Disinformation of text mining online about tobacco and the COVID-19 discussed on Sina Weibo.

Di Zhang*,Ling Yang,Bing Fang*,Yuyang Cai

doi:10.18332/tid/142776

Di Zhang*, Ling Yang + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.18332/tid/142776

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Abstract

INTRODUCTIONDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, various types of disinformation have emerged from the media. This study focuses on the online disinformation about tobacco and the COVID-19 on the Sina Weibo, the Chinese largest new media microblog platform.METHODSThe related posts from the beginning of the epidemic in December 2019 to 19 January 2021 were searched. Text mining technology was applied on these posts to identify content on ‘smoking can prevent COVID-19’. Descriptive research was used to analyze the dataset.RESULTSAmong the 912 original posts, 508 informative posts were selected after artificial recognition, including 112 posts of spreading disinformation and 396 which dispel the disinformation. Of the disinformation posts, 74% (83/112) cited the results of scientific research, and 17% (19/112) mentioned that smog from burning Asian wormwood could prevent COVID-19. By analyzing the public’s comments on these 112 disinformation posts, it was suggested that about 12% of the comments were in support, and 88% of the posts were opposed or invalid. The proportion of supportive comments on pseudo-scientific information was higher than on plain disinformation, 21% and 9%, respectively.CONCLUSIONSThe disinformation of promoting smoking as a way to prevent COVID-19 has the typical feature of using pseudo-scientific arguments to package disinformation, making it very difficult for readers without professional knowledge to identify. Such actions harm both tobacco control and COVID-19 prevention.

Highlights

INTRODUCTION During the COVID19 pandemic, various types of disinformation have emerged from the media
Even if the authorities actively refuted rumors, false information and related discussions about COVID-19 were still emerging from new media such as online forums and blogs
While the whole world is under the series of waves of the pandemic[2], we focused on assessing the online disinformation about tobacco and COVID-19 through text mining on Sina Weibo, the Chinese largest new media microblog platform

Summary

Introduction

19 pandemic, various types of disinformation have emerged from the media. This study focuses on the online disinformation about tobacco and the COVID-19 on the Sina Weibo, the Chinese largest new media microblog platform. Disinformation that smoking could prevent SARS- As part of COVID-19 pandemic prevention, the Chinese government took immediate action to dispel rumors and added special columns in the publication of key traditional and new media. Even if the authorities actively refuted rumors, false information and related discussions about COVID-19 were still emerging from new media such as online forums and blogs. While the whole world is under the series of waves of the pandemic[2], we focused on assessing the online disinformation about tobacco and COVID-19 through text mining on Sina Weibo, the Chinese largest new media microblog platform (similar to Twitter)

Methods

Results

Conclusion