Covid-19 as a Tool of Information Influence in the «Post-Truth» Epoch

Abstract

The emergence of new information technologies has changed the course of human life – both modernizing and speeding its pace. A remarkable feature of the current socio-political situation is, in our opinion, is the (de) humanization of social communication. It is a question of actual change of a communication paradigm on horizontal and vertical levels. Virtualization as the basis of modern professional and personal life acquires more perfect forms. At the same time, according to the author, it is causing the destruction of the individual as such.
The XXI century entered into the history of world civilization as an era of post-truth: in 2016, the Oxford Dictionary chose the term «post-truth» as the word of the year. In the last year of the second decade of the XXI century, Covid-19 became a top news not only in the field of health care, but also in other spheres of life of the world community, including the political sphere.
The Covid-19 pandemic has become an instrument of informational influence, which in the post-truth era is one of the most effective in the context of transforming the individual and the mass consciousness in a «convenient» or «necessary» direction for a particular political actor. Since the beginning of the pandemic, disinformation about the origin of the coronavirus, ways of its spread, prevention measures, etc. has been actively spread. In addition, we observe purposeful activities to form an atmosphere of fear and panic among the masses; and in each region certain cases and features of the mentality are taken into account. Among the nations of the world, the United Kingdom has linked social activism to misinformation spread and the activity of various bots and trolls on networks. In March 2020, the UK government set up a special anti-disinformation unit.
Dissemination of misinformation about the coronavirus is, in our opinion, one of the important tools to influence the world community in the context of changing worldviews and visions of national, regional and global development prospects. And a clear understanding of the purpose of these actions is a key for developing adequate mechanisms for protection against information violence, which in the post-truth era turns us into hostages to information flows.