The Networked Context of COVID-19 Misinformation: Informational Homogeneity on YouTube at the Beginning of the Pandemic.

ABSTRACT: During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the video-sharing platform YouTube has been serving as an essential instrument to widely distribute news related to the global public health crisis and to allow users to discuss the news with each other in the comment sections. Along with these enhanced opportunities of technology-based communication, there is an overabundance of information and, in many cases, misinformation about current events. In times of a pandemic, the spread of misinformation can have direct detrimental effects, potentially influencing citizens' behavioral decisions (e.g., to not socially distance) and putting collective health at risk. Misinformation could be especially harmful if it is distributed in isolated news cocoons that homogeneously provide misinform

SUBMITTER: Rochert D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8413843 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature