WhatsApp and audio misinformation during the Covid-19 pandemic

Autores/as

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2022.may.21

Palabras clave:

Misinformation, Covid-19, Coronavirus, WhatsApp, Pandemic, Communication, Health, Society, Audio, Who, World Health Organization

Resumen

Given user choices and the commercial offerings of internet providers, WhatsApp has increasingly become established as a new standard for communication by audio, image, and text. This paper explores the role of misinformation during the Covid-19 pandemic by using content disseminated through WhatsApp, thereby making three main contributions: a discussion about the potential shift toward nontextual and nonvisual forms of misinformation; the new social role of audio, namely related to the critique of policies and political actors during the early stage of the Covid-19 pandemic; and the questioning of the First Draft News disinformation conceptual model by proposing a complementary approach that focuses only on factuality. Conclusions were drawn after conducting a content analysis of 988 units of Covid-19-related audio files, images, videos, and texts shared via WhatsApp during the early stage of the pandemic. A typology was identified to address distinct claims that focus on five different topics (society, policy and politics, health science, pandemic, and other), as well as audio messaging trending as a novel format for spreading misinformation. The results help us to contextualize and discuss a potential shift toward nontextual and nonvisual forms of misinformation, reflecting the increasing adoption of the audio format among WhatsApp users and making WhatsApp a fertile environment for the circulation and dissemination of misinformation regarding Covid-19-related themes. In a society characterized by the rapid consumption of information, the idea that content must have a degree of falsehood to mislead is an indicator of the distance between theoretical models and social reality. This indicator is important to identify true content as potential misinformation on the basis of its factuality.

Descargas

Los datos de descargas todavía no están disponibles.

Biografía del autor/a

Gustavo Cardoso, ISCTE-IUL

     

Rita Sepúlveda, ISCTE-IUL

 

 

Iníªs Narciso, ISCTE-IUL

 

 

 

Citas

Al-Khaja, Khalid; AlKhaja, Alwaleed; Sequeira, Reginald (2018). "Drug information, misinformation, and disinformation on social media: a content analysis study". Journal of public health policy, v. 39, n. 3, pp. 343-357. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41271-018-0131-2

Alexa (2020). Top sites in Portugal. https://web.archive.org/web/20200312101137/https://www.alexa.com/topsites/countries/PT

Arun, Chinmayi (2019). "On WhatsApp, rumours, lynchings, and the Indian government". Economic & political weekly, v. 54, n. 6, pp. 30-35. https://www.epw.in/journal/2019/6/insight/whatsapp-rumours-and-lynchings.html

Cardoso, Gustavo (2008). "From mass to networked communication: communicational models and the informational society". International journal of communication, v. 2, p. 44. https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/19/178

Cardoso, Gustavo; Paisana, Miguel; Pinto-Martinho, Ana (2020). Digital news report 2020 - Portugal. Obercom (Observatório da comunicaí§í£o). https://obercom.pt/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/DNR_PT_2020_16jun.pdf

Cardoso, Gustavo; Pinto-Martinho, Ana; Narciso, Iníªs; Moreno, José; Crespo, Miguel; Palma, Nuno; Sepúlveda, Rita (2020). Information and misinformation on the coronavirus in Portugal. WhatsApp, Facebook and Google searches. Report Medialab_Cies_Iscte. https://medialab.iscte-iul.pt/information-and-misinformation-coronavirus-in-portugal

CovidCheck (2020). "A peste: crení§a e descrení§a". CovidCheck, July 31. https://covidcheck.pt/analise-do-dia/a-peste-crenca-e-descrenca

Bastani, Peivand; Bahrami, Mohammad-Amin (2020). "Covid-19 related misinformation on social media: a qualitative study from Iran". Journal of medical internet research. https://doi.org/10.2196/18932

Bessi, Alessandro; Coletto, Mauro; Davidescu, George; Scala, Antonio; Caldarelli, Guido; Quattrociocchi, Walter (2015). "Science vs conspiracy: collective narratives in the age of misinformation". PLoS one, v. 10, n. 2, e0118093. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0118093

Bode, Leticia; Vraga, Emily K. (2018). "See something, say something: correction of global health misinformation on social media". Health communication, v. 33, n. 9, pp. 1131-1140. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2017.1331312

Brennen, J. Scott; Simon, Felix; Howard, Philip N.; Nielsen, Rasmus-Kleis (2020). Types, sources, and claims of Covid-19 misinformation. Reuters Institute. https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/types-sources-and-claims-covid-19-misinformation

