Fake News, Misinformation and Privacy: How the COVID-19 Pandemic Changes our
Society and How Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technologies Reduce Their
Effects?
KEVIN K.W. HO, MACM, SMIEEE *
University of Tsukuba, Japan, kevinkwho@acm.org
DICKSON K.W. CHIU, SMACM, SMIEEE
University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, dicksonchiu@ieee.org
CH (ALLEN) AU
National Chung Cheng University, Taiwan, allenau@ccu.edu.tw
FRANCIS DALISAY
University of Guam, Guam, fdalisay@triton.uog.edu
STUART SO, SMIEEE
University of Exeter, United Kingdom, c.so@exeter.ac.uk
MASAHIRO YAMAMOTO
University of Albany, State University of New York, United States, myamamoto2@albany.edu
This position paper summarizes the panelists’ presentations and discussions at the Panel Fake News,
Misinformation and Privacy: How COVID-19 Pandemic Changed our Society, held at the 15th International
Conference on Information Resources Management (Conf-IRM 2022) on October 18, 2022. The Panel discussed
their views on (i) how to stop the spreading of health misinformation, (ii) how information sources affect online
health information behavior, iii how news literacy increases people’s to seek out information by increasing their
skepticism, and iv how political beliefs, trust, and privacy concerns affect people’s decision during COV)D-19.
The paper discusses how blockchain and distributed ledger technologies (DLT) can help tackle the fake news and
misinformation problem.
CCS CONCEPTS • Security and Privacy Social aspects of security and privacy • Security and Privacy Privacy
protections • Information Systems Social networks
Additional Keywords and Phrases: COVID-19 Pandemic, Fake news, Misinformation, Privacy
The COVID-19 pandemic changed the paradigm of our world [17][18]. We all went through a series of lockdowns,
travel restrictions, and arguments on mandates related to vaccination and the installation of contact tracing apps
on our mobile devices [31][52]. We even see people arguing whether the pandemic really exists! Some of these
arguments are grounded on people’s distrust in the governments and their political stances, the spreading of fake
news and misinformation fueled by social media, and people’s over worry about their privacy. With this
background, we hold a panel discussion, Fake News, Misinformation and Privacy: (ow COV)D-19 Pandemic
Changed our Society, at the 5th International Conference on Information Resources Management (Conf-IRM
2022) on October 18, 2022. The Panel was chaired by Prof. Kevin K.W. Ho (University of Tsukuba, Japan) and Dr.
* Corresponding author.
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ACM 2769-6480/2023/12-ART
http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/3636431
Dickson K.W. Chiu (The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong), with four panelists (in alphabetical orders), Dr. C.H.
(Allen) Au (National Chung Cheng University, Taiwan), Dr. Francis Dalisay (University of Guam, Guam), Dr. Stuart
So (University of Exeter, United Kingdom), and Dr. Masahiro Yamamoto (University of Albany, United States). This
position paper summarizes the gist of the presentations and discussions of the Panel.
1 OBJECTIVES OF THE PANEL
People worldwide have lived through outbreaks of infectious diseases in the 21st Century, including
severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) from 2002 to 2004, Middle East respiratory syndrome
coronavirus (MERS) since 2012, and various waves of avian flu in the past two decades
[14][27][29][36]. Yet, none can be compared with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in
massive lockdowns and interruption of public services [31][52]. While avian flu did not bring partial
or complete lockdown of a country, SARS and avian flu could be relatively easy to contain and less
contagious than COVID- 9. Though we use the term less contagious to describe avian flu, SARS, and
MERS compared with COVID-19, we do not intend to tone down their negative impacts on society.
The infamous Spanish flu was the previous significant contagious disease that shut down society
more than a century ago. With advancing modern medical technologies, the average human lifespan
has increased roughly from 50 before World War I to 80. People today may hardly believe that a newly
found virus can infect and kill so extensively. Particularly, when COVID-19 broke out, we did not have
vaccinations or contact tracing apps, and the only remedy was to lock down the country with mask
mandates.
While millions have inflected with COVID-19 and some had friends and relatives with severe
symptoms, many others disbelieved pandemic-related news for various reasons. First, people have
various difficulties in fact-checking (mis)information and (fake) news related to health, particularly
because professional knowledge is often involved [4]. )n addition, many people fact-check based
solely on their own beliefs to justify their stances [3][5]. Such beliefs are usually natural extensions of
their political beliefs, extending political belief polarization to health polarization. This situation is
reflected through the significant differences in the COVID-19 vaccination rates between the
Republicans and the Democrats in the US [15].
