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Artikel Am dalam Bahasa Inggeris ini berkisar tentang pengertian, ciri-ciri dan cara kita
menangani Infodemik.

INFODEMICS: AN OVERVIEW
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Dr Ahmad Firdaus Mohd Haris

“We’re not just fighting an epidemic, we’re fighting an infodemic. Fake news

spreads faster and more easily than this virus (COVID-19) and is just as

dangerous.” This is an excerpt of a speech by Tedros Adhanom

Ghebreyesus, Director General, World Health Organization at the Munich

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Security Conference 2020 on 15 February 2020.

What exactly is an infodemic? It’s the combination of “information” and

“pandemic”. World Health Organization defines Infodemic as; too much

information including false or misleading information in digital and physical

environments during a disease outbreak.

Spread of misinformation and disinformation isn’t something new. It’s been

around for ages. The advent of the internet and social media amplified it’s

reach and impact. As more people have access to smartphones,

misinformation can be spread with just one prompt on the touch screen. By

clicking on “share”, an information – be it real or fake, can spread in an

instant.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, the spread of misinformation and
disinformation is amplified hundreds and thousands of times. It is contributed

by a few factors:

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