Disinformation on COVID-19 vaccination on YouTube
research areas
timeframe
2021 - 2022
contact
e.humprecht@ikmz.uzh.ch
“Disinformation on COVID-19 vaccination on YouTube: An Analysis of Content, Impact, and Subsequent Verification Processes via Online Search”
Disinformation on COVID-19 vaccination on YouTube.
This project investigates dis- and misinformation on YouTube and connects both the producer and the recipient side via an innovative multi-method design. In a first step, the most frequently shared YouTube videos on social media that contain false or misleading information will be identified. These videos will be content-analysed and a typology will be created. In the second part of the project, prototype videos will be presented to respondents in order to record the effects of reception on opinion, knowledge and vaccination intention. By means of an eye-tracking experiment, it will also be investigated how the respondents proceed in their search for information online when they want to check received disinformation.
Background
Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, a large amount of mis- and disinformation on Covid-19 has been disseminated worldwide especially via the video platform YouTube. Disinformation related to Covid-19 vaccination can have a negative impact on vaccination readiness and therefore pose a problem for pandemic response.
Research Questions
- Which statements, actors, and attributions of responsibility can be found in mis- and disinformation on Covid-19 vaccination?
- How does the disinformation affect the willingness of Swiss citizens to vaccinate?
- How do Swiss citizens go about verifying and falsifying such disinformation through online information searches?
Project Aim
The results obtained provide information on (1) which disinforming YouTube videos Swiss* encounter when using social media, (2) what effect these have on them, and (3) how they proceed when verifying or falsifying such disinformation by means of online information searches.