Misinformation In Social Media Research Articles

The Scourge of measles

Abstract Once considered a disease of the past, the resurgence of measles in England has garnered significant attention in recent weeks and months. The uptake of routine childhood vaccines including the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine is the lowest it has been in a decade and is well below the 95% uptake needed to protect the population and prevent outbreaks. This is giving this serious disease a chance to get a foothold in our communities. From having never seen a case of measles in their life time doctors in England are now notifying cases of measles based on clinical suspicion. Since October, we have seen a rapid increase in both measles cases and outbreaks of measles across England (the total number of cases confirmed since October 2023 to date is 1109) and it has been declared a national incident. The abstract highlights the consequences of vaccine hesitancy, illustrated by case studies of outbreaks of measles among susceptible populations such as schools and prisons and the steps being taken to control the spread. Social media misinformation, distrust in healthcare authorities, and concerns over vaccine safety are some of the factors shaping parental attitudes towards MMR vaccination. In response to these challenges, the abstract underscores the importance of targeted interventions aimed at addressing vaccine hesitancy, such as community engagement initiatives, tailored communication strategies, and healthcare provider training. By emphasizing the critical role of MMR vaccination in preventing measles resurgence, this abstract advocates for a collaborative approach involving healthcare stakeholders, policymakers, and the public to combat to combat this preventable yet persistent threat to public health.

Multi-modal Misinformation Detection: Approaches, Challenges and Opportunities

As social media platforms evolve from text-based forums into multi-modal environments, the nature of misinformation in social media is also transforming accordingly. Taking advantage of the fact that visual modalities such as images and videos are more favorable and attractive to users, and textual content is sometimes skimmed carelessly, misinformation spreaders have recently targeted contextual connections between the modalities, e.g., text and image. Hence, many researchers have developed automatic techniques for detecting possible cross-modal discordance in web-based content. We analyze, categorize, and identify existing approaches in addition to the challenges and shortcomings they face in order to unearth new research opportunities in the field of multi-modal misinformation detection.

Medical misinformation in social media: Representations of gastrointestinal disorders on a short video platform

Background and Objectives: Short video platforms have become one of the most common methods for disseminating medical information on social media. We analysed gastrointestinal (GI)-related content on TikTok, focusing on the creators’ background, patterns of content utilisation and overall content quality and understandability, using validated metrics to quantify the degree of misinformation. Methods: Twelve hashtags related to common GI conditions on TikTok and the 20 most engaging posts associated with each hashtag were selected for review. The ‘most engaging’ status was determined by the application’s internal algorithm. Six GI board-certified physicians evaluated the videos using two validated instruments: DISCERN quality criteria and Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool (PEMAT-A/V) survey. Results: In total, 253 videos were reviewed with 18.6 billion likes, 191,000 comments, 935,000 saves and 927,000 shares. IBS hashtag had the greatest number of views (2.2 billion), while videos on haemorrhoids had the most likes (4.3 million), comments (59,000) and shares (288,000). Most videos 177/253 (70%) were created by non-healthcare workers. The median video quality was 2/5 on DISCERN Likert-type scale with 23/75 DISCERN score. Of 186 videos, 114 (61.3%) were rated ‘very poor’; 58/186 (31.2%) ‘poor’, 13/186 (7%) ‘fair’ and only one video (0.5%) was rated ‘excellent’ on DISCERN grading system. The median PEMAT-A/V scores were 7/12 (73.9%) for understandability and 1/3 (33.3%) for actionability. Conclusion: Our study highlights significant public interest in common GI disorders. However, most posts lacked substantive information and did not have verifiable sources.

