Infodemic Pathways: Evaluating the Role That Traditional and Social Media Play in Cross-National Information Transfer

Frontiers in Political Science

Oleg Zhilin¹  Derek Ruths¹  Aengus Bridgman²  Eric Merkley³  Peter John Loewen³  Taylor Owen⁴ 

[1] Department of Computer Science, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada;Department of Political Science, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada;Department of Political Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada;Max Bell School of Public Policy, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada;

关键词: social media;    infodemic;    COVID-19;    Canada;    misinformation;    Twitter;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpos.2021.648646

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

The COVID-19 pandemic has occurred alongside a worldwide infodemic where unprecedented levels of misinformation have contributed to widespread misconceptions about the novel coronavirus. Conspiracy theories, poorly sourced medical advice, and information trivializing the virus have ignored national borders and spread quickly. This information spread has occurred despite generally strong preferences for domestic national media and social media networks that tend to be geographically bounded. How, then, is (mis)information crossing borders so rapidly? Using social media and survey data, we evaluate the extent to which consumption and propagation patterns of domestic and international traditional news and social media can help inform theorizing about cross-national information spread. In a detailed case study of Canada, we employ a large multi-wave survey and a massive data set of Canadian Twitter users. We show that the majority of misinformation circulating on Twitter that is shared by Canadian accounts is retweeted from U.S.-based accounts. Moreover, exposure to U.S.-based media outlets is associated with COVID-19 misperceptions and increased exposure to U.S.-based information on Twitter is associated with an increased likelihood to post misinformation. We thus theorize and empirically identify a key globalizing infodemic pathway: disregard for national origin of social media posting.

【 授权许可】

Unknown