News Analysis
A significant piece of the discussion on the CCP virus is among the least remembered: when the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a pandemic, it also declared an information pandemic, which it dubbed the “infodemic.”
The battle for the narrative over the virus, its deadliness, and how to prepare for it became an issue of international importance. Governments, social networks, scientists, and even news media the world over were encouraged to cooperate with the directives of the WHO and its stakeholders as the central authorities of information.
This wasn’t just an attack on alleged false or misleading information, but also on what it declared was too much information. A joint statement in September 2020 from the WHO, the United Nations, and others said that “an infodemic is an overabundance of information, both online and offline,” and it added, “misinformation costs lives.”…