check news disseminated about Covid-19 (Ben Messaoud 2021, 25), Atif, Mahdy, and Moustafa (2020, 27) observed that the media in Arab states did not put enough resources in place to fact check suspicious content. In 2018 the Lebanese newspaper Al Nahar established a In 2019 Al Nahar checked 338 department to verify fake news, an news reports, photos, and posts. initiative that is important in spite of its limitations (Ben Messaoud 2021, It continues to publish its fact32). In the wake of the demonstrachecking reports using a hashtag tions in 2019, Al Nahar intensified that translates as #AlNahar_verify its fact-checking services; in 2019 it (Atif, Mahdy, and Moustafa 2020, 27). checked 338 news reports, photos, and posts. It continues to publish its fact-checking reports using a hashtag that translates as #AlNahar_verify (Atif, Mahdy, and Moustafa 2020, 27). To bridge the gap left by mainstream media and to combat the devastating consequences of fake news, many independent efforts have been gathering pace in Arab countries, to complement the above-mentioned governmental efforts. Researchers have studied some of these initiatives: • In Jordan, journalism students at Zarqa University launched a campaign called Itamin (Do not worry) to warn people against fake content on Facebook. The Facebook group relies on official sources to publish reliable and official news. The students also educate their audience on how to detect non-reliable information. They simplify their content by using animated videos and photos (Al Jalabneh and Safori 2020, 9442). • Akeed, which is also an independent academic initiative in Jordan, has verified about fortythree rumors related to Covid-19 (Ben Messaoud 2021, 33). • An independent center in Palestine called Mada released a statement in the wake of the pandemic to announce that it is committed to debunking fake news in the state (Ben Messaoud 2021, 32). • In 2020, the number of Tunisian fact-checking initiatives that aim to put an end to the infodemic increased from two to eight (Zamit, Kooli, and Toumi 2020, 9). I Watch, a non-profit organization (NPO), launched a platform named I Check to identify fake news. • Some initiatives are limited to Facebook, such as the Falso page from Libya, which has thousands of followers who interact with its content in order to find out about fake news related to the virus (Zamit, Kooli, and Toumi 2020, 12). • In Saudi Arabia, the Anti-Rumors Authority, an independent initiative, devotes its social media I N FO R M ATI O N D I SO R D ER IN THE GLOBA L SOUTH accounts to combating fake news. They posted seventy-seven posts between March and May 31, 2020 to refute rumors related to Covid-19 disseminated in Saudi Arabia (Alsadiq 2021, 1304, 1306). A study by Alsadiq (2021, 1306) concluded that 90 percent of the monitored rumors were related to health issues, with political issues coming in second place. The Anti-Rumors Authority draws on official sources to debunk rumors. For instance, it shared a statement by the health ministry to deny the detection of a Covid-19 case in a market in Reyad (Alsadiq 2021, 1309). Researchers who have investigated information disorder related to Covid-19 in the Arab world have recommended measures to be taken to deal with the infodemic. These include the expansion of media literacy, the employment of AI, the drafting and passing of legislation, and the maximization of the role of health journalism. The rest of this section will discuss health media and scientific journalism. The other recommendations will be addressed in section titled “Solutions, Recommendations, and Future Prospects.” The health media discuss health-related issues to raise awareness of these issues and to provide the audience with reliable and relevant information (Mohammedi 2020, 36). For instance, the health media provided information about the number of Covid-19 cases in Algeria and launched a campaign with the hashtag #kahleek_fi_AlBit (Stay at home) to contribute to flattening the curve (Mohammedi 2020, 40). Mohammedi (2020, 51, 52) has emphasized the role played by health journalism during the pandemic, reflecting the importance of health journalism, and recommends that the media rely on journalists who specialize in health issues to correct fake news spread on social media. Moreover, media faculties at universities should train journalists to deal with health-related issues and newsrooms should allocate resources to train journalists who are already specialized in the health sector and to create health departments that are equipped with the tools to provide audiences with professional health content (Mohammedi 2020, 44). Another study, by Zamit, Kooli, and Toumi (2020), widens the scope of health journalism and proposes enhancing scientific journalism so that it can function as an intermediary between scientists and the public. The study found that the lack of science departments in Tunisian media outlets has a negative effect on communication about the pandemic, since the lack of fact checkers who are Middle East and North Africa – 67