Political beliefs have also influenced the trust and distrust of a government. Many people distrusted
their governments even before the pandemic and considered vaccination, mask mandates, and many
preventive measures tools for controlling people [15]. For example, they tend to believe that contact
tracing apps are paving the way to authoritarian rule [16]. Even though other people trust their
governments, the potential risk of leaking personal information through these contact tracing apps
would trigger legitimate privacy concerns, causing adoption reluctance. Therefore, the objective of this
Panel is to discuss the latest research related to the following topics:
1. How do we stop the spread of health misinformation?
2. How do information sources affect online health information behavior?
3. How does news literacy increase people’s intention to seek information by increasing their skepticism?
4. How do political beliefs, trust, and privacy concerns affect people’s decisions during COVID-19?
2 PANEL PRESENTATION DETAILS
2.1 How do we stop the spread of health misinformation?
Health misinformation is a severe problem in modern society. One of the reasons is that most people
can only use their common sense to judge whether the health (mis)information they received is
accurate. However, as most people do not have sufficient medical science and statistical knowledge,
they may misinterpret the information and create misinformation [15]. Health misinformation may
trigger people to make wrong health decisions, which can have serious consequences. With the help of
the Internet and social media, such health information and misinformation will spread virally [6][44].
Therefore, many recent research studies focus on methods to stop people from sharing health
(mis)information. One stream of health misinformation research related to the COVID-19 pandemic
focuses on social media’s role in spreading antivaccination heresy about the COV)D-19 vaccines [31].
The first presentation discussed the role of providing financial incentives for spreading health
(mis)information and whether legislation can help reduce the spreading of health misinformation.
While Au, Ho, and Chiu [4] observed that providing financial incentives would encourage people to
share both perceived health and misinformation, imposing a fine for sharing incorrect or fake health
information would have a counter-intuitive effect, i.e., encouraging people from sharing perceived
health misinformation and discouraging people from sharing perceived correct health information.
2.2 How do information sources affect online health information behavior?
Apart from understanding how misinformation is spread on the Internet, researchers are also
interested in understanding how people receive and share health information there [24], as well as the
abnormal behavior related to social media search, such as cyberchondria [28]. During the COVID-19
pandemic, more research has been conducted to understand people’s online search behavior [41] and
how it relates to their ability to distinguish between accurate and fake information [13][33] and how
the COVID-19 conspiracy theory made people less engaging in health-protective behavior [1].
The second presentation presented a study of online health information behavior on social media in
China during the COVID- 9 outbreak. Using Wilson’s nd model of information behavior [49] as the
theoretical lens, it is noted that Chinese social media users were actively searching for health
information, particularly real-time information from government departments and professional
institutions they trusted, which can provide speedy communication and reliable information
management [39]. This trust is crucial during a crisis like COVID.
2.3 How does news literacy increase people’s intention to seek information by increasing their skepticism?
Prior research suggested that information and media literacy [3][5] can help people identify fake news
and misinformation. One way to help people avoid being tricked by fake news and misinformation
disseminated on social media is to flag a warning about that information [30]. Computer algorithms
[51] and deep learning technologies [38] are necessary to analyze online news to identify fake news
and misinformation.
Researchers have recently explored news literacy as an emerging topic [45][48]. In particular, they
investigate factors that can make people apply critical thinking to analyze the news [19] and maintain
a reasonable skepticism of the information they receive [47]. In the third presentation, the presenters
discussed a study exploring relationships among news literacy, news literacy efficacy, news credibility,
and skepticism. After analyzing survey data, the study’s findings revealed associations between news
literacy, skepticism, news literacy efficacy, and news credibility. Implications were also discussed.
2.4 How do political beliefs, trust, and privacy concerns affect people’s decisions during COVID-19?
Political polarization often causes people to believe in fake news [15][16], making people disbelieve
pieces of advice and even facts from the opposite side of the political spectrum. During the COVID-19
pandemic, some people think that all the mandates required by the governments were excuses for
imposing controls on their citizens due to the low distrust of people in their government. These
situations have worsened the general situation of various societies, such as making the virus spread
more rapidly. In our last presentation, our panelists discussed the situation during the COVID-19
pandemic, and people observed how political misinformation and health misinformation are entangled
[15]. With this background, the echo chamber effect and the hostile medium effect fuel the info-
demic by making people believe in what their political agenda draws them. On the other hand, privacy
concerns about COVID-19 contact tracing apps, distrust in governments, and misinformation affect
people’s perception of COV)D-19 contact tracing technology, making them refuse to believe in the
available tools to slow down the spread of the pandemic [16].
