Overview

This text addresses the crucial issue of false health information and the impact it can have on public health policy making. As for vaccination and infectious diseases, the authors recall how false information predominates and has marked discussions in online public space, with direct consequences on people's practices and behaviours. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization coined the suggestive term "infodemia" to characterize by analogy the profusion of false information on the subject.

Cristina Pulido and her colleagues apply Communicative Content Analysis, a method of analysis created by them, to tweets on COVID-19 for two days of February 2020 in all languages. The objective is to analyse the dynamics of infodemia and draw lessons for more consistent public health communication.

The most relevant result reported in the article is the fact that, although more tweets with false information about COVID-19 are sent, the retweeting activity is mostly based on scientific data or their verification. This may be due to the specificity of a health emergency or to the relevance of the information conveyed to the daily lives of users of virtual social networks.