An Exploratory Study of COVID-19 Misinformation on Twitter (2005.05710v2)

Abstract: During the COVID-19 pandemic, social media has become a home ground for misinformation. To tackle this infodemic, scientific oversight, as well as a better understanding by practitioners in crisis management, is needed. We have conducted an exploratory study into the propagation, authors and content of misinformation on Twitter around the topic of COVID-19 in order to gain early insights. We have collected all tweets mentioned in the verdicts of fact-checked claims related to COVID-19 by over 92 professional fact-checking organisations between January and mid-July 2020 and share this corpus with the community. This resulted in 1 500 tweets relating to 1 274 false and 276 partially false claims, respectively. Exploratory analysis of author accounts revealed that the verified twitter handle(including Organisation/celebrity) are also involved in either creating (new tweets) or spreading (retweet) the misinformation. Additionally, we found that false claims propagate faster than partially false claims. Compare to a background corpus of COVID-19 tweets, tweets with misinformation are more often concerned with discrediting other information on social media. Authors use less tentative language and appear to be more driven by concerns of potential harm to others. Our results enable us to suggest gaps in the current scientific coverage of the topic as well as propose actions for authorities and social media users to counter misinformation.

An Exploratory Study of COVID-19 Misinformation on Twitter

The paper "An Exploratory Study of COVID-19 Misinformation on Twitter" by Shahi et al. provides an analytical examination of the dissemination and characteristics of misinformation related to the COVID-19 pandemic on Twitter. The paper spans from January to mid-July 2020, a period marked by an unprecedented surge in information sharing on social media due to the global health crisis.

Key Findings and Methodology

The research heavily relies on data sourced from tweets linked to fact-checked claims concerning COVID-19. These are collected through over 92 professional fact-checking organizations. This comprehensive data collection resulted in the analysis of 1,500 tweets, including those deemed completely false (1,274 tweets) and others considered partially false (276 tweets). By employing a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods, the exploratory paper illuminates several aspects of misinformation propagation concerning the pandemic.

Propagation Characteristics

One of the salient findings of the paper is the rapid dissemination speed of completely false claims compared to partially false claims. The research highlights that verified Twitter accounts—including prominent ones owned by organizations and celebrities—play a substantial role in either creating new misleading content or propagating existing misinformation through retweets. This is a critical observation that links the influence of high-profile accounts in the velocity at which misinformation spreads on Twitter.

Content Analysis and Emotional Tone

Through a combination of hashtag and emoji analyses, the paper depicts common themes and emotional nuances in tweets harboring misinformation. Interestingly, hashtags such as #fakenews and emojis conveying warnings or disapproval are recurrent, reflecting efforts by some users to discredit information perceived as false on social media. Furthermore, the linguistic inquiry using the LIWC (Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count) tool reveals that misinformation tweets tend to employ less tentative language with a distinct focus on the present context, diverging from the general discourse on COVID-19.

Account Analysis and Recommendation for Fact-Checking

Shahi et al. delve into the types of accounts disseminating false information, underscoring the role of brands (organizations and celebrities) in the network. The paper suggests that these accounts are pivotal conduits for spreading misinformation, given their extensive follower base and heightened engagement levels. As a countermeasure, the authors propose vigilant monitoring of such high-impact accounts and emphasize the need for fact-checking bodies to develop agile methods for identifying and mitigating misinformation sources swiftly.

Implications and Future Directions

The implications of this paper are twofold: practical and theoretical. Practically, the research suggests actionable recommendations for crisis managers and social media platforms to curb the infodemic, emphasizing the need for efficient misinformation detection systems and highlighting the role of authoritative accounts in the dissemination pipeline. From a theoretical perspective, the paper lays groundwork for further exploration into the typologies of misinformation and its cross-platform migration.

Future research should address the limitations identified by the authors, such as Twitter's API restrictions on obtaining historic reply data and the selection bias inherent in focusing solely on tweets tagged by fact-checkers. An examination of misinformation across various social networks with comprehensive longitudinal datasets could enhance understanding and provide a holistic approach to combating misinformation in crises.

In conclusion, this paper underscores the importance of addressing misinformation dynamically, with a structured analytical framework preemptively mitigating its impacts. It contributes invaluable insights into the mechanisms of misinformation spread on Twitter during the COVID-19 pandemic while advocating for collaborative intervention from fact-checkers and social media platforms.