IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i4p1781-d498148.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Infodemic and Fake News in Spain during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Author

Listed:
  • María Jesús Fernández-Torres

    (Department of Audiovisual Communication and Advertising, Faculty of Communication Sciences, Universidad de Málaga, 29071 Malaga, Spain)

  • Ana Almansa-Martínez

    (Department of Audiovisual Communication and Advertising, Faculty of Communication Sciences, Universidad de Málaga, 29071 Malaga, Spain)

  • Rocío Chamizo-Sánchez

    (Department of Audiovisual Communication and Advertising, Faculty of Communication Sciences, Universidad de Málaga, 29071 Malaga, Spain)

Abstract

Internet, new technologies and social networks have changed the consumption and dissemination of information. The world is witnessing the proliferation of so-called false news, especially since the beginning of 2020, when COVID-19 became the main issue on the global agenda. Alleged government actions, remedies, advice, etc., are the cause of a multitude of messages that are often false. Through surveys (1115 responses were obtained) and a review of the literature, we explore how the proliferation of COVID-19’s false news affects and impacts public opinion in Spain. We also examine how citizens are being informed about the pandemic, identify the main channels of communication used and discover the impact of misinformation. The main conclusions are that, in Spain, citizens are interested in information related to the coronavirus, but there is a lack of media credibility and reliability; the social networks and instant messaging are considered the channels that transmit the greatest amount of false news.