Canavilhas, Joí£o; Colussi, Juliana; Moura, Zita-Bacelar (2019). "Desinformación en las elecciones presidenciales 2018 en Brasil: un análisis de los grupos familiares en WhatsApp". El profesional de la información, v. 28, n. 5, e280503. https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2019.sep.03

Cheung, Helier (2020). "Coronavirus: why attitudes to masks have changed around the world". BBC News, July 14. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-53394525

Conceição, Lorenna-Silva-Eunapio; PessoÌ‚a, Luí­s-Alexandre-Grutis-de-Paula (2018). "A experieÌ‚ncia de consumidores com baixo letramento em redes sociais e comunicadores instantaÌ‚neos: um estudo exploratoÌrio". Sociedade, contabilidade e gestão, v. 13, n. 3. https://doi.org/10.21446/scg_ufrj.v13i3.13521

Cowen, Alan; Elfenbein, Hillary; Laukka, Petri; Keltner, Dacher (2019). "Mapping 24 emotions conveyed by brief human vocalization". American psychologist, v. 74, n. 6, pp. 698-712. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/amp0000399

Dahir, Abdi-Latif (2017). "WhatsApp and Facebook are driving Kenya´s fake news cycle". Quartz Africa, July 24. https://qz.com/africa/1033181/whatsapp-and-facebook-are-driving-kenyas-fake-news-cycle-ahead-of-august-elections

Delcker, Janosch; Wanat, Zosia; Scott, Mark (2020). "The coronavirus fake news pandemic sweeping WhatsApp". Politico, March 16. https://www.politico.eu/article/the-coronavirus-covid19-fake-news-pandemic-sweeping-whatsapp-misinformation

Donovan, Joan (2020). "Concrete recommendations for cutting through misinformation during the Covid-19 pandemic". American journal of public health, v. 110, n. 3, pp. S286-S287. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2020.305922

Emery, Robin (2018). "WhatsApp voice messaging as an emergent digital practice: a multi-method analysis". Cahiers du Centre de Linguistique et des Sciences du Langage, n. 55, pp. 135-157. https://www.cahiers-clsl.ch/article/view/287

European Commission (2018). A multi-dimensional approach to disinformation. Report of the Independent High Level Group on Fake News and Online Disinformation. https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2759/739290

Fallis, Don (2015). "What is disinformation?". Library trends, v. 63, n. 3, pp. 401-426. https://doi.org/10.1353/lib.2015.0014

Faris, Robert; Roberts, Hal; Etling, Bruce; Bourassa, Nikki; Zuckerman, Ethan; Benkler, Yochai (2017). Partisanship, propaganda, and disinformation: Online media and the 2016 US presidential election. Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society Scholarly Articles. https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/33759251/2017-08_electionReport_0.pdf

Fernando, Gavin (2018). "Why people are switching from texting to voice messages". News.com.au, July 19. https://www.news.com.au/technology/gadgets/mobile-phones/why-people-are-switching-from-texting-to-voice-messages/news-story/d36d6d80cc0c71da168b4e8ec96924e7

Forrest, Adam (2020). "Coronavirus: 700 dead in Iran after drinking toxic methanol alcohol to "˜cure Covid-19´". Independent, April 28. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/coronavirus-iran-deaths-toxic-methanol-alcohol-fake-news-rumours-a9487801.html

Fung, Isaac-Chun-Hai; Fu, King-Wa; Chan, Chung-Hong; Chan, Benedict-Shing-Bun; Cheung, Chi-Ngai; Abraham, Thomas; Tse, Zion-Tsz-Ho (2016). "Social media´s initial reaction to information and misinformation on Ebola, August 2014: facts and rumors". Public health reports, v. 131, n. 3, pp. 461-473. https://doi.org/10.1177/003335491613100312

Funke, Daniel (2018). Meet the next misinformation format: Fake audio messages. Poynter, July 16. https://www.poynter.org/fact-checking/2018/meet-the-next-misinformation-format-fake-audio-messages

Garimella, Kiran; Eckles, Dean (2020). "Images and misinformation in political groups: evidence from WhatsApp in India". The HKS misinformation review, July 7. https://misinforeview.hks.harvard.edu/article/images-and-misinformation-in-political-groups-evidence-from-whatsapp-in-india

Gesser-Edelsburg, Anat; Diamant, Aalon; Hijazi, Rana; Mesch, Gustavo S. (2018). "Correcting misinformation by health organizations during measles outbreaks: a controlled experiment". PLoS one, v. 13, n. 12, e0209505. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0209505

Giglietto, Fabio; Iannelli, Laura; Valeriani, Augusto; Rossi, Luca (2019). "Fake news´ is the invention of a liar: how false information circulates within the hybrid news system". Current sociology, v. 67, n. 4, pp. 625-642. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011392119837536

