A Deadly Infodemic: Social Media and the Power of COVID-19 Misinformation

Abstract

COVID-19 is currently the third leading cause of death in the United States, and unvaccinated people continue to die in high numbers. Vaccine hesitancy and vaccine refusal are fueled by COVID-19 misinformation and disinformation on social media platforms. This online COVID-19 infodemic has deadly consequences. In this editorial, the authors examine the roles that social media companies play in the COVID-19 infodemic and their obligations to end it. They describe how fake news about the virus developed on social media and acknowledge the initially muted response by the scientific community to counteract misinformation. The authors then challenge social media companies to better mitigate the COVID-19 infodemic, describing legal and ethical imperatives to do so. They close with recommendations for better partnerships with community influencers and implementation scientists, and they provide the next steps for all readers to consider. This guest editorial accompanies the Journal of Medical Internet Research special theme issue, “Social Media, Ethics, and COVID-19 Misinformation.”

COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy in South Africa: Lessons for Future Pandemics

“…This suggests that the public needs to understand how it was possible to develop COVID-19 vaccines so rapidly while still ensuring the safety of the vaccines. Such information should be communicated simply in order to aid understanding in a sea of information and misinformation circulating about COVID-19 vaccines [ 38 ].…”

“…This aligns with another one of our findings, that the fear of side effects prevented people from taking a COVID-19 vaccine, again illustrating the need for information regarding COVID-19 vaccines that readers can easily understand, engage with and use to make decisions. Authors such as Gisondi et al, (2022) [ 38 ] have raised concerns that the focus has largely been on developing vaccines but not on distributing reliable and easy-to-understand information about the vaccines. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has emphasised the role of governments in enhancing public trust in COVID-19 vaccination [ 41 ].…”

Cross-Verification of COVID-19 Information Obtained From Unofficial Social Media Accounts and Associated Changes in Health Behaviors: Web-Based Questionnaire Study Among Chinese Netizens

“…Furthermore, the high-frequency use of social media and search for information, rather than the time spent on social media, fostered the ability of groups to cross-verify information. This phenomenon was more commonly associated with the current practices of social media companies using algorithms that repeatedly drive similar content to users based on what they have recently browsed [ 67 ]. These algorithms reinforce COVID-19 misinformation for netizens who are incessantly immersed in social media and isolate them from reports on legitimate scientific evidence.…”

Reasons for the Intention to Refuse COVID-19 Vaccination and Their Association with Preferred Sources of Information in a Nationwide, Population-Based Sample in Italy, before COVID-19 Vaccines Roll Out

“…Since early 2020, when COVID-19 appeared, the latest trends of the pandemic were shared with the population by traditional mass media (newspapers, televisions) and emerging information channels, such as social media [1]. The same happened when the first reports on the safety and the efficacy of the new vaccines against COVID-19 were released; many sources of information had an important role in influencing public opinion and determining whether one wanted to get vaccinated [2].…”