Analysis
Information Sovereignty
Are Civil Society Organisations the Canary in the Digital Coal Mine?
13 September 2024
The different ways in which Czechia and Belarus responded to the pandemic remind us that serious challenges – such as COVID-19 – are impossible to overcome without the effective collaboration of the government institutions and civil society.
The outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic has become a security challenge of global significance, one not limited to the medical dimension only. As Tedros A. Ghebreyesus, the World Health Organization Director-General pointed out during the annual Munich Security Conference, the COVID-19 pandemic is accompanied by so-called ‘infodemics’.
This term describes an upsurge in information related to the pandemic, of which a significant part is factually incorrect or outright manipulative.
Infodemics can have a considerable impact on the ability of states to tackle the disease as pollution of the information space contributes to the hardships related to the governments’ ability to communicate effectively with its citizens.