Information Hygiene: The Fight Against the Misinformation “Infodemic”

Abstract

The articles in this special section focus on efforts to combat misinformation in the news and media. With misinformation spreading more rapidly and more broadly than reliable information, the serious impact of the resulting “infodemic” is evident globally, in areas ranging from health to politics and even invasion and war. Although the originators of misinformation may be malicious entities exploiting social media, “fake news,” and conspiracy-theory generators, it is ourselves, consumers of such information, and our own network of people that propagate misinformation and fake content simply by sharing them often without assessing their validity. So, we can be—and should be—part of the solution to this growing problem. We should develop and adopt information hygiene practices that contribute to misinformation detection or at the least curb our contribution to its spreading. To develop such practices effectively, the research community is recommending several new and innovative technical solutions and methodologies that can help us make a more informed assessment of the trustworthiness of information we come across online, whether in posts on social media, online articles, or multimedia.