Google Trends (2020). Covid19. https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?hl=pt-PT&tz=-60&date=2020-03-02+2020-03-12&geo=PT&q=covid19&sni=3

Hernon, Peter (1995). "Disinformation and misinformation through the internet: findings of an exploratory study". Government information quarterly, v. 12, n. 2, pp. 133-139. https://doi.org/10.1016/0740-624X(95)90052-7

Herrero-Diz, Paula; Conde-Jiménez, Jesús; Reyes-de-Cózar, Salvador (2020). "Teens´ motivations to spread fake news on WhatsApp". Social media + society, v. 6, n. 3. https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305120942879

Jones-Jang, S. Mo; Mortensen, Tara; Liu, Jingjing (2019). "Does media literacy help identification of fake news? Information literacy helps, but other literacies don´t". American behavioral scientist, v. 65, n. 2, pp. 371-388. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764219869406

Karlova, Natascha A.; Fisher, Karen E. (2013). "A social diffusion model of misinformation and disinformation for understanding human information behaviour". Information research, v. 18, n. 1. http://informationr.net/ir/18-1/paper573.html

Kemp, Simon (2020). "Digital around the world in April 2020". We are social, April 23. https://wearesocial.com/uk/blog/2020/04/digital-around-the-world-in-april-2020

Kosinski, Michal; Matz, Sandra C.; Gosling, Samuel D. (2015). "Facebook as a research tool for social sciences". American psychologist, v. 70, n. 6, pp. 543-556. https://doi.apa.org/doi/10.1037/a0039210

Krafft, Peaks M.; Donovan, Joan (2020). "Disinformation by design: the use of evidence collages and platform filtering in a media manipulation campaign". Political communication, v. 37, n. 2, pp. 194-214. https://doi.org/10.1080/10584609.2019.1686094

Krippendorf, Klaus (2004). Content analysis: an introduction to its methodology (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. ISBN: 978 0 76 191 545 4

Lamb, Nancy (2008). The art and craft of storytelling: a comprehensive guide to classic writing techniques. Cincinnati, OH: Writer´s Digest Books. ISBN: 978 1 58 297 559 7

Maros, Alexandre; Almeida, Jussara; Benevenuto, Fabrí­cio; Vasconcelos, Marisa (2020). "Analyzing the use of audio messages in WhatsApp groups". In: WWW ´20: The web conference 2020, April 20-24, pp. 3005-3011. https://doi.org/10.1145/3366423.3380070

Matassi, Mora; Boczkowski, Pablo; Mitchelstein, Eugenia (2019). "Domesticating WhatsApp: family, friends, work, and study in everyday communication". New media & society, v. 2, n. 10, pp. 2183-2200. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444819841890

Milan, Stefania; Barbosa, Sérgio (2020). "Enter the Whatsapper: reinventing digital activism at the time of chat apps". First Monday, v. 25, n. 12. https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v25i12.10414

Moreno-Castro, Carolina; Vengut-Climent, Empar; Cano-Orón, Lorena; Mendoza-Poudereux, Isabel (2021). "Exploratory study of the hoaxes spread via WhatsApp in Spain to prevent and/or cure Covid-19". Gaceta sanitaria, v. 35, n. 6, pp. 534-541. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gaceta.2020.07.008

Nascimento, Flávia (2021). "Entendendo o fact-checking como uma ferramenta para promoí§í£o de literacia mediática no contexto luso brasileiro". E-revista de estudos interculturais, v. 3, n. 9. https://doi.org/10.34630/erei.v3i9.4220

Nielsen, Rasmus-Kleis; Graves, Lucas (2017). News you don´t believe: audience perspectives on fake news. Reuters Institute. https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2017-10/Nielsen%26Graves_factsheet_1710v3_FINAL_download.pdf

Norman, Cameron D.; Harvey, A. Skinner (2006). "eHEALS: the ehealth literacy scale". Journal of medical internet research, v. 8, n. 4, e27. https://doi.org/10.2196/jmir.8.4.e27

Nyhan, Brendan; Reifler, Jason (2012). Misinformation and fact-checking: Research findings from social science. New America Foundation. https://davidamerland.com/images/pdf/Misinformation_and_Fact-checking.pdf

Oyeyemi, Sunday-Oluwafemi; Gabarron, Elia; Wynn, Rolf (2014). "Ebola, Twitter, and misinformation: a dangerous combination?". BMJ, n. 349, g6178. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.g6178

Polí­grafo (2020). Fact-checks de Coronaví­rus. https://poligrafo.sapo.pt/fact-checks/coronavirus

