COVID-19 Misinformation And Social Media: A Deadly Infodemic
Misinformation about health on social media puts public safety at risk, particularly in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic
As with coronavirus, there is another disease that has long-term consequence — the COVID-19 infodemic, as described by Gisondi et al, in their paper, A Deadly Infodemic: Social Media and COVID-19 Misinformation, published earlier this year [1].
The World Health Organization defines an infodemic as “too much information or false and misleading information” that “causes confusion, risk taking behaviors…and mistrust of health officials” [2]
The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization considers fake news a general term for false information that can be further defined by intentionality.
Misinformation refers to inaccurate information disseminated without malice, while disinformation refers to inaccurate information disseminated with malicious intent.
The US Surgeon General warned in 2021 that misinformation is the greatest threat to COVID-19 vaccination efforts [3].
Most alarmingly, “these false narratives may be spread by authoritative institutions or influencers who are otherwise thought to be trustworthy, and they play a substantial role in shaping views and influencing human behaviors that can lead to poor health outcomes.”
Top-down misinformation from celebrities and other public figures is allowed on these platforms, which exacerbates the problem. As a percentage of online misinformation, celebrities claim 20% of platform users’ attention, but just 70% of noncelebrities’
There are profound clinical implications associated with the COVID-19 infodemic.
The effectiveness of strategies such as masking and social distancing has been undermined. Furthermore, studies have shown that social media is more effective at promoting vaccine hesitancy than uptake, reducing the effectiveness of public health measures and decreasing public engagement in disease prevention [4].
Information is spread rapidly and globally through the internet, usually without being verified for accuracy, which is facilitating the current infodemic. Due to the nature of social media, even after its usefulness has been discredited, information survives and remains accessible to the public.
The study notes that 2020 was the year of online disinformation, with social media companies and platform users “both playing a substantial role in the birth of the COVID-19 infodemic that year.”
Over 3.5 billion searches are performed on Google every day, allowing people to retrieve information from a variety of sources. Although it may appear that users pull information, search engines prioritize certain results, presenting relevant information to them.
In addition, social media algorithms push selected content to billions of users. COVID-19 misinformation and disinformation is routinely spread through social media algorithms, with certain content repeated to users with specific profile characteristics.
By amplifying low credibility information sources, social media algorithms create news echo chambers that can lead to misinformation. In the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, low-credibility sources dominated both Twitter and Facebook posts, surpassing traditional media sources.
Online bots further confuse users and make it harder for them to discern accurate news from false news. Bots are computer programs that appear as user profiles or credible news sources, but are actually tools of disinformation.
How to address the infodemic
As social media usage increased during the pandemic, misinformation, conspiracy theories, and rumors flourished, leading to fears and reluctance around vaccinations.
Social media companies and influencers both play important roles in limiting misinformation online, as well as spreading accurate and credible content.
During the pandemic Twitter, Facebook, and Google stepped up efforts to remove inaccurate information, flagging misleading content, and deactivating accounts that promote misinformation.
Ultimately regulating these platforms requires finding a balance between allowing people to express themselves freely and protecting their communities’ safety and it’s an ongoing challenge.
Vaccination rates can also be impacted by healthcare influencers on social media who communicate information responsibly and effectively. Storytelling and giving actionable advice via different media are two powerful ways to leverage the impact of multiple forms of media to their greatest extent and increase audience engagement. Additionally, healthcare influencers can increase science literacy and educate viewers about how to make decisions based on knowledge, as well as help them differentiate between good and bad data.
In addressing the current infodemic, we must first seek to understand before seeking change, counsel the study’s authors.
It is imperative that we resist paternalism in which we shield patients from information, instead empowering them to seek out the information they need and make informed decisions about their health.
The study references some frameworks that can guide us.
Bautista et al [4] proposed a two-step conceptual model for physicians seeking to refute misinformation.
In the first phase, healthcare professionals verify the truthfulness of health-related social media posts. Internal acts of authentication are performed (e.g., checking the author, checking for cues, checking the topic) and, if necessary, external acts of authentication (e.g., examining the author and examining the content). Posts deemed to contain health misinformation are moved to the second phase — corrections. This phase involves correction preparation (reflect, reveal, relate, respect) and correction dissemination (private priming, public priming, public rebuttal, and private rebuttal).
Chou et al [5] urged physicians to partner with social media companies and influencers to address health misinformation online, educate the public about potential misinformation, and cultivate better trust in science, medicine, and those who share health information. Chou et al also recommended that social media platforms implement mechanisms to verify information.
Conclusion
The study authors conclude by pointing to collaborative approaches as the solution for complex problems. To combat the COVID-19 infodemic and health misinformation and disinformation generally, social media companies, medical professionals, researchers, implementation scientists, and trusted messengers must form synergistic partnerships. The most effective change agents demonstrate a willingness to act and implement new best practices rather than focusing on assigning blame, regardless of whether or not they previously contributed to these problems.
Further Reading
Information and Disinformation: Social Media in the COVID‐19 Crisis — PMC (nih.gov)
Notes
[1] Gisondi MA, Barber R, Faust JS, Raja A, Strehlow MC, Westafer LM, Gottlieb M; A Deadly Infodemic: Social Media and the Power of COVID-19 Misinformation; J Med Internet Res 2022;24(2):e35552
[2] Infodemic. World Health Organization.
[3] Holcombe M. Surgeon General warns misinformation is the greatest threat to COVID-19 vaccination efforts. CNN Philippines.
[4]Puri N, Coomes EA, Haghbayan H, Gunaratne K. Social media and vaccine hesitancy: new updates for the era of COVID-19 and globalized infectious diseases. Hum Vaccin Immunother 2020 Nov 01;16(11):2586–2593
[5]Bautista JR, Zhang Y, Gwizdka J. Healthcare professionals’ acts of correcting health misinformation on social media. Int J Med Inform 2021.
[5] Chou WS, Oh A, Klein WMP. Addressing health-related misinformation on social media. JAMA 2018 Dec 18;320(23):2417–2418.
