Social Media Communication Analysis of Covid-19 Infodemic by Medical Practitioners in China

Abstract

We investigated the role of medical practitioners as misinformation and disinformation propagators during the COVID-19 infodemic in Chinese mainland. Based on content analysis of contents on Chinese social media, we applied spatiotemporal and network analyses to detect features. We find that professional backgrounds influence the composition and structure of contents. The dissemination correlated with temporal and spatial patterns of the epidemic and exhibited significant inputting features. Additionally, there are strong connections among propagators. Our research suggested that medical practitioners significantly contribute to the infodemic in Chinese social media. This could exacerbate post-pandemic societal distrust in the medical system, potentially having far-reaching implications for public health.

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Funding Information: None.

Conflict of Interests: Authors declare that they have no competing interests.