COVID-19
Health scares and disease outbreaks have been accompanied by misinformation narratives throughout history, and the outbreak of novel coronavirus in late 2019 is no exception. This research topic explores intersections between misinformation, science, fear, and public health.
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Explore course modules, handouts, teaching tools and syllabi about dis- and misinformation.
Latest News on COVID-19
Meta has asked its Oversight Board whether its existing policy on the removal of COVID-19 misinformation — “introduced in extraordinary circumstances at the onset of the pandemic” — should be updated to lessen penalties for violations. The move, announced Tuesday, is part of the company’s ongoing efforts to find a balance between free speech and […]
By Seth Smalley
Facebook is turning to its “supreme court” to decide whether to end restrictions on Covid misinformation, more than two years after the company first started to take special action on posts promoting falsehoods about the disease. The social network is considering changing the way it deals with such misinformation by, for example, labelling it as […]
By Alex Hern
We evaluated the relationship between individual differences in cognitive reflection and the ability to discern between true and false COVID-19 information, trust in information sources for receiving COVID-19 information and willingness to pay (WTP) for masks, using a sample of 621 low- and middle-income users in Pakistan. To capture WTP, participants play an incentive-compatible game […]
By Ayesha Ali, Ihsan Ayyub Qazi
Abstract We conducted a nationally representative survey of parents’ beliefs and self-reported behaviors regarding childhood vaccinations. Using Bayesian selection among multivariate models, we found that beliefs, even those without any vaccine or health content, predicted vaccine-hesitant behaviors better than demographics, social network effects, or scientific reasoning. The multivariate structure of beliefs combined many types of […]
By Luke J. Matthews, Sarah A. Nowak, Courtney C. Gidengil, Christine Chen, Joseph M. Stubbersfield, Jamshid J. Tehrani, and Andrew M. Parker
The mother of four brought her children, ranging in age from grade school to high school, to the doctor’s office last summer for their annual checkup. When their pediatrician, Robert Froehlke, said that it was time for shots and several boosters and then mentioned the Covid vaccine, her reaction stunned him. “I’m not going to […]
By Moises Velasquez-Manoff
Meta has asked its Oversight Board whether its existing policy on the removal of COVID-19 misinformation — “introduced in extraordinary circumstances at the onset of the pandemic” — should be updated to lessen penalties for violations. The move, announced Tuesday, is part of the company’s ongoing efforts to find a balance between free speech and […]
By Seth SmalleyFacebook is turning to its “supreme court” to decide whether to end restrictions on Covid misinformation, more than two years after the company first started to take special action on posts promoting falsehoods about the disease. The social network is considering changing the way it deals with such misinformation by, for example, labelling it as […]
By Alex HernWe evaluated the relationship between individual differences in cognitive reflection and the ability to discern between true and false COVID-19 information, trust in information sources for receiving COVID-19 information and willingness to pay (WTP) for masks, using a sample of 621 low- and middle-income users in Pakistan. To capture WTP, participants play an incentive-compatible game […]
By Ayesha Ali, Ihsan Ayyub QaziAbstract We conducted a nationally representative survey of parents’ beliefs and self-reported behaviors regarding childhood vaccinations. Using Bayesian selection among multivariate models, we found that beliefs, even those without any vaccine or health content, predicted vaccine-hesitant behaviors better than demographics, social network effects, or scientific reasoning. The multivariate structure of beliefs combined many types of […]
By Luke J. Matthews, Sarah A. Nowak, Courtney C. Gidengil, Christine Chen, Joseph M. Stubbersfield, Jamshid J. Tehrani, and Andrew M. ParkerThe mother of four brought her children, ranging in age from grade school to high school, to the doctor’s office last summer for their annual checkup. When their pediatrician, Robert Froehlke, said that it was time for shots and several boosters and then mentioned the Covid vaccine, her reaction stunned him. “I’m not going to […]
By Moises Velasquez-Manoff