Bots and Misinformation Spread on Social Media: Implications for COVID-19

Citations Over TimeTop 1% of 2021 papers

Abstract

As of March 2021, the SARS-CoV-2 virus has been responsible for over 115 million cases of COVID-19 worldwide, resulting in over 2.5 million deaths. As the virus spread exponentially, so did its media coverage, resulting in a proliferation of conflicting information on social media platforms-a so-called "infodemic." In this viewpoint, we survey past literature investigating the role of automated accounts, or "bots," in spreading such misinformation, drawing connections to the COVID-19 pandemic. We also review strategies used by bots to spread (mis)information and examine the potential origins of bots. We conclude by conducting and presenting a secondary analysis of data sets of known bots in which we find that up to 66% of bots are discussing COVID-19. The proliferation of COVID-19 (mis)information by bots, coupled with human susceptibility to believing and sharing misinformation, may well impact the course of the pandemic.

Related Papers

• → And now for something completely different: from 2019-nCoV and COVID-19 to 2020-nMan(2020)27 cited
• → Realizing the Potential of Anti–SARS-CoV-2 Monoclonal Antibodies for COVID-19 Management(2022)21 cited
• → Confirmation of SARS-CoV-2 airborne dissemination indoors using “COVID-19 traps”(2021)4 cited
• → Fachinformationen zu SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19(2020)