Definition:
Infodemic is an overabundance of information, including accurate, false and misleading content, that circulates during a disease outbreak or health emergency and makes reliable sources and useful guidance harder to find. It can spread through digital and physical environments, from scientific publications and official statements to news coverage, conversations, social media and messaging apps.
An infodemic is not synonymous with disinformation. False information is part of the problem, but accurate data repeated without context, preliminary findings, outdated guidance and conflicting messages can also contribute to it.
Table of contents
How an infodemic develops
During an emergency, demand for answers rises while the available knowledge is still evolving. This gap creates an environment in which a large volume of content is published, evidence changes and different actors compete for attention.
Several factors can intensify that overabundance:
- Uncertainty: Gaps in knowledge create room for rushed interpretations, rumours and explanations without sufficient support.
- Speed of distribution: A claim can circulate before it has been verified, especially on a social network or messaging service.
- Loss of context: An accurate figure can mislead when separated from its date, population, limitations or level of certainty.
- Manipulated content: Some people or organizations create or distribute false information to profit, influence others or cause harm.
Recommendation systems may increase the visibility of messages that provoke a reaction, but an infodemic does not depend on a single platform and is not confined to the internet.
Effects of an infodemic
When the volume of messages exceeds people’s ability to check and contextualize them, deciding which sources deserve trust becomes difficult. This can delay care-seeking, encourage ineffective or dangerous practices and increase confusion when health guidance changes in response to new evidence.
Institutions and professionals must also devote resources to identifying concerns, correcting falsehoods and explaining uncertainty. Trust can deteriorate when corrections arrive late, contradict one another or fail to address a community’s actual concerns, even when reliable information is available.
The COVID-19 infodemic
The COVID-19 pandemic brought the term into widespread public use. In early 2020, rapidly expanding research, changing guidance, continuous news coverage and numerous rumours about transmission, treatments and vaccines circulated at the same time. The World Health Organization described this torrent of content as an infodemic and explained the distinction between information, misinformation and disinformation in its guidance on how to navigate an infodemic.
Fake news was a visible part of that environment, but it does not explain the whole phenomenon. The quantity of legitimate publications, the difficulty of interpreting provisional findings and the circulation of outdated information also contributed.
Infodemic management
Infodemic management combines risk communication, analysis of the information environment, verification and community engagement. It is not limited to debunking false claims after they have spread. It also requires an understanding of the questions, concerns and barriers that shape people’s decisions.
Common activities include:
- Listening: Identifying questions, narratives and information gaps across different groups and channels.
- Verifying and contextualizing: Checking claims and explaining the date, scope, limitations and level of certainty of the evidence.
- Communicating clearly: Publishing understandable, accessible and timely information while acknowledging what is not yet known.
- Working with trusted sources: Collaborating with professionals, media and community figures who can adapt messages to the local context.
- Evaluating the response: Checking whether information reaches people, answers their questions and helps reduce harmful practices.
Media and health literacy also help people assess sources, check dates and distinguish established evidence from an opinion or preliminary result.
Related concepts
An infodemic describes the information environment as a whole. Other terms identify particular components or related problems:
- Misinformation: False information shared without an intention to cause harm.
- Disinformation: False or manipulated information deliberately created or distributed to deceive, profit or cause harm.
- Fake news: False or misleading content presented in the form of news. It can fuel an infodemic but does not cover all the information circulating within it.
- Infoxication: Information overload that makes a topic difficult to process or explore in depth and can occur outside a health emergency.