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COVID-19 as an accelerator for information operations in elections
September 11, 2020
• By
Ingrid Bicu, Peter Wolf
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this commentary are those of the authors. This commentary is independent of specific national or political interests. Views expressed do not necessarily represent the institutional position of International IDEA, its Board of Advisers or its Council of Member States.
In the 1960s, the Canadian professor Marshall McLuhan coined the term global village[1] to refer to the interconnectedness of the planet that came along with advances in communications that allowed information to reach all corners of the world in real-time.
In 2020, the World Health Organization introduced the term infodemic[2] to describe the huge volume of information, often misleading, disseminated in the context of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
As this infodemic sweeps through the global village it acts as an accelerator for information operations in elections and creates the need for election managers to develop new strategies and responses to a range of online challenges.
Read the full article in the Association of European Election Officials (ACEEEO)'s Elections in Europe 15th Volume.
[2] “We’re not just fighting an epidemic; we’re fighting an infodemic” stated the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus during a meeting with foreign policy and security experts in Munich, Germany, in February.
[1] A phrase with predominantly negative connotations used by Marshall McLuhan in The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man, written in 1961 and first published in Canada, Toronto University Press, 1962.
[2] “We’re not just fighting an epidemic; we’re fighting an infodemic” stated the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus during a meeting with foreign policy and security experts in Munich, Germany, in February.
United Nations, UN tackles ‘infodemic’ of misinformation and cybercrime in COVID-19 crisis, 31 March 2020, <https://www.un.org/en/un-coronavirus-communications-team/un-tackling-%E2%80%98infodemic%E2%80%99-misinformation-and-cybercrime-covid-19>, accessed 24 August 2020
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About the authors
Ingrid Bicu
- Seconded National Expert (PEA Romania)
Seconded National Expert (PEA Romania)
Ingrid Bicu is currently serving as expert on emerging challenges, strategic communications and elections at the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA),…
Peter Wolf
- Principal Adviser, Elections and Digitalization
Principal Adviser, Elections and Digitalization
Peter Wolf is the Principal Adviser, Elections and Digitalization and works in the global Electoral Processes Programme at the International IDEA headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden. His work focuses…