Sustainable Brand Resilience: Mitigating Panic Buying through Brand Value and Food Waste Attitudes Amid Social Media Misinformation

This study investigates the relationship between user-generated content on social media and panic buying, with a focus on how attitudes towards food waste and brand value act as moderating variables. Using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM), data from an online survey with 370 responses were analyzed. The findings show that user-generated content significantly contributes to the dissemination of inaccurate information, which in turn triggers panic buying. However, the impact of inaccurate information on panic buying is moderated by consumer attitudes towards food waste and brand value. Specifically, consumers with negative attitudes towards food waste and high brand trust are less likely to engage in panic buying when exposed to misinformation. These results suggest that promoting responsible consumption and leveraging brand value can mitigate the adverse effects of misinformation during crises. This study contributes to sustainability by providing insights into developing strategies for retailers and policymakers to manage consumer behavior, emphasizing the importance of accurate information and brand communication in reducing panic buying tendencies.

Paradoxes in the coevolution of contagions and institutions.

Epidemic models study the spread of undesired agents through populations, be it infectious diseases through a country, misinformation in social media or pests infesting a region. In combating these epidemics, we rely neither on global top-down interventions, nor solely on individual adaptations. Instead, interventions commonly come from local institutions such as public health departments, moderation teams on social media platforms or other forms of group governance. Classic models, which are often individual or agent-based, are ill-suited to capture local adaptations. We leverage developments of institutional dynamics based on cultural group selection to study how groups attempt local control of an epidemic by taking inspiration from the successes and failures of other groups. Incorporating institutional changes into epidemic dynamics reveals paradoxes: a higher transmission rate can result in smaller outbreaks as does decreasing the speed of institutional adaptation. When groups perceive a contagion as more worrisome, they can invest in improved policies and, if they maintain these policies long enough to have impact, lead to a reduction in endemicity. By looking at the interplay between the speed of institutions and the transmission rate of the contagions, we find rich coevolutionary dynamics that reflect the complexity of known biological and social contagions.

How do social media users and journalists express concerns about social media misinformation? A computational analysis

This article describes partisan-based, accuracy-based, and action-based discussions through which U.S. social media users and journalists express concerns about social media misinformation. While platform policy stands out as the most highly discussed topic by both social media users and journalists, much of it is cast through a party politics lens. The findings call for shifting the news frame around misinformation for collective problem-solving. At the same time, discussions about user agency are more prevalent on social media than in news, offering hope for platforms and educators to empower social media users to engage in discussions and actions about addressing misinformation.

Exploring the impact of automated correction of misinformation in social media

AbstractCorrecting misinformation is a complex task, influenced by various psychological, social, and technical factors. Most research evaluation methods for identifying effective correction approaches tend to rely on either crowdsourcing, questionnaires, lab‐based simulations, or hypothetical scenarios. However, the translation of these methods and findings into real‐world settings, where individuals willingly and freely disseminate misinformation, remains largely unexplored. Consequently, we lack a comprehensive understanding of how individuals who share misinformation in natural online environments would respond to corrective interventions. In this study, we explore the effectiveness of corrective messaging on 3898 users who shared misinformation on Twitter/X over 2 years. We designed and deployed a bot to automatically identify individuals who share misinformation and subsequently alert them to related fact‐checks in various message formats. Our analysis shows that only a small minority of users react positively to the corrective messages, with most users either ignoring them or reacting negatively. Nevertheless, we also found that more active users were proportionally more likely to react positively to corrections and we observed that different message tones made particular user groups more likely to react to the bot.

Quantifying the impact of misinformation and vaccine-skeptical content on Facebook.

Low uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine in the US has been widely attributed to social media misinformation. To evaluate this claim, we introduce a framework combining lab experiments (total N = 18,725), crowdsourcing, and machine learning to estimate the causal effect of 13,206 vaccine-related URLs on the vaccination intentions of US Facebook users (N ≈ 233 million). We estimate that the impact of unflagged content that nonetheless encouraged vaccine skepticism was 46-fold greater than that of misinformation flagged by fact-checkers. Although misinformation reduced predicted vaccination intentions significantly more than unflagged vaccine content when viewed, Facebook users' exposure to flagged content was limited. In contrast, unflagged stories highlighting rare deaths after vaccination were among Facebook's most-viewed stories. Our work emphasizes the need to scrutinize factually accurate but potentially misleading content in addition to outright falsehoods.

