COVID-19 in Polish-language social media - misinformation vs government information

Background

During the COVID-19 pandemic, a surge of conspiracy theories and misinformation proliferated across social media platforms. Recognizing the severity of the issue, medical associations began to regard it as a significant threat to public health systems. The objective of this study was to quantify the proportion of COVID-19 misinformation and official government information within the most frequently shared items on Polish social media.

Methods

The analysis utilized the BuzzSumo Enterprise Application. Polish-language social media posts from January 1 to June 30, 2022, were scrutinized using keywords such as "COVID," "koronawirus," or "SARS-CoV-2." A comprehensive report was generated, encompassing shares, comments, likes, and reactions (engagements). We analyzed the top 40 items that generated the most engagement. To ensure accuracy, two of the authors, both medical doctors, independently assessed each of them for potential misinformation.

Results

We identified 161,404 items in the Polish language that were shared on social media, representing 41,432,352 engagements. The top 40 items (0.02 % of all items) accounted for 7.71 % of engagements (3,194,900). Four items classified as misinformation accounted for 7.7 % of the Top 40 items, accumulating 244,700 engagements. All identified items were labeled as "manipulated news" due to their reliance on unverified or inappropriately interpreted data; none were classified as fabricated news. Government sources accounted for 4.1 % of the Top 40 items, accumulating 130,800 engagements.

Conclusions

This study highlights the significant prevalence of COVID-19 misinformation. Remedial measures should be implemented, addressing both social media platforms and real-life contexts, to enhance public health literacy.