Can the state cure from fakes? On the question of the boundaries of care and control under conditions of digital anxiety^*

In the review of the monograph by O.S. Deyneka and A.A. Maksimenko “A Vaccine against Infodemic, or the Psychological State of Society during the COVID-19 Pandemic,” an attempt is made to reconceptualize the phenomenon of the infodemic as a persistent challenge to public common sense, mental well-being, and social stability. The reviewer analyzes the authors’ proposed metaphor of informational vaccination as a conceptual framework for a discussion on the boundaries of freedom, citizens’ rights, and the responsibilities of the state in the digital age. Through comparison with data on the growth of psychotropic drug consumption, a conclusion is drawn about the long-term consequences of informational overstrain. Special attention is paid to the ethical and psychological dilemmas arising in attempts to protect mass consciousness from fakes, anxiety-inducing narratives, and media manipulations.

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