COVID-19 Infodemic: Twitter vs. Facebook
2021
The global spread of COVID-19 is affected by the spread of related misinformation – the so-called COVID-19 infodemic – that makes populations more vulnerable to the disease through resistance to mitigation efforts. This article analyzes the prevalence and diffusion of links to low-credibility content about the COVID-19 pandemic across Twitter and Facebook. They characterize cross-platform similarities and differences in popular sources, diffusion patterns, influencers, coordination, and automation.
Comparing the two platforms, authors found divergence among the prevalence of popular low-credibility sources and suspicious videos. A minority of accounts and pages exert a strong influence on each platform. These misinformation “superspreaders” are often associated with the low-credibility sources and tend to be verified by the platforms. On both platforms, there is evidence of coordinated sharing of infodemic content. The overt nature of this manipulation points to the need for societal-level solutions in addition to mitigation strategies within the platforms.
Authors highlight limits imposed by inconsistent data-access policies on our capability to study harmful manipulations of information ecosystems.
This description was adapted from the publication abstract.
COVID-19 Infodemic: Twitter vs. Facebook
Source:
Yang K-C, Pierri F, Hui P-M et al. The COVID-19 Infodemic: Twitter versus Facebook. Big Data & Society 2021; 8 (1). http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/20539517211013861