ArticleJMIR public health and surveillance2021
Demographic Factors Influencing the Impact of Coronavirus-Related Misinformation on WhatsApp: Cross-sectional Questionnaire Study.
Article in JMIR public health and surveillance, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Older adults and online health misinformation: a systematic literature review.BMC psychology · 2026Pooled it
- How the General Public Navigates Health Misinformation on Social Media: Qualitative Study of Identification and Response Approaches.JMIR infodemiology · 2025Article
- Quality and Misinformation About Health Conditions in Online Peer Support Groups: Scoping Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- Misinformation and COVID-19 vaccine uptake hesitancy among frontline workers in Tanzania: Do demographic variables matter?Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics · 2024Article
- Leveraging Chatbots to Combat Health Misinformation for Older Adults: Participatory Design Study.JMIR formative research · 2024Article
- Prevalence of Health Misinformation on Social Media-Challenges and Mitigation Before, During, and Beyond the COVID-19 Pandemic: Scoping Literature Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Article
- Exploring individual's public trust in the NHS Test and Trace System - A pragmatic reflexive thematic analysis.Internet interventions · 2024Article
- Educational Video Intervention to Improve Health Misinformation Identification on WhatsApp Among Saudi Arabian Population: Pre-Post Intervention Study.JMIR formative research · 2024Article
- The role of social media in public health crises caused by infectious disease: a scoping review.BMJ global health · 2023Article
- Information Consumption, Trust Dynamics and COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy among Older Adults: Implications for Health Messaging.Vaccines · 2023Article
- Complementary, alternative, and integrative medicine-specific COVID-19 misinformation on social media: A scoping review.Integrative medicine research · 2023Article
- Article
- Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on exercise habits and overweight status in Japan: A nation-wide panel survey.PLOS global public health · 2023Article
- Factors associated with COVID-19 misinformation rebuttal among college students: a descriptive study.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
- Assessing the Validity of Health Messages Used by the Saudi Public in WhatsApp.Patient preference and adherence · 2023Article
- Attitude toward COVID-19 vaccines and its association with depressive symptoms in 386,924 Chinese primary school students during COVID-19 epidemic normalization.Journal of psychosomatic research · 2022Article
- Infodemic and fake news - A comprehensive overview of its global magnitude during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021: A scoping review.International journal of disaster risk reduction : IJDRR · 2022Article
- Tracking Private WhatsApp Discourse About COVID-19 in Singapore: Longitudinal Infodemiology Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2021Article
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Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe risks of misinformation on social networking sites is a global issue, especially in light of the COVID-19 infodemic. WhatsApp is being used as an important source of COVID-19-related information during the current pandemic. Unlike Facebook and Twitter, limited studies have investigated the role of WhatsApp as a source of communication, information, or misinformation during crisis situations.
objectiveOur study aimed to evaluate the vulnerability of demographic cohorts in a developing country toward COVID-19-related misinformation shared via WhatsApp. We also aimed to identify characteristics of WhatsApp messages associated with increased credibility of misinformation.
methodsWe conducted a web-based questionnaire survey and designed a scoring system based on theories supported by the existing literature. Vulnerability (K) was measured as a ratio of the respondent's score to the maximum score. Respondents were stratified according to age and occupation, and K
resultsWe analyzed 1137 responses from WhatsApp users in India. Users aged over 65 years had the highest vulnerability (K
conclusionsOur study demonstrates that in a developing country, WhatsApp users aged over 65 years and those involved in elementary occupations were found to be the most vulnerable to false information disseminated via WhatsApp. Health care workers, who are otherwise considered as experts with regard to this global health care crisis, also shared this vulnerability to misinformation with other occupation groups. Our findings also indicated that the presence of an attached link and/or source falsely validating an incorrect message adds significant false credibility, making it appear true. These results indicate an emergent need to address and rectify the current usage patterns of WhatsApp users. This study also provides metrics that can be used by health care organizations and government authorities of developing countries to formulate guidelines to contain the spread of WhatsApp-related misinformation.
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