infodemic

Infodemic is a blend of the words info(rmation) and (epi)demic. An infodemic is when information, especially wrong or unverified information, spreads quickly and widely, like a disease does during an epidemic. Infodemics are especially common during crises or catastrophes—including, perhaps not unsurprisingly, actual disease epidemics. The internet, and social media in particular, have made it much easier for infodemics to spread.

The word infodemic was coined by international relations professor David Rothkopf in a Washington Post article from May 11, 2003 amid the deadly outbreak of SARS that year. In the article, Rothkopf argued that an infodemic was making the SARS outbreak “harder to control and contain.” By spurring disproportionate panic and fear, infodemics, Rothkopf continued, doesn’t just endanger public health, but also the economy, security, politics, even social relations—so much so that the consequences of an infodemic can be worse than the disease itself.

When Rothkopf coined infodemic in 2003, he attributed the spread of infodemic not only to traditional media, but also modern information technologies, such as “wireless phones, text messaging, pagers, faxes and email.” Little could he have predicted how much social media would fuel infodemics in the future.

The term infodemic itself spread in the 2010–20s with the increased prominence of misinformation and disinformation—broadly referred to as fake news in culture—online. The word was especially notable and important amid the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. During the outbreak, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus observed in a speech on February 15, 2020: “… we’re not just fighting an epidemic; we’re fighting an infodemic. Fake news spreads faster and more easily than this virus, and is just as dangerous.”

Following Ghebreyesus’s speech, use of infodemic surged thanks in part to media coverage of his remarks but also broader concerns about the flood of dangerous misinformation concerning COVID-19 (such as its source and treatment), which was disseminated to—and from—all levels of government and society.