Resende, Gustavo; Melo, Philipe; Reis, Júlio; Vasconcelos, Marisa; Almeida, Jussara M.; Benevenuto, Fabrí­cio (2019a). "Analyzing textual (mis) information shared in WhatsApp groups". In: WebSci´19: 10th ACM Conference on web science, pp. 225-234. https://doi.org/10.1145/3292522.3326029

Resende, Gustavo; Melo, Philipe; Sousa, Hugo; Messias, Johnnatan; Vasconcelos, Marisa; Almeida, Jussara; Benevenuto, Fabrí­cio (2019b). "(Mis) information dissemination in WhatsApp: gathering, analyzing and countermeasures". In: WWW´19: The web conference, May 13-17, pp. 818-828. https://doi.org/10.1145/3308558.3313688

Rodero, Emma (2018). "The growing importance of voice and sound in communication in the digital age: the leading role of orality". In: AC/E digital culture annual Report. Digital trends in culture. Focus: reader in the digital age, pp. 74-87. https://www.accioncultural.es/en/ace-digital-culture-annual-report

Rogers, Richard (2020). "Deplatforming: following extreme internet celebrities to Telegram and alternative social media". European journal of communication, v. 35, n. 3, pp. 213-229. https://doi.org/10.1177/0267323120922066

Saint-Laurent, Constance; Glaveanu, Vlad; Literar, Ioana (2021). "Internet memes as partial stories: identifying political narratives in coronavirus memes". Social media + society, v. 7, n. 1. https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305121988932

SalaverriÌa, Ramón; BusloÌn, Nataly; LoÌpez-Pan, Fernando; LeoÌn, Bienvenido; LoÌpez-Goñi, Ignacio; Erviti, Marí­a-Carmen (2020). "DesinformacioÌn en tiempos de pandemia: tipologiÌa de los bulos sobre la Covid-19". El profesional de la informacioÌn, v. 29, n. 3, e290315. https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2020.may.15

Silverman, Craig (2020). Verification handbook for disinformation and media manipulation. Netherlands: European Journalism Centre. ISBN: 978 1 31 202 313 0 https://s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/datajournalismcom/handbooks/Verification-Handbook-3.pdf

Silverstone, Roger (2006). "Domesticating domestication. Reflections on the life of concept". In: Berker, Thomas; Hartmann, Maren; Punie, Yves; Ward, Katie (eds.). Domestication of media and technologies. Maidenhead: Open University Press, pp. 229-248. ISBN: 978 0 03 521 768 7 http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/9526

Shifman, Limor (2014). Memes in digital culture. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press. ISBN: 978 0 26 252 543 5

Treré, Emiliano (2020). "The banality of WhatsApp: On the everyday politics of backstage activism in Mexico and Spain". First Monday, v. 25, n. 12. https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v25i12.10404

Unesco (2019). Definitions of adult functional literacy and numeracy for SDG indicator 4.6.1. Unesco Institute for Lifelong Learning. https://gaml.uis.unesco.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/05/GAML6-WD-4-Definitions-of-adult-functional-literacy-and-numeracy-for-SDG-indcator-4.6.1-1.pdf

Van-der-Meer, Toni G. L. A.; Jin, Yan (2020). "Seeking formula for misinformation treatment in public health crises: the effects of corrective information type and source". Health communication, v. 35, n. 5, pp. 560-575. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2019.1573295

Wang, Yuxi; McKee, Martin; Torbica, Aleksandra; Stuckler, David (2019). "Systematic literature review on the spread of health-related misinformation on social media". Social science & medicine, v. 240, 112552. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.112552

Wardle, Claire (2018). "The need for smarter definitions and practical, timely empirical research on information disorder". Digital journalism, v. 6, n. 8, pp. 951-963. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2018.1502047

Wardle, Claire; Derakhshan, Hossein (2017). Information disorder: toward an interdisciplinary framework for research and policy making. Council of Europe report DGI(2017)09. https://rm.coe.int/information-disorder-toward-an-interdisciplinary-framework-for-researc/168076277c

World Health Organization (2020a). Munich security conference. World Health Organization, February 15. https://www.who.int/dg/speeches/detail/munich-security-conference

World Health Organization (2020b). Director-General´s opening remarks at the media briefing on Covid-19. World Health Organization, March 11. https://www.who.int/dg/speeches/detail/who-director-general-s-opening-remarks-at-the-media-briefing-on-covid-19---11-march-2020

Descargas

Publicado

2022-06-17

Cómo citar

Cardoso, G., Sepúlveda, R., & Narciso, I. (2022). WhatsApp and audio misinformation during the Covid-19 pandemic. Profesional De La información, 31(3). https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2022.may.21

Número

Sección

Artí­culos de investigación / Research articles