PSYCHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF THE MECHANISM OF THE INFORMATION VIRUS DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Abstract

During an epidemic, the issue of the reliability of information content is especially acute, since it affects the sphere of vital interests of both individual citizens and society as a whole. Fake news and misinformation on social media is becoming a problem requiring a social and political security approach. This is what dictated the need to adopt legislative measures (amendments to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), providing for criminal liability for the dissemination of fake information about the coronavirus. In this situation, it is extremely important that the study of the psychological mechanism of the information virus proposed here in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic is a call to scientific analysis of information strategies that are acceptable during extreme situations, including the current pandemic, when humanity is especially vulnerable due to the possible induction of any newsbreak that enters the virtual space, including one that reduces the effectiveness of sanitary and epidemiological measures and generates serious negative delayed consequences for both the individual and the state.