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Management of the COVID-19 Infodemic in Asian Countries: What Should We Know? (Systematic Review)

  • Mansoureh Damerchiloo EMAIL logo and Fatemeh Baghalha
From the journal Libri

Abstract

The spread of fake news on Covid19 is causing public unrest and suspicion among citizens, which is a challenge for countries facing the pandemic. Countries, governments, and organizations worldwide are putting more effort into combating the infodemic along with finding an effective treatment for Covid19. To collect and summarize the strategies used for combating it and the challenges of managing the infodemic among Asian countries, this systematic review examined 42 articles matched with the inclusion and exclusion criteria by researchers. It was found that the techniques employed by governments to control the infodemic can be classified into three categories: educational activities, technical activities and tool production, and legal activities, and the most challenging way of combatting misinformation is to use social media filtering and legal action.


Corresponding author: Mansoureh Damerchiloo, Department of Library, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences School of Dentistry, Tehran, Iran, E-mail:

Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. Sepideh Paybast, Neurology Assistant Professor at Qom University of Medical Sciences, for the comments that significantly improved the manuscript. Furthermore, thanks to everyone who has taken action to combat this pandemic.

Appendix

Search Strategy

(manag* OR fight* OR combat* OR improv* OR overcom* OR deal OR counter* OR cope OR stop OR tackl* OR prevent* OR avoid* OR challenge* OR method* OR strateg* OR technique* OR procedure*) AND (infodemic* OR misinformation OR infodemiology OR disinformation OR “Questionable content” OR infodemiology OR infoveillance OR “Fake news” OR “Pseudoscientific content” OR “Information epidemic” OR “False information” OR “Inaccurate information” OR “Manipulat* information” OR “Excessive information” OR “Overabundance information” OR “Tsunami information” OR “Mislead* information” OR malinformation OR “Fabricated content” OR “Mislead* content” OR “False context” OR “Manipulat* content” OR disinfodemic OR misinfodemic OR dis-information OR mis-information) AND (covid-19 OR coronavirus OR sars-cov-2 OR pandemic* OR “coronavirus disease 2019” OR coronavirinae OR “severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2” OR “covid 19” OR “novel coronavirus” OR covid19 OR covid2019 OR covid-2019 OR “covid 2019” OR ncov19 OR ncov-19 OR “ncov 19” OR ncov2019 OR ncov-2019 OR “ncov 2019” OR “sars coronavirus 2” OR “sars coronavirus 2 infection” OR “2019 ncov” OR 2019-ncov OR hcov-19 OR sars-2 OR sars-2-cov OR sars2 OR sarscov2 OR “corona virus” OR covid) AND (Asia OR “Far east” OR Kazakhstan OR Kyrgyzstan OR Tajikistan OR Turkmenistan OR Uzbekistan OR Russia OR Borneo OR Brunei OR Cambodia OR Indonesia OR Indochina OR Laos OR Malaysia OR “Mekong Valley” OR Myanmar OR Philippines OR Singapore OR Thailand OR Timor-Leste OR Vietnam OR Bhutan OR Bangladesh OR Siberia OR India OR Nepal OR Pakistan OR “Sri Lanka” OR China OR Japan OR Korea OR Mongolia OR Taiwan OR “Middle east” OR Bahrain OR Iran OR Iraq OR Israel OR Jordan OR Kuwait OR Lebanon OR Oman OR qatar OR “Saudi Arabia” OR syria OR Turkey OR “United Arab Emirates” OR yemen OR “West Bank” OR “Near East” OR “Gaza Strip” OR Cyprus OR Egypt OR Palestine OR “State of Palestine” OR Byzantium OR “fertile crescent” OR “Asian countries” OR “Russian Federation” OR “Viet Nam” OR “Hong Kong” OR Afghanistan OR “Syrian Arab Republic” OR Azerbaijan OR Armenia OR Georgia OR Maldives OR Kirghiz OR Kirgiz OR Tadzhikistan OR Turkmen OR Uzbek OR Kampudja OR Indo-china OR “Southeastern Asia” OR Malaya OR Burma OR Siam OR Timor OR ceylon OR Persia OR “united arab republic” OR Hongkong OR “central Asia” OR “northern Asia” OR “South Asia” OR “western Asia").

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Received: 2022-07-11
Accepted: 2023-01-02
Published Online: 2023-09-01
Published in Print: 2023-09-26

© 2023 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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