Suggested Citation

  • María Jesús Fernández-Torres & Ana Almansa-Martínez & Rocío Chamizo-Sánchez, 2021. "Infodemic and Fake News in Spain during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-13, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:4:p:1781-:d:498148
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/4/1781/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/4/1781/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Carlos de las Heras-Pedrosa & Pablo Sánchez-Núñez & José Ignacio Peláez, 2020. "Sentiment Analysis and Emotion Understanding during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Spain and Its Impact on Digital Ecosystems," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(15), pages 1-22, July.
    2. Heidi J. Larson, 2020. "Blocking information on COVID-19 can fuel the spread of misinformation," Nature, Nature, vol. 580(7803), pages 306-306, April.
    3. Daniel Catalan-Matamoros & Carlos Elías, 2020. "Vaccine Hesitancy in the Age of Coronavirus and Fake News: Analysis of Journalistic Sources in the Spanish Quality Press," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(21), pages 1-15, November.
    4. Mariusz Duplaga, 2020. "The Determinants of Conspiracy Beliefs Related to the COVID-19 Pandemic in a Nationally Representative Sample of Internet Users," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(21), pages 1-15, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yongbao Zhang & Jianwu Chen & Xingfei Wei & Xiang Wu, 2022. "Development and Validation of the Haze Risk Perception Scale and Influencing Factor Scale—A Study Based on College Students in Beijing," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(8), pages 1-21, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ni, Dan & Jiwen Song, Lynda & Zheng, Xiaoming & Zhu, Jinlong & Zhang, Mengyi & Xu, Lingxiao, 2022. "Extending a helping hand: How receiving gratitude makes a difference in employee performance during a crisis," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 967-982.
    2. Zvjezdana Gvozdanović & Nikolina Farčić & Hrvoje Šimić & Vikica Buljanović & Lea Gvozdanović & Sven Katalinić & Stana Pačarić & Domagoj Gvozdanović & Željka Dujmić & Blaženka Miškić & Ivana Barać & Na, 2021. "The Impact of Education, COVID-19 and Risk Factors on the Quality of Life in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-14, February.
    3. Aida El-Far Cardo & Thomas Kraus & Andrea Kaifie, 2021. "Factors That Shape People’s Attitudes towards the COVID-19 Pandemic in Germany—The Influence of MEDIA, Politics and Personal Characteristics," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(15), pages 1-14, July.
    4. Gruener, Sven, 2019. "An empirical study on Internet-based false news stories: experiences, problem awareness, and responsibilities," SocArXiv xbez9, Center for Open Science.
    5. Karol Król & Dariusz Zdonek, 2023. "Cultural Heritage Topics in Online Queries: A Comparison between English- and Polish-Speaking Internet Users," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-20, March.
    6. Fernando Olivares-Delgado & Patricia P. Iglesias-Sánchez & María Teresa Benlloch-Osuna & Carlos de las Heras-Pedrosa & Carmen Jambrino-Maldonado, 2020. "Resilience and Anti-Stress during COVID-19 Isolation in Spain: An Analysis through Audiovisual Spots," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(23), pages 1-23, November.
    7. Mitja Vrdelja & Sanja Vrbovšek & Vito Klopčič & Kevin Dadaczynski & Orkan Okan, 2021. "Facing the Growing COVID-19 Infodemic: Digital Health Literacy and Information-Seeking Behaviour of University Students in Slovenia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(16), pages 1-16, August.
    8. Sumayh S. Aljameel & Dina A. Alabbad & Norah A. Alzahrani & Shouq M. Alqarni & Fatimah A. Alamoudi & Lana M. Babili & Somiah K. Aljaafary & Fatima M. Alshamrani, 2020. "A Sentiment Analysis Approach to Predict an Individual’s Awareness of the Precautionary Procedures to Prevent COVID-19 Outbreaks in Saudi Arabia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(1), pages 1-12, December.
    9. Antonio Millán-Jiménez & Rafael Herrera-Limones & Álvaro López-Escamilla & Emma López-Rubio & Miguel Torres-García, 2021. "Confinement, Comfort and Health: Analysis of the Real Influence of Lockdown on University Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(11), pages 1-15, May.
    10. Xosé López-García & Carmen Costa-Sánchez & Ángel Vizoso, 2021. "Journalistic Fact-Checking of Information in Pandemic: Stakeholders, Hoaxes, and Strategies to Fight Disinformation during the COVID-19 Crisis in Spain," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(3), pages 1-15, January.
    11. van Mulukom, Valerie & Pummerer, Lotte J. & Alper, Sinan & Bai, Hui & Čavojová, Vladimíra & Farias, Jessica & Kay, Cameron S. & Lazarevic, Ljiljana B. & Lobato, Emilio J.C. & Marinthe, Gaëlle & Pavela, 2022. "Antecedents and consequences of COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs: A systematic review," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 301(C).
    12. Josh Bullock & Justin E. Lane & F. LeRon Shults, 2022. "What causes COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy? Ignorance and the lack of bliss in the United Kingdom," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-7, December.
    13. Christopher B. Raymond & Paul R. Ward, 2021. "Community-Level Experiences, Understandings, and Responses to COVID-19 in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Review of Qualitative and Ethnographic Studies," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(22), pages 1-26, November.
    14. Alessandro Lovari, 2020. "Spreading (Dis)Trust: Covid-19 Misinformation and Government Intervention in Italy," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(2), pages 458-461.
    15. Andrea Langbecker & Daniel Catalan-Matamoros, 2021. "Who Guides Vaccination in the Portuguese Press? An Analysis of Information Sources," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-10, February.
    16. Laura Picazo-Sánchez & Rosa Domínguez-Martín & David García-Marín, 2022. "Health Promotion on Instagram: Descriptive–Correlational Study and Predictive Factors of Influencers’ Content," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(23), pages 1-15, November.
    17. Luis Cárcamo-Ulloa & Camila Cárdenas-Neira & Eliana Scheihing-García & Diego Sáez-Trumper & Matthieu Vernier & Carlos Blaña-Romero, 2023. "On Politics and Pandemic: How Do Chilean Media Talk about Disinformation and Fake News in Their Social Networks?," Societies, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-14, January.
    18. Hedviga Tkacová & Roman Králik & Miroslav Tvrdoň & Zita Jenisová & José García Martin, 2022. "Credibility and Involvement of Social Media in Education—Recommendations for Mitigating the Negative Effects of the Pandemic among High School Students," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(5), pages 1-22, February.
    19. Melissa MacKay & Taylor Colangeli & Daniel Gillis & Jennifer McWhirter & Andrew Papadopoulos, 2021. "Examining Social Media Crisis Communication during Early COVID-19 from Public Health and News Media for Quality, Content, and Corresponding Public Sentiment," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(15), pages 1-14, July.
    20. Abdelghani Ghanem & Chaimae Asaad & Hakim Hafidi & Youness Moukafih & Bassma Guermah & Nada Sbihi & Mehdi Zakroum & Mounir Ghogho & Meriem Dairi & Mariam Cherqaoui & Karim Baina, 2021. "Real-Time Infoveillance of Moroccan Social Media Users’ Sentiments towards the COVID-19 Pandemic and Its Management," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(22), pages 1-19, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:4:p:1781-:d:498148. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.