Disinformation of text mining online about tobacco and the COVID-19 discussed on Sina Weibo
Introduction During the COVID-19 pandemic, various types of disinformation have emerged from the media. This study focuses on the online disinformation about tobacco and the COVID-19 on the Sina Weibo, the Chinese largest new media microblog platform. Material and Methods The related posts from the...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
European Publishing
2021-10-01
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| Series: | Tobacco Induced Diseases |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.tobaccoinduceddiseases.org/Disinformation-of-text-mining-online-about-tobacco-and-the-nCOVID-19-discussed-on,142776,0,2.html |
| _version_ | 1818343243411095552 |
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| author | Di Zhang* Bing Fang* Ling Yang Yuyang Cai |
| author_facet | Di Zhang* Bing Fang* Ling Yang Yuyang Cai |
| author_sort | Di Zhang* |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Introduction
During the COVID-19 pandemic, various types of disinformation have
emerged from the media. This study focuses on the online disinformation about
tobacco and the COVID-19 on the Sina Weibo, the Chinese largest new media
microblog platform.
Material and Methods
The related posts from the beginning of the epidemic in December 2019
to 19 January 2021 were searched. Text mining technology was applied on
these posts to identify content on ‘smoking can prevent COVID-19’. Descriptive
research was used to analyze the dataset.
Results
Among the 912 original posts, 508 informative posts were selected after
artificial recognition, including 112 posts of spreading disinformation and 396
which dispel the disinformation. Of the disinformation posts, 74% (83/112) cited
the results of scientific research, and 17% (19/112) mentioned that smog from
burning Asian wormwood could prevent COVID-19. By analyzing the public’s
comments on these 112 disinformation posts, it was suggested that about 12% of
the comments were in support, and 88% of the posts were opposed or invalid. The
proportion of supportive comments on pseudo-scientific information was higher
than on plain disinformation, 21% and 9%, respectively.
Conclusions
The disinformation of promoting smoking as a way to prevent
COVID-19 has the typical feature of using pseudo-scientific arguments to package
disinformation, making it very difficult for readers without professional knowledge
to identify. Such actions harm both tobacco control and COVID-19 prevention. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-13T16:27:29Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c58fd95b919843a69673aad8af2ea6e1 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1617-9625 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-13T16:27:29Z |
| publishDate | 2021-10-01 |
| publisher | European Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Tobacco Induced Diseases |
| spelling | doaj.art-c58fd95b919843a69673aad8af2ea6e12022-12-21T23:38:35ZengEuropean PublishingTobacco Induced Diseases1617-96252021-10-0119October1310.18332/tid/142776142776Disinformation of text mining online about tobacco and the COVID-19 discussed on Sina WeiboDi Zhang*0Bing Fang*1Ling Yang2Yuyang Cai3Department of Geriatrics, Xinhua Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, ChinaDepartment of Information Management, School of Management, Shanghai University, Shanghai, ChinaDepartment of Geriatrics, Xinhua Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, ChinaSchool of Public Health, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, ChinaIntroduction During the COVID-19 pandemic, various types of disinformation have emerged from the media. This study focuses on the online disinformation about tobacco and the COVID-19 on the Sina Weibo, the Chinese largest new media microblog platform. Material and Methods The related posts from the beginning of the epidemic in December 2019 to 19 January 2021 were searched. Text mining technology was applied on these posts to identify content on ‘smoking can prevent COVID-19’. Descriptive research was used to analyze the dataset. Results Among the 912 original posts, 508 informative posts were selected after artificial recognition, including 112 posts of spreading disinformation and 396 which dispel the disinformation. Of the disinformation posts, 74% (83/112) cited the results of scientific research, and 17% (19/112) mentioned that smog from burning Asian wormwood could prevent COVID-19. By analyzing the public’s comments on these 112 disinformation posts, it was suggested that about 12% of the comments were in support, and 88% of the posts were opposed or invalid. The proportion of supportive comments on pseudo-scientific information was higher than on plain disinformation, 21% and 9%, respectively. Conclusions The disinformation of promoting smoking as a way to prevent COVID-19 has the typical feature of using pseudo-scientific arguments to package disinformation, making it very difficult for readers without professional knowledge to identify. Such actions harm both tobacco control and COVID-19 prevention.http://www.tobaccoinduceddiseases.org/Disinformation-of-text-mining-online-about-tobacco-and-the-nCOVID-19-discussed-on,142776,0,2.htmltobaccocovid-19text miningdisinformationnew media |
| spellingShingle | Di Zhang* Bing Fang* Ling Yang Yuyang Cai Disinformation of text mining online about tobacco and the COVID-19 discussed on Sina Weibo Tobacco Induced Diseases tobacco covid-19 text mining disinformation new media |
| title | Disinformation of text mining online about tobacco and the
COVID-19 discussed on Sina Weibo |
| title_full | Disinformation of text mining online about tobacco and the
COVID-19 discussed on Sina Weibo |
| title_fullStr | Disinformation of text mining online about tobacco and the
COVID-19 discussed on Sina Weibo |
| title_full_unstemmed | Disinformation of text mining online about tobacco and the
COVID-19 discussed on Sina Weibo |
| title_short | Disinformation of text mining online about tobacco and the
COVID-19 discussed on Sina Weibo |
| title_sort | disinformation of text mining online about tobacco and the covid 19 discussed on sina weibo |
| topic | tobacco covid-19 text mining disinformation new media |
| url | http://www.tobaccoinduceddiseases.org/Disinformation-of-text-mining-online-about-tobacco-and-the-nCOVID-19-discussed-on,142776,0,2.html |
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