Empirical Investigation of the Relationship Between Fake News Information and Vaccination

Abstract

The well-known Covid-19 virus emerged in Wuhan, a province of China, in December 2019 and has since been declared a pandemic. World Health Organization used the term „infodemic” in the spring of 2020, which means too much information, including a lot of misinformation, is published about an epidemic, to point out that not only the virus but also the disinformation about it is spreading around the world at the same rate. We are still living in this era, in the shadow of „post-truth”, where news is more often believed on the basis of its emotional content than its veracity or source, significantly affecting the information
of society. The main aim of my research is to explore the fake news and emotions related to the crown virus. In this context, I investigated the types and spread of fake news
and the impact on audience. Using a keyword analysis on online platforms, I investigated the spread of fake news, its pace and why. A survey was launched for exploring thebeliefs as well as concerns, threats and susceptibility to pseudo-news related to pandemics. The latter three was analysed collectively as perceptions. The data obtained were later analysed using various statistical methods in the IBM SPSS program. Based on the data, I found that, except for vaccine-related pseudo-news, the Covid-19-related pseudo-news that were the most popular at the time of the virus’ release was the most prevalent during the first wave, compared to the others. I coulddemonstrate that with the emergence and mass use of antiviral antidotes to the virus, the online emergence of fake coronavirus news has been
reinvigorated. In a statistical analysis, I show that groups formed based on the beliefs in fake news are correlated with their perceptions of the virus. I found that responses to different pseudo-news are associated with individuals’ propensity to vaccinate.