Related papers: Detecting Anti-Vaccine Users on Twitter
While most social media companies have attempted to address the challenge of COVID-19 misinformation, the success of those policies is difficult to assess, especially when focusing on individual platforms. This study explores the…
We present VaccinItaly, a project which monitors Italian online conversations around vaccines, on Twitter and Facebook. We describe the ongoing data collection, which follows the SARS-CoV-2 vaccination campaign roll-out in Italy and we…
At the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, numerous countries worldwide sought to mobilize vaccination campaigns in an attempt to curb the spread and number of deaths caused by the virus. One avenue in which information regarding COVID…
This paper reports the findings of a 606-participant study where we analyzed the perception and engagement effects of COVID-19 vaccine rumours on Twitter pertaining to (a) vaccine efficacy; and (b) mass immunization efforts in the United…
For more than a decade, doubt about vaccines has become an increasingly important global issue. Polarization of opinions on this matter, especially through social media, has been repeatedly observed, but details about the balance of forces…
Considering the global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), around the world several vaccines are being developed. Till now, these vaccines are the most effective way to reduce the high burden on the global health…
Vaccination represents a major public health intervention intended to protect against COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations. However, vaccine hesitancy due to misinformation/disinformation, especially among ethnic minority groups,…
Vaccine hesitancy is a complex issue with psychological, cultural, and even societal factors entangled in the decision-making process. The narrative around this process is captured in our everyday interactions; social media data offer a…
Empirical studies of online disinformation emphasize matters of public concern such as the COVID-19 pandemic, foreign election interference, and the Russo-Ukraine war, largely in studies that treat the topics separately. Comparatively fewer…
In this work, we study English-language vaccine discourse in social media posts, specifically posts on X (formerly Twitter), in seven years before the COVID-19 outbreak (2013 to 2019) and three years after the outbreak was first reported…
The spread of coronavirus and anti-vaccine conspiracies online hindered public health responses to the pandemic. We examined the content of external articles shared on Twitter from February to June 2020 to understand how conspiracy theories…
Miss-information is usually adjusted to fit distinct narratives and can propagate rapidly through communities of interest, which work as echo chambers, cause reinforcement and foster confirmation bias. False beliefs, once adopted, are…
Despite the astonishing success of COVID-19 vaccines against the virus, a substantial proportion of the population is still hesitant to be vaccinated, undermining governmental efforts to control the virus. To address this problem, we need…
An analysis drawing on Signal Detection Theory suggests that people may fall for misinformation because they are unable to discern true from false information (truth insensitivity) or because they tend to accept information with a…
Public health practitioners and policy makers grapple with the challenge of devising effective message-based interventions for debunking public health misinformation in cyber communities. "Framing" and "personalization" of the message is…
The rise of vaccine hesitancy has caused a resurgence of vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles and pertussis, alongside widespread skepticism and refusals of COVID-19 vaccinations. While categorizing individuals as either supportive…
Information regarding vaccines from sources such as health services, media, and social networks can significantly shape vaccination decisions. In particular, the dissemination of negative information can contribute to vaccine hesitancy,…
Very few social media studies have been done on South African user-generated content during the COVID-19 pandemic and even fewer using hand-labelling over automated methods. Vaccination is a major tool in the fight against the pandemic, but…
A significant gap exists in datasets regarding post-COVID-19 vaccination experiences, particularly ``vaccine buyer's remorse''. Understanding the prevalence and nature of vaccine regret, whether based on personal or vicarious experiences,…
The Covid-19 pandemic has sparked renewed attention on the prevalence of misinformation online, whether intentional or not, underscoring the potential risks posed to individuals' quality of life associated with the dissemination of…