Media and information literacy for developing resistance to ‘infodemic’: lessons to be learnt from the binge of misinformation during COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic was accompanied by the spurt of misinformation, which was termed as ‘infodemic’ and ‘disinfodemic’, swaying the health decisions of the populace. There was the binge of bizarre information which putatively intensified the coronavirus and consequent fatalities due to relying on false information. The overview provides essence of infodemic during COVID-19 situation, mainly actuated through social media platforms. The absence of au courant media and information literacy skills amongst masses as they were unable to extricate the trustworthy information from the substantial available information they were accessing on their gadgets, underpins the need for immediate action to curtail any further infodemic. Literature accessed from the Internet was documented, analyzed, and compiled. The splurge of misinformation during COVID-19 pandemic, bizarre instances of infodemic, efforts of social media platforms to curb it, need for strengthening media and information literacy of folks and role of libraries and educational institutions in accomplishing this have been discussed. The prevalent milieu necessitates the need for empowering folks with media and information literacy skills for developing critical thinking skills amongst them for managing any future outflow of misinformation.