Abstract:
The objectives of this study were to investigate the situations, impacts, and preventive measurements on fake news's infodemic about the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in Thailand, it will lead to seeking recommendations on measures to prevent and solve the problem of infodemic for the future of Thailand. The study was a qualitative research that scope of the study during January-December 2020, by categorizing the situation into 2 periods: 1) the first pandemic between January-November 2020, and 2) the second pandemic between December 2020-March 2021. In addition, the study was a documentary research and in-depth interview from the key informants selected by a specific method to analyze issues in all aspects through 4 perspectives: 1) the policy perspectives from relevant government agencies, 2) the recommendations from academics, 3) the public perspectives from the people's sector, civil society, private sector, media, and influencers and 4) the communication perspectives from the Center for COVID-19 Situation Administration. The findings indicated that the situation of Covid-19 which a major contributor to the spread of fake news from sender to receiver. There are driven by many factors such as perceptions, thoughts, and emotions while consuming news. These are important things that drive the sharing of news between each other. At the same time, the receiver can switch roles to the sender in parallel as well. Moreover, the spreading of fake news has a major impact on five dimensions: 1) impact for health, 2) impact for mental, 3) impact for social, 4) impact for economic, and 5) impact for stability and reliability. Although, the implementation of measures to prevent fake news in Thailand about the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) can be classified into 2 main measures, which are government measures and non-government measures but found that there are still cannot solve the problem in the long term. Therefore, this study aimed to find effective preventive measurements against fake news through six measures: 1) System and Technology 2) Structure 3) Knowledge 4) Participation 5) Communication and 6) Prosecution of offenders.