With the spread of the Covid-19 virus, there has been a spike in disinformation about its origin, diffusion and effects.

False and misleading claims concerning the 2019-20 coronavirus pandemic are documented in the Wikipedia entry “Misinformation related to the 2019-20 coronavirus pandemic.”

People have died from taking drugs passed off as useful. The information verification process has been in trouble for some time, and the pandemic has made the problem plain for all to see.

Infodemia and data verification

The causes of this crisis have been known for a long time: people spreading incorrect information for political reasons, together with the great speed of news propagation on digital platforms. Given the large number of incorrect statements on the internet, it is very difficult to limit their circulation, because fact-checking takes considerable time and effort. To implement such checking it is necessary to identify a fact that is not simply an opinion, collect relevant data from reliable sources, and carry out the analysis to validate or otherwise what is claimed.
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