The Impact of Misinformation, Conspiracy Theories, and Fake News during the COVID-19 Pandemic: What Artificial Intelligence Can Contribute to Detect and Mitigate Their Proliferation

As COVID-19 spread throughout the world, so did health misinformation, conspiracy theories, and fake news about the origin, truthfulness, and severity of this pandemic across diverse media platforms. Given the serious implications that the described phenomena represent, the present chapter aims to synthesize empirical data aimed to unravel the underpinnings of these problems. Additionally, this chapter also addresses AI techniques that could collectively contribute to the creation of robust systems for detecting and mitigating the proliferation of misinformation and fake news.