Legal Solutions to Health Misinformation and Disinformation During the Covid-19 Pandemic Outbreak

Abstract

The spread of false information online has increased dramatically in recent years. Around the COVID-19 pandemic,a digital epidemic of misinformation, or “infodemic,” has arisen. Since the beginning of 2020, digital platformshave served as both a source of and a remedy for Disinformation. After a few months of the epidemic, it is clearthat ensuring health professionals access to necessary medical equipment and supplies is less crucial than fightingfalsehoods online. Actions such as (a) urging social media firms to delete material about the epidemic that iscontentious, (b) putting up special forces to counteract propaganda and false information (e.g., E.U., U.K.), and (c)incarcerating suspicious coronavirus false claims, including in connection to the public health interventions, werehigh priorities for many government agencies around the world in response to COVID-19. State of emergencymeasures used early on shaped future debates on how to strike a fair balance between free speech and censorshipon the internet by, among other things, restricting access to news and encouraging journalists to hold back on theirreporting.