Examining the role of community champions to promote vaccine uptake in under-served communities in the United Kingdom: Lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted how ethnic minority groups are disproportionally affected by health crises and the potential for community engagement to provide equitable public health information and services. Policymakers, practitioners, and academics have presented community engagement as a way to improve the access and uptake of health services, including vaccination, but the role of community members for health promotion is rarely questioned. We examine ‘community vaccine champions’, who have been acting as advocates, promoting engagement among ethnic minority groups for COVID-19 vaccination in different communities across the United Kingdom. Our research explores how champions working with minoritised groups have experienced and confronted the challenges brought on by the pandemic. Participants were invited to participate in this study as they worked with or for the Black or South Asian community (i.e., community leader, faith leader, or a public or allied health professional) and were working or had worked to increase COVID-19 vaccine uptake. From April 2021 until May 2022, we conducted 12 semi-structured interviews lasting 45–60 min via video call. The interviews were inductively coded and analysed following a discourse approach to health communication, where a focus is made to draw out underlying messages and talking points.Our findings highlight the range of different types of champions, who have a variety of roles within their respective community groups. Champions proved adaptive in taking on new positions to promote vaccination, with limited training and preparation, and found that being ‘grassroots’ actors positioned them well to both address local needs and to help build trust between authorities and their communities. A major issue that champions found was the use of ethnic minority classifications and how to address misinformation. Classifications were seen as a problem in how relevant data was collected, as well as in assigning blame to certain groups. Champions also stressed the influence of media and social media misinformation on vaccine decision-making. Still, our informants cautioned taking action based on simplistic assumptions about how misinformation negatively affects vaccine uptake. We conclude by setting out the need for ongoing community support for health issues and the challenges of community engagement for vaccine promotion in a pandemic setting.

Gaming with health misinformation: a social capital-based study of corrective information sharing factors in social media.

Correction is an important tool to reduce the negative impact of health misinformation on social media. In the era of "I share, therefore I am" social media, users actively share corrective information to achieve the "anti-convincing" effect of health misinformation. Focusing on the local Chinese context, this study constructs a structural equation model using social capital as a mediating variable to explore whether usage of Chinese users' social media can promote corrective information sharing by influencing the structural, cognitive, and relational dimensions of social capital and the role of health literacy in corrective information sharing. It was found that social media use did not significantly affect corrective information share willingness but significantly influenced share willingness through social interaction connections, trust, and shared experiences, and share willingness significantly influenced sharing behavior. The moderating effect showed that health literacy played a significant moderating effect in the influence of corrective information share willingness on sharing behavior. This study introduces the three dimensions of social capital at the theoretical level and finds that users will share corrective information for the purpose of social capital accumulation. It also provides empirical evidence for specific practices, including improving users' health literacy and actively mobilizing them to participate in the blocking and management of health misinformation in social media.

Navigating parental attitudes on childhood vaccination in Jordan: a cross-sectional study

ABSTRACT This study investigated parental attitudes toward childhood vaccination in Jordan, focusing on acceptance, concerns, and perceptions. A cross-sectional survey conducted from January to February 2024 included 939 parents. Findings indicated that 85.4% (n = 802) of respondents received the COVID-19 vaccine, while only 25% (n = 229) vaccinated their children. Concerns regarding vaccine safety and efficacy were prevalent, with 63.9% (n = 600) expressing worries about side effects and 46.9% (n = 440) trusting immunization programs. Post-pandemic, 34% (n = 319) reported a more negative attitude. Logistic regression showed parents not vaccinating their children against COVID-19 were significantly less likely to exhibit positive attitudes toward childhood vaccination (OR = 0.412, p < 0.001). Older participants were more inclined toward negativity post-pandemic (OR = 1.031, p = 0.007). In conclusion, parental attitudes shifted post-COVID-19, reflecting hesitancy and decreased trust. Addressing concerns and restoring confidence are crucial, especially for children’s health. Education through healthcare providers and dispelling social media misinformation are essential. Implementing strategies to enhance post-pandemic vaccine acceptance is imperative for preventing outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases.

