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Fake news in the time of environmental disaster: Preparing framework for COVID-19

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Abstract

The increasing trend of environmental disaster due to changing climate has escalated the occurrence of Tsunami, Forest fire, Flood, Epidemics and other extreme health and environmental and hazardous events across the globe. Establishment of effective and transparent communication during the crisis phase is extremely important to reduce the after-effects of the events. In recent times, fake news or news with fabricated content have emerged as major threats of communications during and and post -disaster phase. The present study critically evaluates the nature and consequences of fake news spread during the four major environmental disasters in recent era (Fukushima Nuclear Disaster, Keralan Flood, Amazon Forest Fire and African Ebola Epidemic) and prepared a framework for present COVID-19 Pandemic. The criticality and potential threat created by the fake news have been quantified and analyzed through the timeline of news spreading. It has been observed that the adverse impact related to the African Ebola Epidemic was highest due to its multiple fake news origin sites, both online and offline propagation methods, well fabricated content and relatively low effort on containment. However the COVID-19 pandemic is an ongoing disaster expected to have a long- drawn impact covering most countries in the world with combined consequences hence it tends to overtake all other events. Policy recommendations have been prepared to combat the spreading of fake news during the present and future environmental disasters. The importance of the study relies on the fact that the number of environmental disasters will increase in future and strategy for risk communication during the time is still not explored adequately. In addition the study will contribute significantly for understanding the present status of information paradigm for COVID-19 and helps in preparing region-specific real-time contingency measures for effective risk communication.

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... When faced with a tragedy, the situation can become chaotic as a result of disasters that strike without warning. While disaster management agencies attempt to respond to the disaster by delivering aid to the victims, some individuals may attempt to exploit the situation by spreading false information [9], as seen during the African Ebola outbreak, Fukushima nuclear disaster, Kerala floods, and fires in the Amazon [10]. Notably, the information provided was derived from a tumultuous situation [11], which was inaccurate due to the lack of understanding in disaster management [12]. ...
... News disseminated through the media forms social misinformation [10], which sometimes influences the spread of false news [6,10]. ...
... News disseminated through the media forms social misinformation [10], which sometimes influences the spread of false news [6,10]. ...
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... The dynamic trend diagram of the Weibo rumor makers is shown in Fig. 5. Then, the curved surface 1 G divides the space into upper and lower parts, which are respectively marked as space 11 H and 12 H . When the initial strategy of the game is in the space 11 H , the ultimate strategy of Weibo rumor makers is NM. ...
... Then, the curved surface 1 G divides the space into upper and lower parts, which are respectively marked as space 11 H and 12 H . When the initial strategy of the game is in the space 11 H , the ultimate strategy of Weibo rumor makers is NM. On the contrary, if the initial strategy is in the space 12 H , the final strategy of Weibo rumor makers is M. ...
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... The COVID-19 pandemic has given rise to a meta-case of information warfare ( (Peters & Besley 2021), and questions that bear on the nature of the pandemic and scientific evidence (Azim et al. 2020). The associated information warfare assumes global and regional stages (Azim et al. 2020;Chaudhary et al. 2021). ...
... The COVID-19 pandemic has given rise to a meta-case of information warfare ( (Peters & Besley 2021), and questions that bear on the nature of the pandemic and scientific evidence (Azim et al. 2020). The associated information warfare assumes global and regional stages (Azim et al. 2020;Chaudhary et al. 2021). To that end, Russian state actors have been repeatedly implicated in producing social disruption, reducing public confidence in the medical system and government, causing public ag-itation, and promoting the formation of anti-vaccination groups in the United States and Europe (Broniatowski et al. 2018;Yang 2019). ...
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... The COVID-19 pandemic has given rise to a meta-case of information warfare ( (Peters & Besley 2021), and questions that bear on the nature of the pandemic and scientific evidence (Azim et al. 2020). The associated information warfare assumes global and regional stages (Azim et al. 2020;Chaudhary et al. 2021). ...
... The COVID-19 pandemic has given rise to a meta-case of information warfare ( (Peters & Besley 2021), and questions that bear on the nature of the pandemic and scientific evidence (Azim et al. 2020). The associated information warfare assumes global and regional stages (Azim et al. 2020;Chaudhary et al. 2021). To that end, Russian state actors have been repeatedly implicated in producing social disruption, reducing public confidence in the medical system and government, causing public ag-itation, and promoting the formation of anti-vaccination groups in the United States and Europe (Broniatowski et al. 2018;Yang 2019). ...
Preprint
Humans quickly and effortlessly impose narrative context onto ambiguous stimuli, as demonstrated through psychological projective testing and ambiguous figures. We suggest that this feature of human cognition may be weaponized as part of an information operation. Such Ambiguous Self-Induced Disinformation (ASID) attacks would employ the following elements: the introduction of a culturally consistent narrative, the presence of ambiguous stimuli, the motivation for hypervigilance, and a social network. ASID attacks represent a reduced-risk, low-investment on the part of the adversary with a potentially significant reward, making this a likely tactic of choice for information operators within the context of gray-zone conflicts.
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... Hal ini sangat penting mengingat hoaks sangat mudah menimbulkan kepanikan masyarakat, terlebih di era internet seperti sekarang ini. Meningkatnya kejadian bencana, termasuk juga pandemi, biasanya disertai pula dengan peningkatan berita hoaks atau berita yang telah terfabrikasi sehingga menimbulkan kesalahpahaman (Azim, Dey, Aich, & Roy, 2020). ...
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