whatsapp has also launched an information platform with the goal of staying connected during Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. There are different features in this platform like groups, voice, and video calls that help in remaining connected to different locations. It also provides information source and guidelines from reliable organizations such as WHO or the national health ministry. To verify the facts on reliable information and to counter the spread of rumours this channel has provided a platform of International Fact-Checking Network.

Worldometer collects data from various governmental communication channels and media feeds from reliable sources. They have an international team of data analysts, researchers and volunteers. Their statistical projections are provided by the most reputable organizations and statistical agencies. It has a platform designated to ‘live counters’ which helps in conveying the magnitude of quantitative change through time. It also constitutes separate sections pertaining to case graphs, countries, death graphs, age, symptoms, incubation period and news.

Along with the above-mentioned organizations, there are other agencies who are working significantly to counter the #infodemic triggered due to the Covid-19. In our next discussion, we are going to highlight them also.