IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/iimkoz/v11y2022i1p146-159.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Rethinking Fake News: Disinformation and Ideology during the time of COVID-19 Global Pandemic

Author

Listed:
  • Ronnie Das
  • Wasim Ahmed

Abstract

Digital media and citizen journalism has escalated the infiltration of fake news attempting to create a post truth society (Lazer et al., 2018). The COVID-19 pandemic has seen a surge of misinformation leading to anti-mask, anti-vaccine and anti-5G protests on a global scale. Although the term ‘misinformation’ has been generalized in media and scholarly work, there is a fundamental difference between how misinformation impacts society, compared to more strategically planned disinformation attacks. In this study we explore the ideological constructs of citizens towards acceptance or rejection of disinformation during the heightened time of a COVID-19 global health crisis. Our analysis follows two specific disinformation propagandas evaluated through social network analysis of Twitter data in addition to qualitative insights generated from tweets and in-depth interviews.

Suggested Citation

  • Ronnie Das & Wasim Ahmed, 2022. "Rethinking Fake News: Disinformation and Ideology during the time of COVID-19 Global Pandemic," IIM Kozhikode Society & Management Review, , vol. 11(1), pages 146-159, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:iimkoz:v:11:y:2022:i:1:p:146-159
    DOI: 10.1177/22779752211027382
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/22779752211027382
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/22779752211027382?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Karuna Krishna Gauns & Subhash Kizhakanveatil Bhaskaran Pillai & Kaustubh Kamat & Ruey Feng Chen & Ling-Chen Chang, 2018. "Impact of Celebrity Endorsement on Consumer Buying Behaviour in the State of Goa," IIM Kozhikode Society & Management Review, , vol. 7(1), pages 45-58, January.
    2. Sahil Loomba & Alexandre Figueiredo & Simon J. Piatek & Kristen Graaf & Heidi J. Larson, 2021. "Measuring the impact of COVID-19 vaccine misinformation on vaccination intent in the UK and USA," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 5(3), pages 337-348, March.
    3. Jay J. Van Bavel & Katherine Baicker & Paulo S. Boggio & Valerio Capraro & Aleksandra Cichocka & Mina Cikara & Molly J. Crockett & Alia J. Crum & Karen M. Douglas & James N. Druckman & John Drury & Oe, 2020. "Using social and behavioural science to support COVID-19 pandemic response," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 4(5), pages 460-471, May.
    4. Marius K. Luedicke & Craig J. Thompson & Markus Giesler, 2010. "Consumer Identity Work as Moral Protagonism: How Myth and Ideology Animate a Brand-Mediated Moral Conflict," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 36(6), pages 1016-1032, April.
    5. Evelina Francisco & Nadira Fardos & Aakash Bhatt & Gulhan Bizel, 2021. "Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Instagram and Influencer Marketing," International Journal of Marketing Studies, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 13(2), pages 1-20, June.
    6. Rohit Varman & Russell W. Belk, 2009. "Nationalism and Ideology in an Anticonsumption Movement," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 36(4), pages 686-700, December.
    7. Payal S. Kapoor & K.R. Jayasimha & Ashish Sadh, 2013. "Brand-related, Consumer to Consumer, Communication via Social Media," IIM Kozhikode Society & Management Review, , vol. 2(1), pages 43-59, January.
    8. Wang, Yuxi & McKee, Martin & Torbica, Aleksandra & Stuckler, David, 2019. "Systematic Literature Review on the Spread of Health-related Misinformation on Social Media," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 240(C).
    9. Islam, A.K.M. Najmul & Laato, Samuli & Talukder, Shamim & Sutinen, Erkki, 2020. "Misinformation sharing and social media fatigue during COVID-19: An affordance and cognitive load perspective," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    10. Kris Hartley & Minh Khuong Vu, 2020. "Fighting fake news in the COVID-19 era: policy insights from an equilibrium model," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 53(4), pages 735-758, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Stefano Bruzzese & Wasim Ahmed & Simone Blanc & Filippo Brun, 2022. "Ecosystem Services: A Social and Semantic Network Analysis of Public Opinion on Twitter," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(22), pages 1-15, November.
    2. Soledad García-García & Raquel Rodríguez-Díaz, 2023. "Official Information on Twitter during the Pandemic in Spain," Societies, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-20, April.
