Observational studyInternational journal of environmental research and public health2020
Fake News and Covid-19 in Italy: Results of a Quantitative Observational Study.
Observational study in International journal of environmental research and public health, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 45 papers.
What it found
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The trial behind it
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Who cites it
45 citing papers in PubMed.
- Intervention in Health Misinformation Using Large Language Models for Automated Detection, Thematic Analysis, and Inoculation: Case Study on COVID-19.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Article
- Public Health Communication Challenges in Eastern Europe and Central Asia: A Scoping Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Article
- HPV vaccine-related articles shared on Facebook from 2019 to 2021: Did COVID make a difference?PEC innovation · 2024Article
- A Comprehensive Analysis of COVID-19 Misinformation, Public Health Impacts, and Communication Strategies: Scoping Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Article
- Exploring COVID-19 Phobia among International Chinese College Students in South Korea Before Ending COVID-19 Restrictions.BMC psychology · 2024Article
- Limits of functional illiteracy in explaining human misinformation: the knowledge illusion, values, and the dual process theory of thought.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
- The Correlation Among COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance, the Ability to Detect Fake News, and e-Health Literacy.Health literacy research and practice · 2023Article
- A Precautionary Tale: Individual Decision Making in the Time of COVID-19.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- A Game-Theory-Based Approach to Promoting Health Policy among Minorities.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- Monkeypox: New epidemic or fake news? Study of psychological and social factors associated with fake news attitudes of monkeypox in Italy.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- Learning about informal fallacies and the detection of fake news: An experimental intervention.PloS one · 2023Article
- Review
- Reinterpretation of Health Information in the Context of an Emerging Infectious Disease: A Digital Focus Group Study.JMIR human factors · 2022Article
- Pseudoscience and fraudulent products for COVID-19 management.Environmental science and pollution research international · 2022Review
- Exploring the Relationship between COVID-19 Vaccine Refusal and Belief in Fake News and Conspiracy Theories: A Nationwide Cross-Sectional Study in Italy.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Behind the Scenes of COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy: Psychological Predictors in an Italian Community Sample.Vaccines · 2022Article
- Impact of COVID-19 Vaccine Misinformation on Social Media Virality: Content Analysis of Message Themes and Writing Strategies.Journal of medical Internet research · 2022Article
- Fake news: Why do we believe it?Joint bone spine · 2022Article
- Towards a Didactic Concept for Heterogeneous Target Groups in Digital Learning Environments-First Course Implementation.Journal of personalized medicine · 2022Article
- Factors Predicting Practices in Prevention of COVID-19 and Impacts among Population in Chiang Mai, Thailand.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
During the Covid-19 pandemic, risk communication has often been ineffective, and from this perspective "fake news" has found fertile ground, both as a cause and a consequence of it. The aim of this study is to measure how much "fake news" and corresponding verified news have circulated in Italy in the period between 31 December 2019 and 30 April 2020, and to estimate the quality of informal and formal communication. We used the BuzzSumo application to gather the most shared links on the Internet related to the pandemic in Italy, using keywords chosen according to the most frequent "fake news" during that period. For each research we noted the numbers of "fake news" articles and science-based news articles, as well as the number of engagements. We reviewed 2102 articles. Links that contained fake news were shared 2,352,585 times, accounting for 23.1% of the total shares of all the articles reviewed. Our study throws light on the "fake news" phenomenon in the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. A quantitative assessment is fundamental in order to understand the impact of false information and to define political and technical interventions in health communication. Starting from this evaluation, health literacy should be improved by means of specific interventions in order to improve informal and formal communication.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.