No defense against lies

We saw it happen during the economic crisis and now we’re seeing it happen again with the pandemic: the dissemination of unfounded explanations and theories, fake news and fake science on the dark side of the public sphere, and mainly through social media.

Gullibility and/or sheer frustration may lie at the root of the phenomenon most of the time, but there are also occasions when such conspiracy theories have a malicious intent. One does not exclude the other and, at the end of the day, the result is the same.

Regardless of who is behind such deception and lies and the reasons why they’re doing it, the country is basically defenseless against attacks of misinformation that strike at the heart of public health.