Global misinformation spillovers in the online vaccination debate before and during COVID-19

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2211.11495v3
• Date: Mon, 19 Dec 2022 13:29:45 GMT
• Title: Global misinformation spillovers in the online vaccination debate before and during COVID-19
• Authors: Jacopo Lenti, Kyriaki Kalimeri, Andr\'e Panisson, Daniela Paolotti, Michele Tizzani, Yelena Mejova, Michele Starnini
• Abstract summary: Anti-vaccination views pervade online social media, fueling distrust in scientific expertise and increasing vaccine-hesitant individuals. Here, we leverage 316 million vaccine-related Twitter messages in 18 languages to quantify misinformation flows between users exposed to anti-vaccination (no-vax) content. We find that, during the pandemic, no-vax communities became more central in the country-specific debates and their cross-border connections strengthened, revealing a global Twitter anti-vaccination network.
• Score: 5.1598868036106085
• License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Abstract: Anti-vaccination views pervade online social media, fueling distrust in scientific expertise and increasing vaccine-hesitant individuals. While previous studies focused on specific countries, the COVID-19 pandemic brought the vaccination discourse worldwide, underpinning the need to tackle low-credible information flows on a global scale to design effective countermeasures. Here, we leverage 316 million vaccine-related Twitter messages in 18 languages, from October 2019 to March 2021, to quantify misinformation flows between users exposed to anti-vaccination (no-vax) content. We find that, during the pandemic, no-vax communities became more central in the country-specific debates and their cross-border connections strengthened, revealing a global Twitter anti-vaccination network. U.S. users are central in this network, while Russian users also become net exporters of misinformation during vaccination roll-out. Interestingly, we find that Twitter's content moderation efforts, and in particular the suspension of users following the January 6th U.S. Capitol attack, had a worldwide impact in reducing misinformation spread about vaccines. These findings may help public health institutions and social media platforms to mitigate the spread of health-related, low-credible information by revealing vulnerable online communities.

Related papers

• Doctors vs. Nurses: Understanding the Great Divide in Vaccine Hesitancy among Healthcare Workers [64.1526243118151]
  We find that doctors are overall more positive toward the COVID-19 vaccines. Doctors are more concerned with the effectiveness of the vaccines over newer variants. Nurses pay more attention to the potential side effects on children.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2022-09-11T14:22:16Z)
• "COVID-19 was a FIFA conspiracy #curropt": An Investigation into the Viral Spread of COVID-19 Misinformation [60.268682953952506]
  We estimate the extent to which misinformation has influenced the course of the COVID-19 pandemic using natural language processing models. We provide a strategy to combat social media posts that are likely to cause widespread harm.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2022-06-12T19:41:01Z)
• Echoes through Time: Evolution of the Italian COVID-19 Vaccination Debate [3.9758527669515518]
  We use a Twitter dataset spanning September 2019 - November 2021 to examine the state of polarization around vaccination. We find the stark division between supporters and hesitant individuals to continue throughout the vaccination campaign. However, we find an increasing commonality in the topical focus of the vaccine supporters and vaccine hesitant, pointing to a possible common set of facts the two sides may agree on.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2022-04-27T13:50:19Z)
• Psycho-linguistic differences among competing vaccination communities on social media [0.0]
  During the COVID-19 pandemic, anti-vaxxers use social media to distribute fake news and anxiety-provoking information about the vaccine. Here, we characterize the psycho-linguistic features of anti-vaxxers on the online social network Twitter.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2021-11-09T16:18:38Z)
• Sentiment Analysis and Topic Modeling for COVID-19 Vaccine Discussions [10.194753795363667]
  We conduct an in-depth analysis of tweets related to the coronavirus vaccine on Twitter. Results show that a majority of people are confident in the effectiveness of vaccines and are willing to get vaccinated. Negative tweets are often associated with the complaints of vaccine shortages, side effects after injections and possible death after being vaccinated.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2021-10-08T23:30:17Z)
• COVID-19 Vaccines: Characterizing Misinformation Campaigns and Vaccine Hesitancy on Twitter [8.181808709549227]
  We investigate misinformation and conspiracy campaigns and their characteristic behaviours for COVID-19 vaccines. We identify whether coordinated efforts are used to promote misinformation in vaccine related discussions. We study the large anti-vaccine misinformation community and smaller anti-vaccine communities, including a far-right anti-vaccine conspiracy group.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2021-06-15T20:32:10Z)
• Dark Web Marketplaces and COVID-19: before the vaccine [53.447910186085586]
  We analyse 851,199 listings extracted from 30 dark web marketplaces between January 1, 2020 and November 16, 2020. We identify 788 listings directly related to COVID-19 products and monitor the temporal evolution of product categories. We reveal how the online shadow economy has evolved during the COVID-19 pandemic and highlight the importance of a continuous monitoring of DWMs.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2020-08-04T14:27:41Z)
• The Ivory Tower Lost: How College Students Respond Differently than the General Public to the COVID-19 Pandemic [66.80677233314002]
  Pandemic of the novel Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has presented governments with ultimate challenges. In the United States, the country with the highest confirmed COVID-19 infection cases, a nationwide social distancing protocol has been implemented by the President. This paper aims to discover the social implications of this unprecedented disruption in our interactive society by mining people's opinions on social media.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2020-04-21T13:02:38Z)
• Digital Ariadne: Citizen Empowerment for Epidemic Control [55.41644538483948]
  The COVID-19 crisis represents the most dangerous threat to public health since the H1N1 pandemic of 1918. Technology-assisted location and contact tracing, if broadly adopted, may help limit the spread of infectious diseases. We present a tool, called 'diAry' or 'digital Ariadne', based on voluntary location and Bluetooth tracking on personal devices.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2020-04-16T15:53:42Z)
• Falling into the Echo Chamber: the Italian Vaccination Debate on Twitter [65.7192861893042]
  We examine the extent to which the vaccination debate on Twitter is conductive to potential outreach to the vaccination hesitant. We discover that the vaccination skeptics, as well as the advocates, reside in their own distinct "echo chambers" At the center of these echo chambers we find the ardent supporters, for which we build highly accurate network- and content-based classifiers.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2020-03-26T13:55:50Z)
• Evidence of disorientation towards immunization on online social media after contrasting political communication on vaccines. Results from an analysis of Twitter data in Italy [0.0]
  In Italy, vaccination coverage for key immunizations as MMR has been declining to worryingly low levels. In 2017, the Italian Gov't expanded the number of mandatory immunizations introducing penalties to unvaccinated children's families. During the 2018 general elections campaign, immunization policy entered the political debate with the Gov't in charge blaming oppositions for fuelling vaccine scepticism.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2019-12-31T11:03:18Z)

This list is automatically generated from the titles and abstracts of the papers in this site.

This site does not guarantee the quality of this site (including all information) and is not responsible for any consequences.