A Retrospective Analysis of the COVID-19 Infodemic in Saudi Arabia

Alasmari, Ashwag; Addawood, Aseel; Nouh, Mariam; Rayes, Wajanat; Al-Wabil, Areej

doi:10.3390/fi13100254

Cited by 16 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…Similar results were observed in Saudi Arabia, where most misinformation is spread through WhatsApp. Of that, 46% was related to the pandemic [ 98 ]. Because of the widespread misinformation in Thailand, Mongkhon, Ruengorn, Awiphan, Thavorn, Hutton, Wongpakaran, Wongpakaran and Nochaiwong [ 99 ] revealed that those exposed for three or more hours in a day to misinformation were facing problems related to depression, anxiety, and insomnia.…”

Section: How Do Our Findings Compare With the Rest Of The World?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding Factors to COVID-19 Vaccine Adoption in Gujarat, India

Tolia

Singh

Deshpande

et al. 2022

IJERPH

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The COVID-19 pandemic has posed threats to human life across the globe, including India. Vaccinating is an effective means of addressing the pandemic threat. The government of India has implemented a massive vaccination drive to save its citizens from the deadly virus. However, the effort has faced multiple challenges, including vaccine hesitancy. This research understands respondents’ perspectives on factors contributing to the lower vaccination uptake in Gujarat, India. Forty-four semi-structured interviews were conducted through convenience sampling representing different demographic backgrounds. Factors influencing vaccine adoption included religious leadership, political leadership and the government, and fear of side effects, especially among children and those with co-morbidities, resulting primarily from fake news and misinformation circulated through social media. Compared with nine countries from across the world, the study found similarities to vaccine hesitancy from misinformation and the fear of side effects among children. In contrast, the role of government and the influence of religious and political leaders was considered positive. The study recommends strategies to overcome people’s apprehensions about the adoption of vaccination. These include offering incentives, providing positive peer-to-peer communication, recruiting influencers such as religious and community leaders and early adopters such as the elderly population to endorse vaccination, targeting youth through social media, and reaching rural sections by involving NGOs and social service groups.

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Section: How Do Our Findings Compare With the Rest Of The World?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding Factors to COVID-19 Vaccine Adoption in Gujarat, India

Tolia

Singh

Deshpande

et al. 2022

IJERPH

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“…Nevertheless, there is an urgent need for an examination of the scale of Arabic COVID-19 disinformation. Arabic, for example, is currently Facebook’s third-most common language [ 7 ] and a language spoken by more than 400 million people [ 8 ] in countries with significant social media presence [ 9 ]. Hence, this study attempts to fill a gap in the literature by examining social media data retrieved from Twitter to better understand the main online discussions that revolve around COVID-19 misinformation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These same videos were found circulating on messaging platforms, such as WhatsApp. As 1 of the world’s most popular messaging platforms and a significant source of COVID-19 misinformation [ 14 ], WhatsApp is suggested to be a vital source of rumors, with usage surpassing Twitter in Arab countries, such as Saudi Arabia [ 9 ]. Taken together, these studies provide an overview of the online ecosystem that allows Arabic COVID-19 disinformation to spread.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although various disinformation and misinformation narratives in Arabic spread on social media range from “full-throated conspiracy theories to unscientific health advice” [ 9 ], our review of the literature found that there is a focus on 3 categories of disinformation. These 3 categories are COVID-19 disinformation, government-targeted disinformation, and religious disinformation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Investigation of COVID-19 Misinformation in Arabic on Twitter: Content Analysis

