COVID-19 as infodemic: The impact of political orientation and open-mindedness on the discernment of misinformation in WhatsApp

Abstract

Messaging applications are changing the communication landscape in emerging countries. While offering speed and affordability, these solutions have also opened the way for the spread of misinformation. Aiming to better understand the dynamics of COVID-19 as infodemic, we asked Brazilian participants (n=1007) to report the perceived accuracy of 20 messages (10 true and 10 false). Each message was randomly presented within five fictitious WhatsApp group chats of varying political orientation. Correlational analyses revealed that right-wing participants had lower levels of truth discernment as did those with greater trust in social media as a reliable source of coronavirus information. Conversely, open-minded thinking about evidence and trust in the WHO and traditional media was positively associated with truth discernment. Familiarity with the content consistently increased perceived truthness for both true and false messages. Results point to the nefarious effects of COVID-19 politicization and underline the importance of promoting the ability to recognize and value new evidence as well as enhancing trust in international agencies and traditional media.

Distractions, analytical thinking and falling for fake news: A survey of psychological factors

“…The type of information sources that one holds to be authoritative can indicate one's propensity to fall for fake news. Bonafé-Pontes et al (2021) found for Brazilian participants that those who trusted the credibility of social media news tended to be worse at truth discrimination; and conversely, those who trust the WHO and traditional media (newspapers, radio and television) tended to be better at truth discrimination. However, Tsang (2021) did not find any association between types of sources and the perception that a piece of "news" is false.…”