Prevalence of Misinformation and Factchecks on the COVID-19 Pandemic in 35 Countries : Observational Infodemiology Study

Cha, Meeyoung; Cha, Chiyoung; Singh, Karandeep; Lima, Gabriel; Ahn, Yong-Yeol; Kulshrestha, Juhi; Varol, Onur

Prevalence of Misinformation and Factchecks on the COVID-19 Pandemic in 35 Countries : Observational Infodemiology Study

Dateien

Cha_2-1ihewcyacldn31.pdfGröße: 170 KBDownloads: 256

Datum

2021

Autor:innen

Cha, Meeyoung

Cha, Chiyoung

Singh, Karandeep

Lima, Gabriel

Ahn, Yong-Yeol

Kulshrestha, Juhi

Varol, Onur

Publikationstyp

Zeitschriftenartikel

Publikationsstatus

Published

Erschienen in

JMIR human factors. JMIR Publications. 2021, 8(1), e23279. eISSN 2292-9495. Available under: doi: 10.2196/23279

Zusammenfassung

Background:
The COVID-19 pandemic has been accompanied by an infodemic, in which a plethora of false information has been rapidly disseminated online, leading to serious harm worldwide.

Objective:
This study aims to analyze the prevalence of common misinformation related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods:
We conducted an online survey via social media platforms and a survey company to determine whether respondents have been exposed to a broad set of false claims and fact-checked information on the disease.

Results:
We obtained more than 41,000 responses from 1257 participants in 85 countries, but for our analysis, we only included responses from 35 countries that had at least 15 respondents. We identified a strong negative correlation between a country’s Gross Domestic Product per-capita and the prevalence of misinformation, with poorer countries having a higher prevalence of misinformation (Spearman ρ=–0.72; P<.001). We also found that fact checks spread to a lesser degree than their respective false claims, following a sublinear trend (β=.64).

Conclusions:
Our results imply that the potential harm of misinformation could be more substantial for low-income countries than high-income countries. Countries with poor infrastructures might have to combat not only the spreading pandemic but also the COVID-19 infodemic, which can derail efforts in saving lives.

Fachgebiet (DDC)

320 Politik

Schlagwörter

COVID-19; coronavirus; infodemic; infodemiology; misinformation; vulnerability; LMIC countries

Zitieren

ISO 690

CHA, Meeyoung, Chiyoung CHA, Karandeep SINGH, Gabriel LIMA, Yong-Yeol AHN, Juhi KULSHRESTHA, Onur VAROL, 2021. Prevalence of Misinformation and Factchecks on the COVID-19 Pandemic in 35 Countries : Observational Infodemiology Study. In: JMIR human factors. JMIR Publications. 2021, 8(1), e23279. eISSN 2292-9495. Available under: doi: 10.2196/23279

BibTex

@article{Cha2021-02-13Preva-53936,
  year={2021},
  doi={10.2196/23279},
  title={Prevalence of Misinformation and Factchecks on the COVID-19 Pandemic in 35 Countries : Observational Infodemiology Study},
  number={1},
  volume={8},
  journal={JMIR human factors},
  author={Cha, Meeyoung and Cha, Chiyoung and Singh, Karandeep and Lima, Gabriel and Ahn, Yong-Yeol and Kulshrestha, Juhi and Varol, Onur},
  note={Article Number: e23279}
}

RDF

<rdf:RDF
    xmlns:dcterms="http://purl.org/dc/terms/"
    xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
    xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"
    xmlns:bibo="http://purl.org/ontology/bibo/"
    xmlns:dspace="http://digital-repositories.org/ontologies/dspace/0.1.0#"
    xmlns:foaf="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"
    xmlns:void="http://rdfs.org/ns/void#"
    xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#" > 
  <rdf:Description rdf:about="https://kops.uni-konstanz.de/server/rdf/resource/123456789/53936">
    <dc:rights>Attribution 4.0 International</dc:rights>
    <dc:creator>Singh, Karandeep</dc:creator>
    <dcterms:title>Prevalence of Misinformation and Factchecks on the COVID-19 Pandemic in 35 Countries : Observational Infodemiology Study</dcterms:title>
    <dc:contributor>Varol, Onur</dc:contributor>
    <dc:contributor>Cha, Chiyoung</dc:contributor>
    <dc:contributor>Ahn, Yong-Yeol</dc:contributor>
    <dc:creator>Lima, Gabriel</dc:creator>
    <void:sparqlEndpoint rdf:resource="http://localhost/fuseki/dspace/sparql"/>
    <dc:creator>Ahn, Yong-Yeol</dc:creator>
    <dcterms:isPartOf rdf:resource="https://kops.uni-konstanz.de/server/rdf/resource/123456789/42"/>
    <dc:creator>Cha, Meeyoung</dc:creator>
    <dc:date rdf:datatype="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime">2021-06-10T06:49:52Z</dc:date>
    <dcterms:hasPart rdf:resource="https://kops.uni-konstanz.de/bitstream/123456789/53936/3/Cha_2-1ihewcyacldn31.pdf"/>
    <dcterms:abstract xml:lang="eng">Background:&lt;br /&gt;The COVID-19 pandemic has been accompanied by an infodemic, in which a plethora of false information has been rapidly disseminated online, leading to serious harm worldwide.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Objective:&lt;br /&gt;This study aims to analyze the prevalence of common misinformation related to the COVID-19 pandemic.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Methods:&lt;br /&gt;We conducted an online survey via social media platforms and a survey company to determine whether respondents have been exposed to a broad set of false claims and fact-checked information on the disease.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Results:&lt;br /&gt;We obtained more than 41,000 responses from 1257 participants in 85 countries, but for our analysis, we only included responses from 35 countries that had at least 15 respondents. We identified a strong negative correlation between a country’s Gross Domestic Product per-capita and the prevalence of misinformation, with poorer countries having a higher prevalence of misinformation (Spearman ρ=–0.72; P&lt;.001). We also found that fact checks spread to a lesser degree than their respective false claims, following a sublinear trend (β=.64).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Conclusions:&lt;br /&gt;Our results imply that the potential harm of misinformation could be more substantial for low-income countries than high-income countries. Countries with poor infrastructures might have to combat not only the spreading pandemic but also the COVID-19 infodemic, which can derail efforts in saving lives.</dcterms:abstract>
    <foaf:homepage rdf:resource="http://localhost:8080/"/>
    <dc:contributor>Kulshrestha, Juhi</dc:contributor>
    <dcterms:issued>2021-02-13</dcterms:issued>
    <dc:language>eng</dc:language>
    <dc:creator>Varol, Onur</dc:creator>
    <dc:contributor>Lima, Gabriel</dc:contributor>
    <dcterms:rights rdf:resource="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"/>
    <dc:contributor>Singh, Karandeep</dc:contributor>
    <dc:creator>Cha, Chiyoung</dc:creator>
    <dc:creator>Kulshrestha, Juhi</dc:creator>
    <dc:contributor>Cha, Meeyoung</dc:contributor>
    <dcterms:available rdf:datatype="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime">2021-06-10T06:49:52Z</dcterms:available>
    <dspace:isPartOfCollection rdf:resource="https://kops.uni-konstanz.de/server/rdf/resource/123456789/42"/>
    <bibo:uri rdf:resource="https://kops.uni-konstanz.de/handle/123456789/53936"/>
    <dspace:hasBitstream rdf:resource="https://kops.uni-konstanz.de/bitstream/123456789/53936/3/Cha_2-1ihewcyacldn31.pdf"/>
  </rdf:Description>
</rdf:RDF>

Universitätsbibliographie

Ja

Begutachtet

Unbekannt