3 DISCUSSION/THOUGHTS: BLOCKCHAIN, DISTRIBUTED LEDGER TECHNOLOGY, AND THEIR
APPLICATION IN FAKE NEWS PREVENTION
Instead of centralizing data as in a traditional ledger, distributed ledgers use independent computers
(network nodes) to record, share, and synchronize transactions in their respective electronic ledgers
[45]. A particular kind of distributed ledger is the blockchain, in which data is divided into blocks in a
blockchain and chained together in an append-only fashion [21]. Data can be distributed among
network nodes and/or servers using distributed ledger technology (DLT) or blockchain. On the other
hand, blockchain is a subset of DLT that offers characteristics not seen in conventional DLT with
additional features beyond the traditional DLT’s scope [1][8]. Some of these features are proof of
work, which makes blockchain less scalable than DLT [8], and the use of immutable blocks to store
data, which limits the operations to create and retrieve [11][33].
Blockchain was initially created for cryptocurrencies, while DLT can serve purposes like record
management and process automation [1] and can thus help uphold the authenticity of health records.
Besides financial applications, blockchain technology and DLT influence other segments, such as
pharmaceutical industries, to develop a secure drug supply chain [34], thus helping maintain the
authenticity of drugs. For construction industries, blockchain technology and DLT help build a fully
autonomous operation without human interaction [23], thus speeding up the construction of
temporary emergency healthcare facilities in case of future pandemics. For health education and
information dissemination, these technologies help send and share information securely and tamper-
resistantly [19].
Another important application of blockchain and DLT is for detecting and preventing fake news
[7][10][19] because the authenticity of the news messages and their spreading paths can thus be
traced. Fake news raises concerns about how social media and the Internet are used in contemporary
democratic societies. Digital deception bears a cost to society and individuals because of its rapid and
widespread diffusion. It can also result in significant financial losses or pose a risk to the safety of
national security. To tackle the issue of fake news in society, recent research suggests the possibility of
using a blockchain-based framework to prevent and tackle fake news [35], reducing fake news from
spreading on media and messaging platforms [9]. By offering a visible, immutable, and verifiable
record of transactions and developing a secure peer-to-peer platform for storing and sharing data,
blockchains and other DLTs can ensure the provenance and traceability of the news data [10] and
particularly the originality of information [19].
The transformational benefits of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and related innovations have been seen
in finance, healthcare, and retailing [42]. Another innovative application of AI is deep fakes [25][49].
The capacity of AI to produce digital deception where fake videos, articles, or social media messages
can be quickly and massively produced is greater than its capacity to detect it in media completely
[7][39], while a DLT-based system by itself is unable to assess a content’s authenticity [10]. Using DLT
and AI can create a better fake news prevention system that helps resist data falsification attacks by
inserting forged data into the DLT [10]. Also, blockchain and natural language processing (NLP) can be
used together to detect fake news, for example, on social media [40]. On the other hand, adopting a
blockchain network can help provide seamless authentication, effective and secure data processing
and sharing, robustness against network attacks, scalability, accountability, and transparency [7][10].
In the long run, we hope that the blended use of AI, NLP, and blockchain technologies can help
safeguard our media and social media and prevent the generation and spread of fake news related to
health issues.
4 CONCLUSION
Through this panel discussion, the panelists presented their ideas and up-to-date research on fake
news and misinformation, particularly their impacts on and relationships with health
(mis)information. They also discussed the use and implication of contact tracing apps for COVID-19.
Yet, as a new and possibly disruptive technology, contact tracing apps could be possible tools for our
society to prepare for future pandemics. On the other hand, using artificial intelligence and Big Data
analytics may help detect fake news to alleviate the problems [11][23]. Furthermore, they discussed
the importance of information and media literacies. People with better information and media
literacies would be more likely to identify fake news and misinformation through better information
search and seeking behavior and with a critical mind and sufficient skepticism on suspicious news
circulated in social media. In addition, public health authorities and governments should also find
ways to improve trust and reduce the distrust between them and their citizens. The panelists hoped
that the COVID-19 situation would improve and that our understanding of the various factors
(technological, public administrative, societal, and social-psychological) involved could help us walk
through the pandemic with minimal adverse outcomes with the help of state-of-art technologies,
including blockchain, DLT, and AI.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
All panelists would like to thank the organizers of Conf-IRM 2022 for allowing them to organize this panel discussion.