Changing User Behavior in Decisions to Share COVID-19 Misinformation: An Implicit Association Test Study

Making medical decisions while distracted when receiving COVID-19 misinformation can majorly impact a person's life and even lead to death. Blatantly sharing COVID-19 misinformation is a significant problem of human behavior that triggers a speed-up and acceleration in the propagation and diffusion of misinformation in social media. While the latest research has focused on understanding the psychological dimensions of this phenomenon, few studies have explored the role of selective exposure and technological prevention when a person considers sharing COVID-19 misinformation, primarily through an Implicit Association Test (IAT). Our study identified and intervened in the association of user exposure between misinformation and implicit truth evaluations by using the Implicit Association Test (IAT) with "Misinformation vs. Fact Information or Positive vs. Negative Words”, 38 from 150 participants were either exposed to misinformation headlines or actual new headline posts on stimulants, in the form of images. We then measured participants' implicit truth evaluations and self-reported perceived accuracies of actual and of misinformation headlines using the Visual Selective Attention System (VSAS). After intervening, participants exposed to fake news headlines had lower implicit truth evaluations and increased perceived accuracy. This implies that exposure to fake news headlines after the intervention with the VSAS system may have directly affected implicit evaluations and changed user behavior in sharing COVID-19 misinformation.

Endometriosis on TikTok: Evaluating social media misinformation and the role of healthcare professionals

Introduction: TikTok is often the first source teens and young adult patients turn to for medical information, a short-form social media video application known to promote videos with inaccurate information. The primary goal of this study was to characterize popular endometriosis misinformation found on TikTok, with the secondary goal of describing attitudes surrounding endometriosis on TikTok so that physicians can be knowledgeable about the content available on the internet, and be prepared when patients talk about endometriosis misinformation. Methods: The top 100 videos under the three most popular endometriosis search terms were assessed for misinformation in four categories: incorrect causes, incorrect symptoms, incorrect treatment, and other incorrect information. Non-English, inaudible, duplicated, or irrelevant videos were excluded from analysis. Videos were analyzed until 100 valid videos were identified in each search term. Metadata was collected, including whether the video was created by a physician or non-physician and attitudes toward endometriosis. Chi squares, Fisher’s Exact Tests, and Mann–Whitney U tests were performed as appropriate. Results: Of total, 298 videos met the eligibility criteria for review. Fifty videos were created by individual physicians and 248 were created by non-physicians. Overall, out of 298 videos, 69 videos (23%) had incorrect or misleading information about causes, treatment, symptoms, or information about endometriosis. Only 1% of the analyzed videos discussed medication management other than COCPs. Nonphysician sources were associated with negative attitudes ( p &lt; 0.003). Nonphysician videos were more likely to contain misinformation in at least one category, compared to physician videos ( p &lt; 0.0008). Despite the greater volume of non-physician videos, those created by physicians were more likely to be shared. Misinformation from non-physician sources was associated with positive/neutral attitudes toward endometriosis and treatment ( p &lt; 0.00002). Discussion: This study reveals that TikTok hosts a high volume of endometriosis misinformation, especially about endometrosis treatments. Popular TikTok misinformation tends not to reflect traditional misconceptions, but rather modern misinformation trends of holistic health and “wellness.” Physicians should be prepared to have respectful discussions about endometriosis treatments found on TikTok without invalidating the emotions that led patients to seek information on the internet.

Playful PHI: Using Cognitive Behavioral Game Design (CBGD) to Create a COVID-19 Prevention Game, Vaccine Nation

During the Covid-19 pandemic, scientists and public health organizations such as the CDC and the WHO promoted health guidelines to the public. However, social media misinformation, social stigma, and a drastic change in lifestyle lead to reduced compliance or non-compliance with these measures. As a result, playful public health messaging emerged as an attempt to increase health literacy around Covid-19 preventative practices, one of which was the tower defense game, Vaccine Nation. This article outlines the design principles of Cognitive Behavioral Game Design (CBGD) and how they were used to design the tower-defense game Vaccine Nation, incorporating recommended health interventions including isolating, hand hygiene, social distancing, wearing masks, and eventually getting vaccinated.

