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Vaccination trials on hold: malicious and low credibility content on Twitter during the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine development

Author

Listed:
  • Sameera Horawalavithana

    (University of South Florida)

  • Ravindu Silva

    (SCoRe Lab)

  • Nipuna Weerasekara

    (SCoRe Lab)

  • N G Kin Wai

    (University of South Florida)

  • Mohamed Nabeel

    (Qatar Computing Research Institute)

  • Buddhini Abayaratna

    (SCoRe Lab)

  • Charitha Elvitigala

    (SCoRe Lab)

  • Primal Wijesekera

    (University of California, Berkeley)

  • Adriana Iamnitchi

    (Maastricht University)

Abstract

The development of COVID-19 vaccines during the global pandemic that started in 2020 was marked by uncertainty and misinformation reflected also on social media. This paper provides a quantitative evaluation of the Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) shared on Twitter around the clinical trials of the AstraZeneca vaccine and their temporary interruption in September 2020. We analyzed URLs cited in Twitter messages before and after the temporary interruption of the vaccine development on September 9, 2020 to investigate the presence of low credibility and malicious information. We show that the halt of the AstraZeneca clinical trials prompted tweets that cast doubt, fear and vaccine opposition. We discovered a strong presence of URLs from low credibility or malicious websites, as classified by independent fact-checking organizations or identified by web hosting infrastructure features. Moreover, we identified what appears to be coordinated operations to artificially promote some of these URLs hosted on malicious websites.

Suggested Citation

  • Sameera Horawalavithana & Ravindu Silva & Nipuna Weerasekara & N G Kin Wai & Mohamed Nabeel & Buddhini Abayaratna & Charitha Elvitigala & Primal Wijesekera & Adriana Iamnitchi, 2023. "Vaccination trials on hold: malicious and low credibility content on Twitter during the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine development," Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory, Springer, vol. 29(3), pages 448-469, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:comaot:v:29:y:2023:i:3:d:10.1007_s10588-022-09370-3
    DOI: 10.1007/s10588-022-09370-3
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Emilio Ferrara & Stefano Cresci & Luca Luceri, 2020. "Misinformation, manipulation, and abuse on social media in the era of COVID-19," Journal of Computational Social Science, Springer, vol. 3(2), pages 271-277, November.
    2. Lisa Singh & Leticia Bode & Ceren Budak & Kornraphop Kawintiranon & Colton Padden & Emily Vraga, 2020. "Understanding high- and low-quality URL Sharing on COVID-19 Twitter streams," Journal of Computational Social Science, Springer, vol. 3(2), pages 343-366, November.
    3. David Cyranoski & Smriti Mallapaty, 2020. "Scientists relieved as coronavirus vaccine trial restarts — but question lack of transparency," Nature, Nature, vol. 585(7825), pages 331-332, September.
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