India biggest source of COVID-19 misinformation
A study published in the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions Journal has revealed that the largest amount of misinformation in the world regarding COVID-19 till now has been produced in India, and that prevalence of COVID-19 misinformation is often closely associated with the pandemic situation.
A study published recently in Sage Publishing’s International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions Journal has revealed that India has produced the largest amount of social media misinformation on COVID-19, and is far ahead of the second-placed among 138 countries.
It “analysed 9,657 pieces of misinformation that originated in 138 countries”, which were “fact-checked by 94 organisations to understand the prevalence and sources of misinformation in different countries”.
As per the report, published in August, “India (18.07 per cent) produced the largest amount of social media misinformation”.
The primary reasons cited by the study, titled ‘Prevalence and Source Analysis of COVID-19 Misinformation in 138 Countries’, are three: Higher internet penetration rate, increasing social media consumption and users’ lack of internet literacy.
The results also showed that India (15.94 per cent), the US (9.74 per cent), Brazil (8.57 per cent) and Spain (8.03 per cent) are the four most misinformation-affected countries.
The study says that the prevalence of COVID-19 misinformation is often closely associated with the pandemic situation.
Dividing the sources of misinformation, the study says that “social media (84.94 per cent) produces the largest amount of misinformation, and the internet (90.5 per cent) as a whole is responsible for most of the COVID-19 misinformation”.
“Moreover, Facebook alone produces 66.87 per cent of the misinformation among all social media platforms.”.
Earlier, the World Health Organisation (WHO) had also warned that false information on COVID-19 is spreading and putting people in danger. It had urged people to make sure to double-check everything they hear with trusted sources.
