COVID-19 Infodemic: A study on the Fragile Five countries

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Media Studies
• Information Science

Background:

• The COVID-19 pandemic saw a surge in misinformation across various media platforms.
• Understanding the nature and dissemination of this misinformation is crucial for public health interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze the characteristics of COVID-19 misinformation circulating in the Fragile Five countries.
• To identify the primary themes and media platforms involved in spreading health-related rumors and conspiracy theories.

Main Methods:

• Data collected via web scraping from the International Fact-checking Network's CoronaVirusFacts database (Jan 24 - Nov 14, 2020).
• 1,734 misinformation items analyzed using MAXQDA Analytics Pro 2020.
• Categorization based on content themes, media platform, and veracity (false, misleading).

Main Results:

• Rumors constituted 96.3% of misinformation, significantly outweighing conspiracy theories (3.7%).
• Key rumor themes included illness (26.9%) and diagnosis-treatment (25%); conspiracy theories focused on the disease's origin (68.8%).
• Facebook was the dominant platform (53.06%), followed by Twitter (15.32%) and WhatsApp (13.34%).
• The majority of misinformation was classified as false (85.12%), with misleading news at 10.09%.

Conclusions:

• COVID-19 misinformation in the Fragile Five countries was predominantly rumor-based, focusing on illness and treatment.
• Social media platforms, especially Facebook, played a significant role in the rapid dissemination of false and misleading health information.
• Findings highlight the need for targeted fact-checking and media literacy initiatives to combat health misinformation.