Already since February 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) identified the infodemic (an overabundance of information, some of which fake) as an emerging problem in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

To counter the spreading of fake news, since the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic many governments and big tech corporations have acted on several fronts.

Depending on countries, governments implemented a number of domestic measures such as public awareness campaigns and other non-legislative initiatives. 

However, several countries around the world, including Hungary, Malaysia and South Africa among others, decided to respond with legislative or regulatory initiatives aimed at criminalising the spreading of fake news online. 

Popular platforms active globally, such as Facebook, Google and Twitter voluntarily put in place procedures and tools for dealing with fake news.

To find out more about the current approaches to social media regulation in 13 different geographies around the world, simply click on “Access the full content” (Global Trends clients) or “Request Access”, in case you are not subscribed to our Global Trends service.