Abstract
This research examines the content, timing, and spread of COVID-19 misinformation and subsequent debunking efforts for two COVID-19 myths. COVID-19 misinformation tweets included more non-specific authority references (e.g., “Taiwanese experts”, “a doctor friend”), while debunking tweets included more specific and verifiable authority references (e.g., the CDC, the World Health Organization, Snopes). Findings illustrate a delayed debunking response to COVID-19 misinformation, as it took seven days for debunking tweets to match the quantity of misinformation tweets. The use of non-specific authority references in tweets was associated with decreased tweet engagement, suggesting the importance of citing specific sources when refuting health misinformation.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
9-4-2020
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.37016/mr-2020-37
Related Content
All materials needed to replicate this study are available via the Harvard Dataverse: https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/GSFFFP
Repository Citation
McGlynn, Joseph; Baryshevtsev, Maxim; and Dayton, Zane A., "Misinformation More Likely to Use Non-Specific Authority References: Twitter Analysis of Two COVID-19 Myths" (2020). Communication Graduate Research. 2.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/comm_gradpub/2
Supplementary methods
Notes/Citation Information
Published in Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review, v. 1, issue 3.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided that the original author and source are properly credited.