MP Twitter Abuse in the Age of COVID-19: White Paper

Abstract: As COVID-19 sweeps the globe, outcomes depend on effective relationships between the public and decision-makers. In the UK there were uncivil tweets to MPs about perceived UK tardiness to go into lockdown. The pandemic has led to increased attention on ministers with a role in the crisis. However, generally this surge has been civil. Prime minister Boris Johnson's severe illness with COVID-19 resulted in an unusual peak of supportive responses on Twitter. Those who receive more COVID-19 mentions in their replies tend to receive less abuse (significant negative correlation). Following Mr Johnson's recovery, with rising economic concerns and anger about lockdown violations by influential figures, abuse levels began to rise in May. 1,902 replies to MPs within the study period were found containing hashtags or terms that refute the existence of the virus (e.g. #coronahoax, #coronabollocks, 0.04% of a total 4.7 million replies, or 9% of the number of mentions of "stay home save lives" and variants). These have tended to be more abusive. Evidence of some members of the public believing in COVID-19 conspiracy theories was also found. Higher abuse levels were associated with hashtags blaming China for the pandemic.