Livestream: Surviving the Coronavirus Infodemic
UW and WSU present a statewide conversation on healthy digital practices, Thursday, April 9,
4鈥�5 p.m. PDT.
As COVID-19 spreads, so does misinformation about the virus that causes it.
Researchers across the UW are studying how social media propagates half-truths and misleading advice about COVID-19 鈥� and how users can navigate the聽聽(a term used widely for an unhelpful deluge of information).
The examples below are part of an ongoing University-wide effort to understand and combat misinformation 鈥� one that began before and will endure beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. Several of the researchers represent the UW鈥檚 , which confronts the spread of misinformation through nonpartisan research, education, policy and public engagement.
Tracking the misinformation pandemic
No one鈥檚 better equipped to investigate the spread of COVID-19 misinformation than UW professors Emma Spiro and Kate Starbird 鈥� both experts in crisis informatics, the study of information and technology in times of crisis.
Spiro and Starbird, who helped found the UW鈥檚 Center for an Informed Public, are collecting data on COVID-19 news reports and social media posts, keeping a close watch on how inaccurate information gets amplified.
鈥淎 lot of misinformation is a byproduct of the natural response that people have to a disaster event,鈥� Starbird tells Science magazine. She describes the center鈥檚 work 鈥渢o identify recommendations, whether it鈥檚 for tech companies or individuals or crisis responders.鈥�
Read the full interview with Spiro and Starbird about what they hope to learn about the spread of COVID-19 misinformation.
UW professors debunk COVID-19 claims on social media
The professors behind the popular UW class 鈥淐alling B.S.鈥� are now tackling COVID-19 misinformation 鈥� one tweet at a time.
Biology professor Carl Bergstrom and Information School professor Jevin West, who directs the Center for an Informed Public, are debunking popular posts and misleading charts in real time. For example, when Bergstrom saw a Twitter thread claiming Seattle ICUs were overwhelmed with dying patients, he contacted local health-care workers to fact-check the claim. The thread has since been deleted by its author.
Bergstrom and West talked to Wired magazine about how to spot and refute misinformation. Bergstrom recommends an information diet in which 鈥減eople pick one, maybe two times a day to read what鈥檚 going on from reputable sources 鈥� and if you must go on Twitter, block the hashtags.鈥�
What happens when users see fake content
Misinformation isn鈥檛 limited to the COVID-19 outbreak. A team of Allen School researchers is exploring how users react to fake content posted by someone they already follow.
They conducted a study in which users viewed Facebook or Twitter feeds that included misinformation. The researchers were looking to learn why some users scrolled past while others investigated the source or read the comments.
鈥淭here are a lot of people who are trying to be good consumers of information and they鈥檙e struggling,鈥� says Franziska Roesner, a UW associate professor of computer science and engineering. 鈥淚f we can understand what these people are doing, we might be able to design tools that can help them.鈥�
Novel coronavirus (COVID-19) updates
- Novel coronavirus & COVID-19: UW facts and resources
- Recent news coverage:聽UW experts comment on COVID-19