By Iminza Keboge
Published April 6, 2020
One in three members of the public is misinformed about the Coronavirus pandemic by social media, particularly Twitter.
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A survey titled Going Viral: How Social Media Is Making the Coronavirus Worse, has found that close to 33% a of the public hold false views about the pandemic that began in China in December 2019 and has since killed 60 000 people, infected 1.1 million more and has disrupted economies and social order around the world.
The study, that sought to understand the role misinformation is playing in the crisis, surveyed 1 000 participants from a diverse range of ages and geographical locations to help understand the role misinformation is playing in the crisis besides analysing social media posts about the virus.
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The survey, by a United States of America-based organisation called Reboot Foundation that says its aims are ‘to better integrate critical thinking into the daily lives of people around the world’ and conducts surveys and opinion polls, leads its own research, and supports the work of university-affiliated scholars’, found that:
- 26 percent of the respondents thought the virus was likely to die off in the spring
- 10 percent thought regularly rinsing their nose with saline would help ward off the virus
- 12 percent believed COVID-19 was created by people
- 20 percent believed COVID-19 was not a serious threat
- 18 percent thought it was “extremely serious.”
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The research, that also investigated the effect higher rates of social media use had on participants’ responses, found that those who only checked social media infrequently were significantly less likely (22 percent) to be misinformed about the virus than those who checked them hourly or more (36 percent).
The study concluded that the information on social media about COVID-19 is high on volume but low on quality and that heavy users of social media tend to exhibit a poor understanding of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis.
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“Not only is social media rife with misinformation on Covid-19, but the more time people spend on platforms like Twitter, the less informed they are on the virus’ spread and its prevention. Heavy users of social media are also more likely to take a lackadaisical attitude toward the pandemic in general,” writes Helen Lee Bouygues, founder of Reboot Foundation, on forbes.com/.”Given the current pandemic, such erroneous beliefs and misinformation among the public could have dire consequences and may be deepening the crisis.”
Saying that “The Reboot study shows that there remains a lot of misinformation about Covid-19 circulating online” and that “social media continues to promote coronavirus myths”, Helen Lee Bouygues argues that “This is dangerous for individuals and society, and far more needs to be done to give the people reliable and actionable information about the virus and how they can best help prevent its spread.”
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