Misinformation management-tools

Ahmed-Refat AG Refat 1
Dr.Ahmed-Refat AG Refat
FOM-ZU 2021
COVID-19 Mis-
and
Disinformation:
Checking Tools

Only During the Year 2020 :
Information Tsunami
Over 75 000 scientific papers
have been
on COVID-19 across the world
and new one is appearing every
minutes in November
[2020].”

Information Tsunami
Moreover, “an
extraordinary number of
COVID-19 trials have
been registered
ClinicalTrials.gov lists
1087 Studies

Information Tsunami
Not only was the volume of
information growing
rapidly, but the speed at
which new information was
appearing unlike
anything seen before.

Information Tsunami
the volume & the speed at which new
information was appearing
“Preprint postings in MedRxiv have
increased over (from 586 for the
last 15 weeks of 2019 to
2572 for the first 15 weeks of 2020),
while views and downloads
have increased

Information Tsunami
• 361,000,000 videos were uploaded on
in the last 30 days under the
“COVID-19” and “COVID 19” classification, and
about
• In the month of March, around 550
million included the terms
coronavirus, corona virus, covid19, covid-19,
covid_19, or pandemic

Director-General of WHO
Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that
“the COVID-19 epidemic
is going through an
‘infodemic’ of
mis…..information”

infodemic
“an overabundance of
information – some
accurate and some not –
occurring
during an epidemic”
W.H.O (2020)

Secretary-General of UN
On March 28, in line with WHO, Antonio Guterres, the Secretary-General of UN, tweet that
“Our common
enemy is COVID19, but
our enemy is also an
‘infodemic’ of
mis…information”

Director of WHO's Health Emergencies
Programme
Dr. Mike Ryan, Executive Director of WHO's Health Emergencies Programme said that
‘we need a
vaccine against
mis…information,

infodemiology
Prof. Gunther Eysenbach is credited as having
coined the term "infodemiology" in 2002.
• :“the study of the determinants and
distribution of health information and
misinformation—which may be useful in
guiding health professionals and
patients to quality health information
on the Internet.

Infodemic
Like pathogens in epidemics,
misinformation spreads
further and faster and adds
complexity to health
emergency response.”

CHARACTERISTICS OF AN INFODEMIC
• 1) the volume of information
generated, and
• 2) the velocity with which it
appears.
• 3) the forms of wrong
information.

Accurate stories rarely
reached more than 1,000
people, yet the most
prominent false-news items
routinely reached between
1,000 and 100,000 people.

False news travels
6 times faster on
Twitter than
truthful news

The degree of novelty
and the emotional
reactions of recipients
may be responsible for
the differences
observed.

Mis-information,
Dis-information ,
& Mal- Information

Mis-, Dis- , & Mal- Information
Misinformation is false
information which is being
shared unconsciously and
without any purpose to make
harm to anyone .

Misinformation
“false information that is
spread, regardless of whether
there is intent to mislead.”

Disinformation is false
information and shared
consciously to make harm
intentionally.

Disinformation
“intentionally misleading
or biased information;
manipulated narrative or
facts.

Malinformation; which is
authentic private information
shared with the public to
cause harm by creating hate
speech and harassment

Types of Disinformation
• Misleading content, or information and half-truths presented
in such a way as to place a person or an issue in a negative light.
• Imposter content, or information from a source that
intentionally impersonates a known and trustworthy source.
• False content, where legitimate, truthful content is mixed with
intentionally false content to give credibility to the false content.
• Fabricated content, or information that is composed
completely of information the source knows to be false.
• False connection, or information that implies something in a
headline, photo, video clip, or caption that is not a fair
representation of the body of the article or other content.
• Manipulated content, or content that is intentionally altered
to create a false impression. An example is photo-shopping an
individual into a photo at an event where he or she was were not
present.

Some of COVID-19 Vaccine Myths
• The mRNA vaccines being developed for COVID-19
will alter human DNA.
• The COVID-19 vaccine will use microchip surveillance
technology created by Bill Gates-funded research.
• The COVID-19 vaccine has been proven to cause
infertility in 97 percent of its recipients.
• COVID-19 vaccines will contain aborted human fetal
tissue.
• he COVID-19 vaccine being developed by Oxford
University and AstraZeneca will turn people into
monkeys.