    3. Daniel Catalan-Matamoros & Andrea Langbecker, 2023. "How Does the Public Receive Information about Vaccines during the COVID-19 Pandemic? A Nationwide Cross-Sectional Study in Spain," Societies, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-11, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Xia, Huosong & Wang, Yuan & Zhang, Justin Zuopeng & Zheng, Leven J. & Kamal, Muhammad Mustafa & Arya, Varsha, 2023. "COVID-19 fake news detection: A hybrid CNN-BiLSTM-AM model," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).
    2. Jiang, Peng & Klemeš, Jiří Jaromír & Fan, Yee Van & Fu, Xiuju & Tan, Raymond R. & You, Siming & Foley, Aoife M., 2021. "Energy, environmental, economic and social equity (4E) pressures of COVID-19 vaccination mismanagement: A global perspective," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 235(C).
    3. Michal Carrington & Andreas Chatzidakis & Helen Goworek & Deirdre Shaw, 2021. "Consumption Ethics: A Review and Analysis of Future Directions for Interdisciplinary Research," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 168(2), pages 215-238, January.
    4. Zhao, Xiaoquan & Horoszko, Urszula A. & Murphy, Amy & Taylor, Bruce G. & Lamuda, Phoebe A. & Pollack, Harold A. & Schneider, John A. & Taxman, Faye S., 2023. "Openness to change among COVID misinformation endorsers: Associations with social demographic characteristics and information source usage," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 335(C).
    5. Richet, Jean-Loup & Currás-Móstoles, Rosa & Martín, José María Martín, 2024. "Complexity in online collective assessments: Implications for the wisdom of the crowd," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    6. Simon Chadwick & Alex Fenton & Richard Dron & Wasim Ahmed, 2021. "Social Media Conversations About High Engagement Sports Team Brands," IIM Kozhikode Society & Management Review, , vol. 10(2), pages 178-191, July.
    7. Islam, Asad & Kusnadi, Gita & Rezki, Jahen & Sim, Armand & van Empel, Giovanni & Vlassopoulos, Michael & Zenou, Yves, 2024. "Addressing vaccine hesitancy using local ambassadors: A randomized controlled trial in Indonesia," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    8. Gabriele Beccari & Matilde Giaccherini & Joanna Kopinska & Gabriele Rovigatti, 2023. "Refueling a Quiet Fire: Old Truthers and New Discontent in the Wake of Covid-19," CESifo Working Paper Series 10803, CESifo.
    9. Sirola, Anu & Nuckols, Julia & Nyrhinen, Jussi & Wilska, Terhi-Anna, 2022. "The use of the Dark Web as a COVID-19 information source: A three-country study," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    10. Stoeckl, Verena E. & Luedicke, Marius K., 2015. "Doing well while doing good? An integrative review of marketing criticism and response," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 68(12), pages 2452-2463.
    11. Nan, Xiaoli & Wang, Yuan & Thier, Kathryn, 2022. "Why do people believe health misinformation and who is at risk? A systematic review of individual differences in susceptibility to health misinformation," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 314(C).
    12. Vanda Veréb & Helena Nobre & Minoo Farhangmehr, 2022. "Cosmopolitan tourists: the most resilient travellers in the face of COVID-19," Service Business, Springer;Pan-Pacific Business Association, vol. 16(3), pages 503-527, September.
    13. Balakrishnan, Vimala & Ng, Kee S. & Rahim, Hajar Abdul, 2021. "To share or not to share – The underlying motives of sharing fake news amidst the COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    14. Xiangyu Wang & Min Zhang & Weiguo Fan & Kang Zhao, 2022. "Understanding the spread of COVID‐19 misinformation on social media: The effects of topics and a political leader's nudge," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 73(5), pages 726-737, May.
    15. Giulietti, Corrado & Vlassopoulos, Michael & Zenou, Yves, 2021. "When Reality Bites: Local Deaths and Vaccine Take-Up," GLO Discussion Paper Series 999, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    16. Yiting Guo & Jason Shachat & Matthew J. Walker & Lijia Wei, 2021. "Viral social media videos can raise pro-social behaviours when an epidemic arises," Journal of the Economic Science Association, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 7(2), pages 120-138, December.
    17. Tobias Schlager & Ashley V. Whillans, 2022. "People underestimate the probability of contracting the coronavirus from friends," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-11, December.
    18. Laliotis, Ioannis & Minos, Dimitrios, 2022. "Religion, social interactions, and COVID-19 incidence in Western Germany," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    19. Noor Hasmini Binti Abd Ghani & Mohammad Kashedul Wahab Tuhin, 2016. "Consumer Brand Relationships," International Review of Management and Marketing, Econjournals, vol. 6(4), pages 950-957.
    20. Jesper Akesson & Sam Ashworth-Hayes & Robert Hahn & Robert Metcalfe & Itzhak Rasooly, 2022. "Fatalism, beliefs, and behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 64(2), pages 147-190, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:iimkoz:v:11:y:2022:i:1:p:146-159. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.