Impacts of Misinformation
When looking at the potential impacts of misinformation, the current ongoing global health pandemic is a great place to start as an example. The COVID-19 pandemic is an ongoing global pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). It was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) in March 2020 (WHO, 2023).
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Hover over the different locations below to reveal some impacts that misinformation has had during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Health Risks
Donald J. Trump, a previous President of the United States, proposed to the public that it was safe and effective to inject disinfectants into the human system (Reeves, 2020). On similar
notes, unsupported remarks surrounding the COVID-19
vaccine spread far and
wide, delaying the
development of
herd immunity.
Mass Hysteria
The COVID-19 pandemic caused a
toilet paper hoarding and resource
shortage across the world. Despite the
country’s largest manufacturer of toilet paper
reassuring Canadians that there is no danger of toilet paper running out, people mindlessly swarmed their nearest grocery stores to hoard the resources (O’Brien, 2020). But why? Well, when misinformed, community members believed that the pandemic had become a free-for-all, which demonstrates a rapid spread of panic and fear, often for no real reason at all.
Systemic Issues
The COVID-19 pandemic
exacerbated the racial
tension in North America.
The racist nomenclature
of the disease being
described as “Chinese
virus” or “kung flu” led
to the perpetuation of
anti-Asian stigma, and
led to a sharp increase
in anti-Asian hate
crimes (Reja, 2021).
As described in previous
literature, the “othering
theory” refers to a dominant
group marginalizing a non-
dominant group often out of fear
and assumptions. This theory
segregates those thought to be different
from oneself (Weis, 1995), which creates divisions within communities. This led to a drastic increase in Asian hate crimes and cases of racism across the world. There has been a series of unprovoked, violent attacks of elderly Asian Americans. Xiao Zhen Xie is a 76 year-old grandmother in San Francisco who was struck by Steven Jenkins, a white male, in the face. This attack rendered Xie physically and emotionally traumatized, with intense blood loss from her left eye (Arnold, 2021).
Misinformation is a great example of how our existing public education systems can be improved. Developing a good digital citizenship and a better sense of skepticism are new and upcoming skills that need to be prioritized and emphasized in our curriculum.
How were you affected?
Think about your experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Did any of the impacts that we just talked about affect you, whether it be directly or indirectly? Was there any other place that you encountered misinformation that impacted you in a different way? Take a few minutes to write a short reflection, if you'd like, and submit it to our form below. If you're okay with sharing, please try not to include any personally identifiable information (name, address, etc.) in your reflection and tick the box so that we can share our experiences with our community below.
About Us
Science for Everyone is a Canadian Nonprofit Organization that provides educational resources to help raise the level of scientific literacy in the general population.