The image was published here on Facebook on July 21, 2021, and has since been
shared more than 1,300 times.
It shows a flattened package for 10 multidose vials of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine,
with a pink arrow pointing to a date on the side of the box that reads: “2018.07.15.”

Infodemic
In the information age, this
phenomenon is amplified
through social networks,
spreading farther and faster
like a virus.

Infodemic Implications
Misinformation can circulate and be absorbed
very quickly,
• <<<<<< changing people’s behavior, and
potentially leading them to take greater risks.
• <<<< All this makes the pandemic much more
severe, harming more people and risking the
reach and sustainability of the global health
system.

Infodemic make the pandemic worse
•Makes it hard for people, and health workers
to find reliable guidance when they need it.
•People may feel anxiety, depression,
overwhelmed, and emotionally drained.
•It can affect decision-making processes when
immediate answers are expected and not
enough time is allocated to deeply analyze the
evidence

implications for national security.
The spread of false health-
related information, especially
during health emergencies, has
implications for national
security.

At National Level: Strategies
proposed strategy:
• 1. Intervene against false and damaging content
as well as the sources propagating it
• 2. Promote and ensure the abundant presence
and dissemination of factual information
• 3. Increase the public’s resilience to
misinformation and disinformation
• 4. Coordination of a national strategy that
includes input from social and news media,
government, national security officials, public
health officials, scientists, and the public

Population Level : Resilience
• systemic changes are needed, they should also
include ways to help the public become more
resilient to false information—so that when
people see misinformation online, little of it
would penetrate,

Population Level : Resilience
• To do this, we should promote health and
digital literacy through multiple sources
including schools, community organizations,
social media, and news media. We should also
provide consumers with tools to choose
responsible sources of information and
increase their awareness of disinformation
tactics and approaches.

Personal Level
• Here are some basic rules when it comes to identifying
and dealing with false information.
• If you see false information online
• Don’t repeat or retweet the lie, even with a correction!
• If you don’t know the source or know if the source is
legitimate, limit direct engagement.
• Report it to social media companies.
• Provide true information.

Ways to check for false information
• Use web-based tools and services that can provide
unbiased assessment of source credibility.
• Verify the information with other news sources, trusted
people in your network, or cross-referencing with the best
information available.
• Ensure that the source is known, credible, and trusted by
taking a close look at the social media account, web URL, or
layout that might suggest lack of editorial oversight.
• Think twice about messages that seem designed to appeal
to emotions.
• Increase awareness of disinformation campaign tactics and
personal biases that influence judgment of sources and
information, as well as one’s capacity to change opinion
when presented with new evidence.

Fact-checking Web sites
1. snopes.com,
2. politifact.com,
3. factcheck.org,
4. truthorfiction.com,
5. hoax-slayer.com.

https://fatabyyano.net/

Reuters Fact Check

https://www.snopes.com/
Snopes
the oldest and largest fact-
checking site online

TruthorFiction.com

SciCheck
• SciCheck (U.S.)
• In 2015, the University of Pennsylvania’s
Annenberg Public Policy Center
launched SciCheck as a new channel for
FactCheck.org. The project specifically focuses
on science and health claims, generally made
by U.S. politicians, that have the potential to
affect policy decisions.

https://metafact.io/

MetaFact
• Metafact (Australia)
• In 2018, the Australian science fact-checking
project Metafact launched a website using a
crowdsourcing model. Anybody can submit claims,
which are then reviewed by multiple verified Ph.D.s,
researchers and medical specialists. Within hours, the
project assigns an aggregate score to each claim — a
percentage of Negative to Affirmative based on the
expert reviews. So far, 10,000 unpaid experts in over
350 fields have contributed to the Metafact consensus
fact-checks.

MetaFact

Critical Thinking: Evaluation
(5Ws)

S.I.F.T model
S = Stop / pause and check your emotions
(content evoking strong emotions should
particularly be checked)
I = Investigate the Source (read laterally to
check facts - see what others say about the source)
F = Find better coverage
T = Trace claims, quotes, media to the original
context / source (go "upstream" to the source)

Authority & Source
• Authority refers to the reliability and
credibility of the source.
• What are the author’s qualifications?
• Is the author or source affiliated with a
reputable organization?
• Is there a contact person listed?
• Is there evidence of quality control?