5 HISTORY DATES
Received November 2019; revised August 2020; accepted December 2020
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A APPENDIX: DETAILS OF PRESENTERS
The Panel Chair, Kevin K.W. Ho, has been the Professor of Management Information Systems at the
MBA in International Business (MBA-IB) Program, University of Tsukuba, Japan, since April 2022. He
was the Professor of Management Information Systems and Business Division Chair of the School of
Business and Public Administration at the University of Guam. His research interests include
electronic services, information systems strategy, social media, and fake news and misinformation. He
is currently the Co-Editor of Library Hi Tech, an SSCI journal in Information Management. Since the
summer of 2020, he and his guest editorial team have organized a series of special issues on the
COVID-19 Pandemic and Health Informatics for Library Hi Tech and have published more than 30
peer-reviewed papers on COVID-19 issues [17][18]. He also published a series of articles related to
misinformation, fake news, and the impact of COVID-19 on social media and society in Government
Information Quarterly, Heath Policy, IEEE Internet Computing, Information Systems Frontier, IT
Professional, and Library Hi Tech. He also published in BMC Public Health, Behaviour & Information
Technology, Computers in Human Behavior, Communication of the Association for Information Systems,
Decision Support Systems, Information & Management, Internet Research, Journal of Retailing and
Consumer Services, and Online Information Review. Prof. Ho is a senior member of IEEE, a member of
the ACM and the SAME, and a Certified Management & Business Educator.
Dickson K.W. Chiu received his Ph.D. (2000) in Computer Science from the Hong Kong University of
Science and Technology (HKUST). His teaching and research interests are in Library & Information
Management, Service Computing, and E-learning with a cross-disciplinary approach involving library
and information management, e-learning, e-business, service sciences, and databases. His research
findings have been widely published in around 300 international publications (most of them have
been indexed by SCI/-E, SSCI, and EI, such as top journals MIS Quarterly, Computer & Education,
Government Information Quarterly, Decision Support Systems, Information Sciences, Knowledge-Based
Systems, Expert Systems with Application, Information Systems Frontiers, IEEE Transactions, including
many taught master and undergraduate project results and around 20 edited books. He received the
best paper award at the 37th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences in 2004. He is an
Editor(-in-chief) of Library Hi Tech, a prestigious journal indexed by SSCI. He is the Editor-in-chief
Emeritus of the International Journal on Systems and Service-Oriented Engineering (founding) and the
International Journal of Organizational and Collective Intelligence. He serves on the editorial boards of
several international journals. He co-founded several international workshops and co-edited several
journal special issues. He also served as a program committee member for over 300 international
conferences and workshops. Dr. Chiu is a Senior Member of the ACM and the IEEE and a life member of
the Hong Kong Computer Society. According to Google Scholar, he has over 6,700 citations, h-index 42,
i-10 index 151, and ranked worldwide first in L)S, m-learning, and e-services.
Allen Au is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Information Management, National Chung
Cheng University, Taiwan. He earned his Ph.D. in Business Information Systems from the University of
Sydney in 2021. His research interests are related to strategic information systems, e-Commerce,
digitally-enabled social innovations, and digital entrepreneurship. He is currently an editorial board
member of the Journal of Computer Information Systems and a member of the Early Career Editorial
Board of the Journal of Strategic Information Systems. He has also served as associate editor in PACIS
and some other academic conferences. His academic work may be found in Communication of the
Association for Information Systems, Internet Research, Information Systems Frontiers, Online
Information Review, and other academic journals.
Francis Dalisay (Ph.D., Edward R. Murrow College of Communication, Washington State University)
is an associate professor of communication at the University of Guam. Dalisay’s research examines the
role of digital media in facilitating civic and political engagement and the impact of communication
technologies on health outcomes. Dalisay’s most recent research projects have been funded through
grants from the National Cancer Institute, USA (for a study identifying predictors of adolescent betel
nut, tobacco, and e-cigarette use in Guam and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s Democracy and the
Informed Citizen Initiative. His studies have been published in journals such as New Media & Society,
Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, Journal of Medical Internet Research, the International
Journal of Public Opinion Research, Mass Communication & Society, and Communication Research,
among others.
Dr. Stuart So is a university teacher and an active researcher in operations, supply chain, and
information management with a special interest in sustainability and environmental research. He is a
Lecturer in Environmental Analytics and Programme Director for Business Analytics UG Degree at the
University of Exeter Business School. Stuart received his doctorate from Macquarie University and
completed his fellowship at the City University of Hong Kong. He is researching information-seeking
and sharing behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic. On the other hand, he is studying plastic waste
management and recycling in a global context. Stuart received two best paper awards and a research
acknowledgment prize from the IEEE Conference, ANZAM Conference, and the University of
Melbourne. He is an editorial board member of the International Journal of Systems and Service-
Oriented Engineering and Library Hi Tech. He is also a reviewer for a number of SCI/SSCI journals.
Currently, he is the Guest Editor of a Special Issue, COV)D- 9 Pandemic and (ealth )nformatics, for
Library Hi Tech, a three-part special issue focusing on information management during the COVID-19
pandemic.
Masahiro Yamamoto (Ph.D., Washington State University, 2012) is an associate professor in the
Department of Communication at the University at Albany, State University of New York. His research
interests include communication in neighborhood contexts, civic and political participation, and social
media.
