How Shades of Truth and Age Affect Responses to COVID-19 (Mis)Information: Randomized Survey Experiment among WhatsApp Users in UK and Brazil

Santosh Vijaykumar, Yan Jin, Claudia Pagliari

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract / Description of output

We examined how age and exposure to different types of COVID-19 (mis)information affect misinformation beliefs, perceived credibility of the message and intention-to-share it on WhatsApp. Through two mixed-design online experiments in the UK and Brazil (total N = 1454) we first randomly exposed adult WhatsApp users to full misinformation, partial misinformation, or full truth about the therapeutic powers of garlic to cure COVID-19. We then exposed all participants to corrective information from the World Health Organisation debunking this claim. We found stronger misinformation beliefs among younger adults (18–54) in both the UK and Brazil and possible backfire effects of corrective information among older adults (55+) in the UK. Corrective information from the WHO was effective in enhancing perceived credibility and intention-to-share of accurate information across all groups in both countries. Our findings call for evidence-based infodemic interventions by health agencies, with greater engagement of younger adults in pandemic misinformation management efforts.
Original languageEnglish
JournalHumanities and Social Sciences Communications
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 23 Mar 2021

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

  • Infodemic
  • Misinformation
  • Infectious diseases
  • Social Media
  • Pandemic
  • COVID19
  • Communication Science
  • Digital Health
  • Digital Ethics
  • UK
  • Brazil
  • Global Health

Access to Document

  • Shades of Truth: How shades of truth and age affect responses to COVID-19 (Mis)information: randomized survey experiment among WhatsApp users in UK and Brazil

    Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

    Final published version, 986 KBLicence: Creative Commons: Attribution (CC-BY)

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'How Shades of Truth and Age Affect Responses to COVID-19 (Mis)Information: Randomized Survey Experiment among WhatsApp Users in UK and Brazil'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.
    View full fingerprint

    • A Public Health Research Agenda for Managing Infodemics: Methods and Results of the First WHO Infodemiology Conference

      Calleja, N., Abdallah, A., Abad, N., Ahmed, N., Albarracin, D., Altieri, E., Anoko, J. N., Arcos, R., Azlan, A. A., Bayer, J., Bechmann, A., Bezbaruah, S., Briand, S. C., Brooks, I., Bucci, L. M., Burzo, S., Czerniak, C., De Domenico, M., Dunn, A. G., Ecker, U. K. H., & 52 othersEspinosa, L., Francois, C., Gradon, K., Gruzd, A., Gülgün, B. S., Haydarov, R., Hurley, C., Astuti, S. I., Ishizumi, A., Johnson, N., Johnson Restrepo, D., Kajimoto, M., Koyuncu, A., Kulkarni, S., Lamichhane, J., Lewis, R., Mahajan, A., Mandil, A., Mcaweeney, E., Messer, M., Moy, W., Ndumbi Ngamala, P., Nguyen, T., Nunn, M., Omer, S. B., Pagliari, C., Patel, P., Phuong, L., Prybylski, D., Rashidian, A., Rempel, E., Rubinelli, S., Sacco, P., Schneider, A., Shu, K., Smith, M., Sufehmi, H., Tangcharoensathien, V., Terry, R., Thacker, N., Trewinnard, T., Turner, S., Tworek, H., Uakkas, S., Vraga, E., Wardle, C., Wasserman, H., Wilhelm, E., Würz, A., Yau, B., Zhou, L. & Purnat, T. D., 15 Sept 2021, In: JMIR Infodemiology. 1, 1, p. e30979

      Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

      Open Access

    • Digitally-enabled primary care: Past, present and prospects

      Pagliari, C., 2 Jul 2021, In: Journal of Global Health. 11, 01005, p. 1-9 9 p., 01005.

      Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

      Open Access
      File

    • The Shades of Truth Study Series - Visual Report: WhatsApp Research Awards for Social Science and Misinformation

      Vijaykumar, S., Pagliari, C., Jin, Y. & Rogerson, D., 17 Mar 2021, 26 p.

      Research output: Book/Report › Other report

      Open Access
      File
    View all 7 research outputs
    • 2 Invited talk
    • 1 Participation in workshop, seminar, course
    • 1 Types of Business and Community - Continuing Professional Development (CPD)/Training
    View all 4 activities

    Cite this