TY - JOUR
T1 - Analyzing Social Media Messaging on Masks and Vaccines
T2 - A Case Study on Misinformation During the COVID-19 Pandemic
AU - Trotochaud, Marc
AU - Smith, Elizabeth
AU - Hosangadi, Divya
AU - Sell, Tara Kirk
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc.
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - Misinformation and disinformation during infectious disease outbreaks can hinder public health responses. This analysis examines comments about masks and COVID-19 vaccines on Twitter during the first six months of the COVID-19 pandemic. We conducted a content analysis of 6,600 randomly selected English-language tweets, examining tweets for health, political, of societal frames; inclusion of true information, false information, partially true/misleading information, and/or opinion; political components; risk frames; and use of specific types of rumor. We found false and partially false information in 22% of tweets in which we were able to assess veracity. Tweets with misinformation were more likely to mention vaccines, be political in nature, and promote risk elevating messages (p<0.5). We also found false information about vaccines as early as January 2020, nearly a year before COVID-19 vaccines became widely available. These findings highlight a need for new policies and strategies aimed to counter harmful and misleading messaging.
AB - Misinformation and disinformation during infectious disease outbreaks can hinder public health responses. This analysis examines comments about masks and COVID-19 vaccines on Twitter during the first six months of the COVID-19 pandemic. We conducted a content analysis of 6,600 randomly selected English-language tweets, examining tweets for health, political, of societal frames; inclusion of true information, false information, partially true/misleading information, and/or opinion; political components; risk frames; and use of specific types of rumor. We found false and partially false information in 22% of tweets in which we were able to assess veracity. Tweets with misinformation were more likely to mention vaccines, be political in nature, and promote risk elevating messages (p<0.5). We also found false information about vaccines as early as January 2020, nearly a year before COVID-19 vaccines became widely available. These findings highlight a need for new policies and strategies aimed to counter harmful and misleading messaging.
KW - COVID-19
KW - Health Communication
KW - Medical Countermeasures
KW - Misinformation
KW - Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions
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U2 - 10.1017/dmp.2023.16
DO - 10.1017/dmp.2023.16
M3 - Article
C2 - 36624607
AN - SCOPUS:85146229542
SN - 1935-7893
JO - Disaster medicine and public health preparedness
JF - Disaster medicine and public health preparedness
ER -