**Abstract**

The COVID-19 pandemic has been accompanied by a massive infodemic, that was exacerbated by the global scale of the emergency. The word infodemic derives from information and epidemic, the term was first used to refer to an abundance of information on a certain topic, displayed in a very short period of time and regardless of the information's quality. During the last 2 years, scientific journals were under tremendous pressure to publish information on COVID-19 as quickly as possible, releasing articles that had not been peer-reviewed, which led to an overabundance of information that was propagated rapidly and ultimately retracted after further investigation. The consequences of this infodemic are unprecedented, they went from mistrusting treatments and intervention measures to consuming toxic substances that led to severe intoxication. Misinformation caused individuals to manifest panic attacks and other psychiatric illnesses, or even generated political crises encouraged by public discord promoted by fake news. The following work reviews the impact of misinformation so far through the COVID-19 pandemic.

**Keywords:** infodemic, COVID-19, fake news, pandemic, misinformation

## **1. Introduction**

In December 2019, the mass media spoke about a new virus that caused atypical pneumonia, and on January 30, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared an international emergency state. The disease had spread throughout the world creating a need for information never seen, the COVID-19 pandemic, was the first in history where technology and social media were used to help people to stay safe, informed, productive, and connected, at the same time, this technology enables a large volume of information associated with the disease was shared very quickly. The misinformation and rumors appeared, the manipulation of information with doubtful intent [1]. The infodemic problem was so serious during the first months of the pandemic that Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO general director declared "We are not just fighting with a pandemic, we are fighting an infodemic".

It was estimated that prior to the pandemic approximately 4.5% of the total searches made on Google worldwide were related to health issues [2], the search for health-related information intensified, especially in the month of March 2020, when, according to Google Trends page, searches for the term COVID alone accounted for 89% of all Internet searches in the United States [3].

We live in an information technology era, and technology allows us to collect data in unimaginable amounts. One assumption about information is that it is true. The most important difference between information, misinformation, and disinformation is the truth, misinformation, and disinformation are untrue. Misinformation denotes "wrong or misleading information" Disinformation is wrong information, and it is known falsehood. Disinformation is "the dissemination of deliberately false information".

In 2017, only 19% of Mexicans had plenty of trust in newspapers, 18% trusted in radio news, and 17% in television news. In other words, 80% of the Mexican population distrust these sources of information. In economically developed countries, such as the United States, where trust indexes in the media reached over 70% during the 70s, there has also been a significant decrease in the last two decades. Between 1999 and 2015, notes a Gallup poll, the trust index of Americans regarding their information media has decreased from 55 to 32%. And more indicative, the same Gallup survey reveals that among the population between 18 and 40 years of age, which are daily users of electronic networks, only 26% indicate to have confidence in the information media such as newspapers, radio, or television [4]. The data are worrying, among other things, they indicate the imminent disappearance of fundamental institutions for an active and socially informed political life, as well as for a broad and well-founded public debate which is necessary for adequate public health. In an exceptional situation, such as the pandemic, this trend is even worse.

In a pandemic context where social media and networks are the main sources of information and communication among individuals and communities, the efficiency of such conversation has to be questioned. Undoubtedly, networks presuppose connectivity, but not all connectivity presupposes successful communication. With social media, the general population becomes an information disseminator. The publication of information is no longer exclusive to professional media institutions, in this context, the information available is very unequal. Exposure to different media and information sources will lead to totally different outcomes in terms of behavioral decisions. For example, in China, in information dissemination, "who says" is more important than "say what" for the Chinese public's trust judgment [5].