Current issues and status of mis/disinformation in the health library context: a rapid literature review

The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has caused not only a pandemic and global health crisis but also widespread misinformation in social media and published literature (Epstein, 2022). Healthcare providers have an important role in informing patients and the public with relevant knowledge and to suppress misinformation at all information access points (Epstein, 2022). Healthcare workers are themselves also vulnerable to misinformation. Health sciences librarians have a responsibility to dispel this mis/disinformation via providing accurate resources and health information literacy.

SOCIAL MEDIA LITERACY AND FAKE NEWS ACUMEN: A STUDY ON THE LOCUS OF YOUTH IN COIMBATORE CITY

Many studies have questioned to what degree of higher media literacy can help fight the flow of misinformation in social media. How can social media literacy help to fight against misinformation and maintain digital hygiene? Conventional media literacy is the ability to distinguish fact from opinion, and to comprehend how media can be used to influence people. Facts are truthful reports of when, where, why and how the event has happened or what exists, and opinions are the interpretations of the meaning or impact, usually from an individual's point of view Kerry Gallagher &amp; Magid (2017). The study analyzed the contents and competencies, required for an individual to become a social media literate and thereby distinguish fake and fact news in social media using a conceptual framework developed by Cho et. al. (2022). Results reveals that there is no “One size fits all” solution to develop media literacy among youth, but more initiatives and awareness programmes can be conducted and included in curriculum to educate and make aware on the pros and cons of using social media and also various tools available for fact checking in the internet.

Enhancing the Fight against Social Media Misinformation: An Ensemble Deep Learning Framework for Detecting Deepfakes

Enhancing the Fight against Social Media Misinformation: An Ensemble Deep Learning Framework for Detecting Deepfakes

S1743 Medical Misinformation in Social Media: Representation of Gastrointestinal Disorders on a Short Video Platform

S1743 Medical Misinformation in Social Media: Representation of Gastrointestinal Disorders on a Short Video Platform

A Mild Approach to Prebunking Health Misinformation in Social Media: Digital Nudging

ABSTRACTThe governance of health misinformation has been a hot topic in both social practice and academic research. Due to its proactive and timely nature, prebunking represents an emerging and efficacious intervention. However, previous research on prebunking primarily focuses on presenting arguments or techniques to the public in a direct and coercive manner, which remains limited in its scope and efficacy. This study aims to implement prebunking in social media by utilizing a milder approach, namely digital nudging. We conduct a web‐based pre‐experiment to test the effectiveness of warning, social and disclosure nudge, and obtain data from 104 participants. The preliminary results show that the warning and social nudge can mitigate the credibility of misinformation and decrease individual's sharing likelihood. Furthermore, eHealth literacy acts as the moderator in the impact of social nudge. This study broadens the comprehensions of the misinformation governance and digital nudging, and furnishes practical implications for the implementation of prebunking in social media.

Seeing is Not Believing: A Nuanced View of Misinformation Warning Efficacy on Video-Sharing Social Media Platforms

Misinformation warnings have become the de facto solution for fighting fake news online. Our study brings attention to the challenge of developing effective misinformation warnings on short video-sharing platforms. We conducted semi-structured interviews with the think-aloud protocol to understand how users interact with and perceive misinformation warnings, specifically the interstitial and contextual warnings adopted by TikTok and Instagram Reels. We recruited 28 regular users of TikTok and Instagram Reels for this study. We contribute to the evolving scholarship on social media misinformation mitigation by casting light on nuanced participant interactions with and perceptions of misinformation warnings and how these interactions and perceptions influence the perceived accuracy of short video content. Our findings are threefold. First, the present study shows that specific contextual warnings do not always elicit behavioral adherence but can alert users to be vigilant about misinformation. Second, users' perceptions of interstitial and contextual warnings are influenced by the warning's explicitness and the risk level of the misinformation. Third, we identify the least and most effective/favored warning designs to help make accuracy judgments according to the participants. To this end, our findings have implications for improving the design of misinformation warnings on short video-sharing platforms.