EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC HEALTH
Letter to Editor
May 17, 2020 5037 4244

The Spread of the Pandemic of Social Media Panic during the COVID-19 Outbreak

Eqbal Radwan 1 2 * ,
Afnan Radwan 3
1 Biology department, Islamic University of Gaza, PALESTINE2 Directorate of Education-East Gaza, Ministry of Education and Higher Education, PALESTINE3 Faculty of Education, Islamic University of Gaza, Gaza Strip, PALESTINE* Corresponding Author
European Journal of Environment and Public Health, 2020, 4(2), em0044, https://doi.org/10.29333/ejeph/8277
Full Text (PDF)

ABSTRACT

The outbreak of novel COVID-19 has opened up different issues for social media including the life-endangering consequences of supposed cures, misleading rumors, and conspiracy theories about the origin of coronavirus. These dangerous rumors circulated the world and thus paired with racism and mass fearmongering all closely linked to the new “Infomedia” systems of the present century characterized by the multiplicity of means of communication between people especially platforms of social media. The sharing of misinformation has an influence beyond the harm of the coronavirus itself. Many posts were seen related to treatments that are not proven, techniques to mitigate exposure, and infection that are either not proven and/or filled with a lot of misleading information, and instruction for individuals to stock up on supplies and food. Taking into account the present situation, there is an important need to consider and assess the awareness of the public towards the dangerous impact of the spread of misinformation in the time of the COVID-19 outbreak.

KEYWORDS

COVID-19 social media panic pandemic misinformation

CITATION (Harvard)

Radwan, E., and Radwan, A. (2020). The Spread of the Pandemic of Social Media Panic during the COVID-19 Outbreak. European Journal of Environment and Public Health, 4(2), em0044. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejeph/8277
APA
Radwan, E., & Radwan, A. (2020). The Spread of the Pandemic of Social Media Panic during the COVID-19 Outbreak. European Journal of Environment and Public Health, 4(2), em0044. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejeph/8277
Vancouver
Radwan E, Radwan A. The Spread of the Pandemic of Social Media Panic during the COVID-19 Outbreak. EUROPEAN J ENV PUBLI. 2020;4(2):em0044. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejeph/8277
AMA
Radwan E, Radwan A. The Spread of the Pandemic of Social Media Panic during the COVID-19 Outbreak. EUROPEAN J ENV PUBLI. 2020;4(2), em0044. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejeph/8277
Chicago
Radwan, Eqbal, and Afnan Radwan. "The Spread of the Pandemic of Social Media Panic during the COVID-19 Outbreak". European Journal of Environment and Public Health 2020 4 no. 2 (2020): em0044. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejeph/8277
MLA
Radwan, Eqbal et al. "The Spread of the Pandemic of Social Media Panic during the COVID-19 Outbreak". European Journal of Environment and Public Health, vol. 4, no. 2, 2020, em0044. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejeph/8277

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