Al-Rawi¹,

Fakida²,

Grounds³

2022

JMIR Infodemiology

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Background The COVID-19 pandemic has been occurring concurrently with an infodemic of misinformation about the virus. Spreading primarily on social media, there has been a significant academic effort to understand the English side of this infodemic. However, much less attention has been paid to the Arabic side. Objective There is an urgent need to examine the scale of Arabic COVID-19 disinformation. This study empirically examines how Arabic speakers use specific hashtags on Twitter to express antivaccine and antipandemic views to uncover trends in their social media usage. By exploring this topic, we aim to fill a gap in the literature that can help understand conspiracies in Arabic around COVID-19. Methods This study used content analysis to understand how 13 popular Arabic hashtags were used in antivaccine communities. We used Twitter Academic API v2 to search for the hashtags from the beginning of August 1, 2006, until October 10, 2021. After downloading a large data set from Twitter, we identified major categories or topics in the sample data set using emergent coding. Emergent coding was chosen because of its ability to inductively identify the themes that repeatedly emerged from the data set. Then, after revising the coding scheme, we coded the rest of the tweets and examined the results. In the second attempt and with a modified codebook, an acceptable intercoder agreement was reached (Krippendorff α≥.774). Results In total, we found 476,048 tweets, mostly posted in 2021. First, the topic of infringing on civil liberties (n=483, 41.1%) covers ways that governments have allegedly infringed on civil liberties during the pandemic and unfair restrictions that have been imposed on unvaccinated individuals. Users here focus on topics concerning their civil liberties and freedoms, claiming that governments violated such rights following the pandemic. Notably, users denounce government efforts to force them to take any of the COVID-19 vaccines for different reasons. This was followed by vaccine-related conspiracies (n=476, 40.5%), including a Deep State dictating pandemic policies, mistrusting vaccine efficacy, and discussing unproven treatments. Although users tweeted about a range of different conspiracy theories, mistrusting the vaccine’s efficacy, false or exaggerated claims about vaccine risks and vaccine-related diseases, and governments and pharmaceutical companies profiting from vaccines and intentionally risking the general public health appeared the most. Finally, calls for action (n=149, 12.6%) encourage individuals to participate in civil demonstrations. These calls range from protesting to encouraging other users to take action about the vaccine mandate. For each of these categories, we also attempted to trace the logic behind the different categories by exploring different types of conspiracy theories for each category. Conclusions Based on our findings, we were able to identify 3 prominent topics that were prevalent amongst Arabic speakers on Twitter. These categories focused on violations of civil liberties by governments, conspiracy theories about the vaccines, and calls for action. Our findings also highlight the need for more research to better understand the impact of COVID-19 disinformation on the Arab world.

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“…According to the World Health Organization, the COVID-19 pandemic has generated an infodemic (i.e., an abundance of digital or physical information that includes false or misleading news and causes confusion, disinformation, insecurity, and mistrust in government officials and health authorities) [ 1 ]. Besides mass media, the rapid spread of information through the Internet and social media contributed significantly to this phenomenon and hindered accurate and reliable information [ 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 ]. A meta-analysis on mainstream and social media information sources reflected the infodemic’s expansion, revealing 2311 reports from 87 countries containing COVID-19 related information, of which 82% were false [ 7 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perspectives on Mass Media and Governmental Measures during the 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic in a Romanian Sample of Healthcare Practitioners

Reisz

Crişan

2022

Healthcare

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Objective: Along with the rapid spread of the COVID-19 pandemic around the globe, a proliferation of mass media information exposed the population to an infodemic with various implications documented worldwide. The present study analyzed Romanian healthcare practitioners’ (HCPs) appraisal of COVID-19 mass media information and governmental measures throughout 2020, ranking vaccination priorities and moral values. Methods: 97 HCP completed a cross-sectional survey with items referring to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Results: Findings were consistent with other studies, indicating an overall negative appraisal of mass media information, which predicted anxiety and relaxation difficulties. Unlike other studies, our sample reported a moderate level of satisfaction with official measures in 2020, which was not related to their view on mass media information. The ranking of population categories in the vaccination order showed similarities with the governmental vaccination program in 2021. Despite placing freedom third after health and love in the hierarchy of values, HCPs showed a high tendency of limiting individual liberty for the common good. Conclusions: Results showed a dissociation between the overall negative appraisal of mass media information and the satisfaction with governmental measures in 2020. Romanian HCPs shared a secular perspective on moral values and assumed an authoritarian position.

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A Retrospective Analysis of the COVID-19 Infodemic in Saudi Arabia

Cited by 16 publications

References 30 publications

Understanding Factors to COVID-19 Vaccine Adoption in Gujarat, India

Understanding Factors to COVID-19 Vaccine Adoption in Gujarat, India

Investigation of COVID-19 Misinformation in Arabic on Twitter: Content Analysis

Perspectives on Mass Media and Governmental Measures during the 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic in a Romanian Sample of Healthcare Practitioners

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