At our student’s Level
Attend…
• Course syllabus: - Faculty of Medicine
http://www.medicine1.zu.edu.eg › Physiology › C...
• Faculty of Medicine. Zagazig University
... Course director: Ahmed-Refat Abdel-
Ghafar Ahmed-Refat ... Title: Internet and
Computer application in Medicine.

B- Intellectual Skills
• B-1- Locate the proper medical
information source
• B-2- Create an effective search
statement
• B-3-Interpret the retrieved results .
• B-4- Evaluate the validity of
internet health information

Solutions Remain Elusive
• Fake news, false news, misinformation and
disinformation-
• Whatever the problem is called, solutions remain
elusive, especially at a time when fact-checking
sites themselves are often accused of bias.
“People don’t like to be told that they are wrong,
so they tend to find a way to counter argue their
points even if they’ve been debunked-and then
attribute bias to the fact-checking site that
disagreed with them

The Confirmation Bias
• The confirmation bias is the tendency to listen more often to
information that confirms our existing beliefs. Through this bias,
people tend to favor information that reinforces the things they
already think or believe.
• Examples include:
• Only paying attention to information that confirms your beliefs
about issues such as gun control and global warming
• Only following people on social media who share your viewpoints
• Choosing news sources that present stories that support your views
• Refusing to listen to the opposing side
• Not considering all of the facts in a logical and rational manner

The Confirmation Bias
• There are a few reasons why this happens.
• One is that only seeking to confirm existing opinions helps
limit mental resources we need to use to make decisions.
• It also helps protect self-esteem by making people feel that
their beliefs are accurate.
• People on two sides of an issue can listen to the same story
and walk away with different interpretations that they feel
validates their existing point of view. This is often indicative
that the confirmation bias is working to "bias" their
opinions.
• The problem with this is that it can lead to poor choices, an
inability to listen to opposing views, or even contribute
to othering people who hold different opinions.

Different Terms … Different Solutions
• It is important to maintain the distinction between misinformation
• and disinformation, because the solutions to each
• are likely to be different.
• Large doses of good information will
• certainly help in the struggle against misinformation, as will
• a renewed effort on improving scientific literacy.
• But disinformation will use the same channels as good information
and do everything possible to be indistinguishable from it.
• The urge to issue disinformation has psychological, socio-political
• and cultural roots.
• For a variety of reasons, people are
• deliberately poisoning the well

Legal restrictions
• Legal restrictions as the best cure for
disinformation –
• It may be time to make Internet publishers
(mainly the social media platforms) liable for
the content they publish, just as publishers in
the analogue world face legal consequences if
they promote stimuli to violence, abuses of
human rights, the proliferation of hate and
other illegal speech, …

Trusted Sites or..
Verified & Certified Sites

Health On the Net HON
• Health On the Net HON ,which applies an ethical
code in providing a certificate to websites dealing
with health information.
• The HON Code is based on eight principles: a site
can be certified if it is 1.authoritative, 2.supports
(not replaces) the relationship that exists
between patient and physician, 3.respects
privacy,4.provides attribution to source data,
5.justifies opinions with evidence,
• 6.is transparent, 7.discloses its financial backing,
and has 8. a defensible advertising policy.

TLD top level domain
• Dot com
• Dot org
• Dot net
• Dot edu
• Dot gov
• Dot tv
• Dot health
‫تخصيص‬
‫لفرز‬ ‫نطاق‬ ‫اسم‬
‫ذات‬ ‫الصحية‬ ‫الصفحات‬ ‫و‬ ‫المواقع‬ ‫واستضافة‬
‫المصداقية‬
..........
‫العالمية‬ ‫الصحة‬ ‫منظمة‬ ‫اقتراح‬

dot health
WHO proposes dot health as a
restricted TLD
dedicated to screened health
information providers, as
distinguished from the unregulated
information on general TLDs

dot health www.number1.health
• In 1998, the WHO began working on
a proposal to establish a top-level
domain called >>>>>> .health
• This was to provide a safe home for
websites that had been certified as
being trustworthy

Thank You

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