People's experience of information overload and its impact on infodemic harms

This chapter explores the role of information overload in infodemic management, with particular emphasis on overload in the context of COVID-19. We begin with a brief discussion of how information overload has been considered in fields such as emergency response (where well-timed, data-supported response is advocated) and risk communication (which adds that for messages to be effective, people must first trust the messengers). We propose an expanded conceptualisation that sees information overload as the product of specific techno-social ecosystems. In this model, the timing and content of messages still matters-as does community trust in messengers-but just as important are the emotional states of users at the time of information of exposure, and amplification of those states online via platform algorithms (e.g. trending, aggregation of likes or dislikes) and/or social dynamics (e.g. “piling on.”). Regarding the desire of health authorities to intervene in digital platform governance to combat information overload, we stress that a government’s desire to protect the public should not eclipse human rights to individual free speech and expression. We find a more promising approach in activist movements such as participatory design, where community members organically become more discerning consumers and more effective advocates for information equity.