Disinformation and Fake News: The Infodemic in the Global Health Field

Abstract

Fake news has become a social problem, exacerbated during the COVID-19 health crisis to the present. In this sense, the purpose of the article is framed in exposing how disinformation presents complex social topics, not only for the fact of spreading false or distorted information, but also for promoting hate speech that leads to acts of violence and social panic, questioning the decisions, political and health actions that have compromised social well-being. Under this view, fake news and video montages are characterized, which show to have a great impact on the credibility of scientific information, exacerbating problems whose dimensions in social and geopolitical terms demand prompt attention under regulations of a legal, technological, educational, and cultural.