Enhancing Health Communication Strategies to Combat COVID-19 Infodemic Exposure: A cross-country study

Abstract

This paper explores the relationship between infodemic exposure and the reliance on different information sources during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. The research aims to identify the sources that create less infodemic exposure by using data from two studies with a 10-country sample. Study 1 examines infodemic exposure by analyzing 3,723,920 COVID-19 tweets, using 5 of 25 original variables, while Study 2 analyzes reliance on COVID-19 information sources by surveying 10,000 respondents, using 9 of 111 original variables. The findings suggest that people who rely on national government information sources tend to be less exposed to the infodemic, and there is a correlation between countries with higher COVID-19 confirmed cases and people's reliance on official information sources. Likewise, people from countries with more unverified bots tweeting about COVID-19 tend to rely less on family and friends and social media as sources. Scientists and health professionals are found to be the most trusted spokespeople, rather than politicians. Finally, the research shows that 70% of the countries in the sample showed a slight reduction in their exposure risk of exposure to the infodemic within 12 months of the pandemic's start. These findings suggest significant insights for infodemic debunking efforts by government departments, public health organizations, and media industries in a context of disinformation and artificial intelligence.