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Rethinking Fake News: Disinformation and Ideology during the time of COVID-19 Global Pandemic

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  • Ronnie Das
  • Wasim Ahmed

Abstract

Digital media and citizen journalism has escalated the infiltration of fake news attempting to create a post truth society (Lazer et al., 2018). The COVID-19 pandemic has seen a surge of misinformation leading to anti-mask, anti-vaccine and anti-5G protests on a global scale. Although the term ‘misinformation’ has been generalized in media and scholarly work, there is a fundamental difference between how misinformation impacts society, compared to more strategically planned disinformation attacks. In this study we explore the ideological constructs of citizens towards acceptance or rejection of disinformation during the heightened time of a COVID-19 global health crisis. Our analysis follows two specific disinformation propagandas evaluated through social network analysis of Twitter data in addition to qualitative insights generated from tweets and in-depth interviews.

Suggested Citation

  • Ronnie Das & Wasim Ahmed, 2022. "Rethinking Fake News: Disinformation and Ideology during the time of COVID-19 Global Pandemic," IIM Kozhikode Society & Management Review, , vol. 11(1), pages 146-159, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:iimkoz:v:11:y:2022:i:1:p:146-159
    DOI: 10.1177/22779752211027382
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    Cited by:

    1. Stefano Bruzzese & Wasim Ahmed & Simone Blanc & Filippo Brun, 2022. "Ecosystem Services: A Social and Semantic Network Analysis of Public Opinion on Twitter," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(22), pages 1-15, November.
    2. Wasim Ahmed & Dilek Önkal & Ronnie Das & Satish Krishnan & Femi Olan & Mariann Hardey & Alex Fenton, 2023. "Developing Techniques to Support Technological Solutions to Disinformation by Analysing Four Conspiracy Networks During COVID-19," Post-Print hal-04692974, HAL.
    3. Soledad García-García & Raquel Rodríguez-Díaz, 2023. "Official Information on Twitter during the Pandemic in Spain," Societies, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-20, April.
    4. W. Ahmed & D. Önkal & R. Das & S. Krishnan & F. Olan & M. Mariann Hardey & A. Alex Fenton, 2023. "Developing Techniques to Support Technological Solutions to Disinformation by Analysing Four Conspiracy Networks During COVID-19," Post-Print hal-04693779, HAL.
    5. Daniel Catalan-Matamoros & Andrea Langbecker, 2023. "How Does the Public Receive Information about Vaccines during the COVID-19 Pandemic? A Nationwide Cross-Sectional Study in Spain," Societies, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-11, March.

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