"Covid-19 is a virus developed to rule the world"is just one of the many fake-news published on the Web. In this pandemic period, the Web is flooded with real news, allegedly true or blatantly false. To understand how fake news is affecting the Covid-19 perception, we selected 40 news (either true or fake) related to the origin, diffusion, treatment and effects of Covid-19 and we asked 293 volunteers to express their opinion on the truthfulness of the news. Then, we propose an Awareness index to compute knowledge degree of the volunteers. The results highlight a large ignorance on medical news, ignorance that goes beyond educational background. The study highlights the need for Health Institution to enter social media platforms in order to clearly explain what is true and what is false on Covid-19.
Furini M., Mirri S., Montangero M., Prandi C. (2020). Untangling between fake-news and truth in social media to understand the Covid-19 Coronavirus. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc. [10.1109/ISCC50000.2020.9219663].
Untangling between fake-news and truth in social media to understand the Covid-19 Coronavirus
Mirri S.;Prandi C.
2020
Abstract
"Covid-19 is a virus developed to rule the world"is just one of the many fake-news published on the Web. In this pandemic period, the Web is flooded with real news, allegedly true or blatantly false. To understand how fake news is affecting the Covid-19 perception, we selected 40 news (either true or fake) related to the origin, diffusion, treatment and effects of Covid-19 and we asked 293 volunteers to express their opinion on the truthfulness of the news. Then, we propose an Awareness index to compute knowledge degree of the volunteers. The results highlight a large ignorance on medical news, ignorance that goes beyond educational background. The study highlights the need for Health Institution to enter social media platforms in order to clearly explain what is true and what is false on Covid-19.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
