by Noa Caesar – Runner Up of the UCLan Cyprus Law Society 2024-25 Writing Competition

Introduction

In an ever-growing digital age, people have become accustomed to learning new information and receiving data from online sources. This technological advancement has been beneficial in many ways; allowing individuals to gain new skills, citizens to acquire knowledge of their country’s affairs, and overall, giving an easy access to vital and useful information.

However, the digital area has also shown to be misleading at times. Be it fake news on some political figures, or fictitious gossip about celebrities, much of the information we encounter online is false. While sometimes, like the aforementioned examples, fake news does not have a significant impact on our lives, there are instances in which misinformation is particularly dangerous, such as the Covid-19 Crisis, which this case study will examine.

The Impact of Misinformation on Pandemic Safety Measures

The spread of misinformation concerning healthcare across digital platforms is a remarkable, widely recognised phenomenon– the culmination of which was the Covid-19 pandemic. During the pandemic, many people turned to social media as an information source. Everyone, even those who do not regularly use digital platforms, have been exposed to the circulation of misinformation on Covid-19. How many of us can say that they have not come across the most outrageous conspiracies, such as that 5G networks cause the Coronavirus, or that the Covid-19 vaccines contain chips which are used to track us?

This ‘infodemic’, as it has been called, saw a rise in the practice of unsafe behaviour, such as not keeping social distancing, breaking quarantine and not employing hygienic measures.

Notably, while attempts by several international organisations have been made to contain the spread of this infodemic, Covid-19 misinformation has been challenging to address given its persuasiveness across the various social media platforms that are greatly used and highly trusted by the global community. Additionally, the greater exposure social media users experienced during the pandemic due to lockdown, led to the reinforcement and strengthening of the impact misinformation has on the user’s beliefs.

However, it is also important to consider the advantages of social media during the crisis. As it has become a significant source of information for people, official bodies were able to release new findings, guidelines and advice for mental and physical well-being. This allowed the globalisation of information and enhancement of safety during the pandemic worldwide, as anyone could access this information anywhere on the globe. Moreover, digital platforms enabled people to share their own, personal stories; they allowed users to see the real, devastating effects the pandemic has had on others. It served as a wakeup call to many, raising their awareness regarding the severity of the virus, and thus highlighted the importance of practicing the recommended hygiene protocols. The authenticity and credibility of people on digital platforms impacted the public in ways that official, governmental bodies did not and could not do.

Notably, it appears that the users of digital platforms, particularly young people, do not usually fact-check the information to which they are exposed. This is especially prominent in Generation Z, who, according to statistics, rely on social media as their main source of information, rather than the news and newspapers which generally provide more accurate reporting of information. Furthermore, even though a significant amount of verified, valuable information about the pandemic may have been circulating online, it could have easily been distorted by digital platforms’ users or lost in the sea of misinformation. Consequently, users were unable to differentiate truth from falsehood, which inevitably led to the ineffectiveness of this invaluable, objective information during Covid-19.

The Broader Effect: The Spread of Hate

Importantly, the spread of misinformation during the pandemic had a more extensive effect than just impacting safe hygiene practices. The dissemination of misinformation on Covid-19 had the unfortunate, subsequent result of a rise in digital discrimination against the Asian community. False reports of the virus being a result of Asian cultural habits led to increased hate against Asian people, who were primarily blamed for the creation and spread of the disease. As the virus spread, online hate speech against Asian groups surged, with an alarming 800% rise in the use of racist terms on social media and news outlets when discussing the pandemic. This spread of misinformation encouraged fear and anger that fuelled racism and xenophobia against Asian communities. A stark example of this was the labelling of the disease as the “Chinese Zombie Virus” by many hateful digital platforms’ users.

Consequently, the world witnessed a materialisation of hate crimes against the Asian community. This horrifying development assumed a global dimension; in the US, several members of an Asian-American family in Texas were stabbed by a man believing them to be spreading the Coronavirus, and in France four young adults were found guilty for inciting the commission of a hate-crime against Asians because of the pandemic.

As technology continues to advance, the threats posed by digital misinformation only grow. It is in this context, that the removal of the feature which takes down non-factual information by numerous social media platforms, is particularly worrying for the future. This alarming development may see the flooding of the internet with several factually incorrect pieces of information, which will result in extremist views and the spread of hate speech digitally. In times of crisis, which sadly the world nowadays is more prone to experiencing, allowing information to spread without being fact-checked before, increases the negative impact a disaster already has.

Conclusion

Overall, the Covid-19 pandemic highlights the significant dangers of digital misinformation. As digital platforms have become prominent in our everyday lives, they increasingly influence our opinions and beliefs. Without proper fact-checking or verification of the information published on these platforms, many will remain susceptible to the influence of misinformation. This vulnerability can have horrendous consequences, both for society as a whole, and for specific groups that may be targeted because of misinformation. Therefore, it is crucial that we strive towards enhancing the reliability of digital platforms as informative sources.