**2.9 Where do we go from here?**

 By October 2022, the pandemic has been somewhat controlled, but definitely not eradicated, the death number by the third week of October exceeds 6.5 million. Health misinformation on social media, requires greater action from those working in public health research and practice.

 Internet users tend to look for information closer to their views, ignoring that which is discordant with their ideology, and from polarized groups. Social media companies and governments put on a great effort to remove false information about COVID-19, but the measures taken in this regard are only reactions that occur when the information is already circulating. Sources of disinformation should be identified and, if not blocked, they should be marked as false or dubious without being censored since, it is clear that guaranteeing freedom of expression is very complicated when disinformation is disclosed.

 The WHO has made agreements with social media companies such as Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Reddit, Twitter, and YouTube in order to detect misinformation and present updates from official agencies, to this end, some companies have already implemented algorithms to detect disinformation and quickly remove it from their platforms [ 42 ].

 Due to a large amount of misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic, the WHO proposes seven measures to flatten the curve of the infodemic.

1. Evaluate the source, and check the veracity of the information. It even proposes some reverse search engine tools to corroborate that the source is trustworthy.


Very few authors have dared to recommend legal measures against the publication of false or manipulated health information, for several jurists, the criminalization of intentionally sharing health misinformation acknowledges the wrongful violation of the right to life and liberty. On the other hand, for anti-criminalization supporters, creating policies controlling health misinformation and disinformation goes against freedom of speech and a free flow of information. Countermeasures that would suit both points of view can be awareness campaigns for patients and health-care professionals, the creation and dissemination of easy-to-navigate platforms with evidencebased data, the improvement of health-related content in the mass media by using high-quality scientific evidence, the increase of high-quality online health information and improved of media literacy [43].

There is an increase in information consumption and communicative virality, so the verification of information is elementary in all areas, the "fast checking," which is defined as "an operation that applies techniques of data journalism to unmask mistakes, ambiguities, lies, lack of rigor or inaccuracies of some content published in the media" [44]. This term has gained importance due to the large amount of false information disseminated, which is promoted in the context of digitization, so there has been a need to develop specialized platforms to clarify and expose inappropriate or false information. The International Fact-Checking Network, is a non-profit organization dedicated to the fight against misinformation [26], and during the pandemic appear the #CoronaVirusFacts Alliance, work is looking for reliable primary sources, to analyze published information, and confirm or deny its veracity and quality, about the covid-19 pandemic. On his website users can access a database that detects false information published about covid-19, filters the results by country, classifies articles as "False," "MISLEADING," "MISSING CONTEXT," "No evidence," and "Partly false," and the organization that published it.

## **3. Conclusions**

We summarize the most significant downsides of misinformation in the COVID-19 era in **Table 2**.

As it has been repeatedly shown, social networks have become a problem in the midst of the pandemic, since individuals seek information on these platforms to make sense of their situation. Unfortunately, this is where users find miracle prescriptions against COVID-19, the sale of diagnostic tests, and fake vaccines. It is through these


**Table 2.**

*Negative effects generated by misinformation on health decisions during a pandemic.*

networks that, for political purposes, epidemiological data are modified or misinterpreted creating a feeling of unease among citizens. Also, these rumors generate pressure on governments to make decisions on, for example, when to remove obligatory mask usage or whether to privilege economics over health.

Ironically, information and communication technologies have also helped to counter COVID-19-related misinformation, the WHO and other health organizations of many countries have ensured that accurate information is published. They have also blocked misinformation shared on social media and guided public information. Social media platforms also banned many accounts that propagated conspiracies related to COVID-19.

On that note, it is of the utmost importance that the population is educated on how to make quality searches for scientific information. As well as developing superior judgment on the information that they are receiving from different platforms. It is imperative that there is clear communication of the public health risks associated with disinformation. It is important to work on disinformation because of the consequences that affect health management and what that can mean in times of crisis, especially in countries such as Mexico, which is the second largest consumer of false news after Turkey, according to analyses of information made on social networks, and where the influence that disinformation can have on the behavior and decision making of individuals can be very significant.

Promoting and disseminating trustworthy health information is crucial for governments, health authorities, researchers, and clinicians to outweigh false or misleading health information disseminated in social media. Citizens, government, scientists, and physicians all need to be involved in the discussion about how information-heavy platforms should be monitored in order to be able, to counteract false promises and other forms of information alteration and abuse. Managing the COVID-19 pandemic and related infodemic requires efficient, regulated, and coordinated action from multiple sectors of society and government. Knowledge and pertinent information that people can use, adapted to their context, will continue to be crucial to fighting misinformation and saving lives as the pandemic evolves. Partnerships between social media companies and other agencies can offer opportunities to counter misinformation, for example, Facebook created a partnership with WHO and health ministries to promote links to verified content in their news sections [16], Facebook has also partnered with third-party fact-checkers to refute misinformation about the virus. These collaborations and initiatives have been promoted by the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression and access to information, regional rapporteurs, and others [45].
