Communication of uncertainty about preliminary evidence and the spread of its inferred misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic—a Weibo case study
The rapid spread of preliminary scientific evidence is raising concerns on its role in producing misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic. This research investigated how the communication of uncertainty about preliminary evidence affects the spread of its inferred misinformation in a Weibo case s...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2022
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/154033 |
| _version_ | 1826117175970103296 |
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| author | Lu, Jiahui Zhang, Meishan Zheng, Yan Li, Qiyu |
| author2 | Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information |
| author_facet | Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information Lu, Jiahui Zhang, Meishan Zheng, Yan Li, Qiyu |
| author_sort | Lu, Jiahui |
| collection | NTU |
| description | The rapid spread of preliminary scientific evidence is raising concerns on its role in producing misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic. This research investigated how the communication of uncertainty about preliminary evidence affects the spread of its inferred misinformation in a Weibo case study. In total, 3439 Weibo posts and 10,380 reposts regarding the misinformation of pets transmitting COVID-19 were analyzed. The results showed that attitude ambiguity toward the preliminary evidence and the stage when the evidence was first released with uncertainty were associated with higher numbers of likes and retweets of misinformation posts. Our study highlights the internal sources of misinformation and revisits the contextual perspective in misinformation studies. |
| first_indexed | 2024-10-01T04:23:22Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | ntu-10356/154033 |
| institution | Nanyang Technological University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-10-01T04:23:22Z |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | ntu-10356/1540332022-06-08T01:19:22Z Communication of uncertainty about preliminary evidence and the spread of its inferred misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic—a Weibo case study Lu, Jiahui Zhang, Meishan Zheng, Yan Li, Qiyu Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information School of Computer Science and Engineering Social sciences::Communication Social Media COVID-19 The rapid spread of preliminary scientific evidence is raising concerns on its role in producing misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic. This research investigated how the communication of uncertainty about preliminary evidence affects the spread of its inferred misinformation in a Weibo case study. In total, 3439 Weibo posts and 10,380 reposts regarding the misinformation of pets transmitting COVID-19 were analyzed. The results showed that attitude ambiguity toward the preliminary evidence and the stage when the evidence was first released with uncertainty were associated with higher numbers of likes and retweets of misinformation posts. Our study highlights the internal sources of misinformation and revisits the contextual perspective in misinformation studies. Published version This research was supported by the Open Funding Project of the State Key Laboratory of Communication Content Cognition (grant number: 20G01) and the MICRON-NISTH Advancing Curiosity on Responsible AI Grant (Reg. No.: 200604393R). 2022-06-08T01:19:21Z 2022-06-08T01:19:21Z 2021 Journal Article Lu, J., Zhang, M., Zheng, Y. & Li, Q. (2021). Communication of uncertainty about preliminary evidence and the spread of its inferred misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic—a Weibo case study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(22), 11933-. https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182211933 1660-4601 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/154033 10.3390/ijerph182211933 34831688 2-s2.0-85118842084 22 18 11933 en International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). application/pdf |
| spellingShingle | Social sciences::Communication Social Media COVID-19 Lu, Jiahui Zhang, Meishan Zheng, Yan Li, Qiyu Communication of uncertainty about preliminary evidence and the spread of its inferred misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic—a Weibo case study |
| title | Communication of uncertainty about preliminary evidence and the spread of its inferred misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic—a Weibo case study |
| title_full | Communication of uncertainty about preliminary evidence and the spread of its inferred misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic—a Weibo case study |
| title_fullStr | Communication of uncertainty about preliminary evidence and the spread of its inferred misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic—a Weibo case study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Communication of uncertainty about preliminary evidence and the spread of its inferred misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic—a Weibo case study |
| title_short | Communication of uncertainty about preliminary evidence and the spread of its inferred misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic—a Weibo case study |
| title_sort | communication of uncertainty about preliminary evidence and the spread of its inferred misinformation during the covid 19 pandemic a weibo case study |
| topic | Social sciences::Communication Social Media COVID-19 |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/154033 |
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