Collaborating to confront COVID-19 misinformation
Explore key takeaways and discussion highlights from the virtual panel, “Preventing misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic,” which took place on Tuesday, 17 August during the 2021 Wikimania conference.
Over the past year and a half, public health officials around the world have been working tirelessly to stop the spread of the COVID-19 virus and end the global pandemic. Despite heroic efforts by the global scientific community to develop vaccines in record time, another deadly epidemic has thwarted these efforts. The spread of misinformation, conspiracy theories, and anti-vaccine publicity continues to pose a threat to pandemic recovery and public health at large. And while the internet has catalyzed the spread of education and critical information about the pandemic, it has also acted as an accelerator of these problems.
“The spread of misinformation, conspiracy theories, and anti-vaccine publicity continues to pose a threat to pandemic recovery and public health at large.”
Amidst a virtual maze of infodemic landmines, Wikipedia has emerged as one of the most important sources of accurate information about the pandemic for millions of people around the world.
Since January 2020, when news about the virus began to circulate, Wikipedia’s volunteer editors have been acting in real-time to fact-check and debunk medical inaccuracies, while ensuring widespread access to science-based health resources, across 188 languages and every continent. They leaned into the Wikipedia-way of processing and delivering knowledge that is unbiased and neutral, free from political persuasions and profit motives that incentivize the viral spread of bad information. In a space where anyone can edit, collaboration driven by social good proved to be a great strength.
“Wikipedia has emerged as one of the most important sources of accurate information about the pandemic for millions of people around the world.”
To discuss what could be learned from the Wikipedia model at scale and across sectors, experts from the Wikimedia volunteer community, the news media, and the global health sector came together at the annual Wikimania conference.
The panel discussion centered on how to meet the growing need for trustworthy information about vaccines worldwide. It explored how different stakeholders have collaborated to prevent mis- and dis-information around the pandemic — highlighting a first-of-its-kind collaboration between the Wikimedia Foundation, Wikipedia volunteers, and the World Health Organization (WHO) and examining ways to build on this work on a community and local level. Moderated by Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN’s Chief Medical Correspondent, fellow speakers included:
- Dr. Julio Frenk, President of the University of Miami and Mexico’s former Minister of Health
- Dr. Netha Hussain Neuroscientist and active contributor to Wikipedia’s COVID-19 coverage
- Dr. Elaine O. Nsoesie, Computational Epidemiologist and Assistant Professor, School of Public Health, Boston University
- Dr. Peter Singer, Special Advisor to the Director-General of the World Health Organization
Wikipedia has generated over 5,000 well-researched articles on COVID-19 whilst weeding out misinformation, creating unparalleled amounts of accurate, life-saving content.
“In a pandemic you have communicable diseases (COVID-19), but you also have communicative diseases,” said Dr. Julio Frenk, President of the University of Miami and Mexico’s former Minister of Health. Public health officials and thought leaders have looked to Wikipedia’s model of collective action to further promote facts and de-platform misinformation.
The panelists discussed how social justice and reaching underserved communities must be centered in any pandemic recovery plan, in part because a lack of trust in institutions is fueling COVID-19 misinformation.
“We talk a lot about misinformation and an infodemic, but what we really have is a trust-o-demic. That’s why we have to think of trust underlying information and communities underlying trust,” said Dr. Peter Singer, Special Advisor to the Director-General of the World Health Organization.
The panelists further discussed how community leaders must be empowered to rebuild trust at the local level with partnerships from global institutions. “Every single one of us has the ability to create change, to impact another person to get the vaccine. And hopefully, we can have more people vaccinated in the coming months,” said Dr. Elaine O. Nsoesie, Computational Epidemiologist and Assistant Professor, School of Public Health, Boston University. “Compassion is something that has been missing in communication around vaccine hesitancy…As public health officials or researchers, we need to understand what people are going through and communicate with them in a very compassionate way.”
A core concept throughout the discussion was the importance of collaboration in building reliable information. Panelists agreed that fact-based evidence stems from inclusive and well-facilitated discussions between cross-sector advisory groups and people from all over the world. As our understanding of the virus evolves, experts continue to add to the growing sum of human knowledge.
“Taking inspiration from the Wikimedia model…people don’t know each other, but they come together to collaborate to build up an encyclopedia,” said Dr. Netha Hussain, a neuroscientist and active contributor to Wikipedia’s COVID-19 coverage. “In the same way, I think we can come together to end this pandemic.”
This panel took place at Wikimania, the annual gathering bringing together Wikimedians around the world. Explore the 2021 conference’s full program with links to session recordings here.
Anusha Alikhan is Senior Director of Communications at the Wikimedia Foundation. You can follow her on Twitter at @AnushaA100.
