[Paper Review] Analysis of misinformation during the COVID-19 outbreak in China: cultural, social and political entanglements

Yan Leng, Yujia Zhai+7 more|arXiv (Cornell University)|May 21, 2020

Misinformation and Its Impacts2 references8 citations

TL;DR

This study analyzes the spread of misinformation during China's COVID-19 outbreak using data from Tencent's Jiao Zhen fact-checking platform and Weibo. It identifies an issue-attention cycle driven by major events like lockdowns and school reopenings, showing how cultural beliefs, authority sources, and social media dynamics amplify false claims—particularly around unproven cures like Shuanghuanglian—despite expert warnings.

ABSTRACT

COVID-19 resulted in an infodemic, which could erode public trust, impede virus containment, and outlive the pandemic itself. The evolving and fragmented media landscape is a key driver of the spread of misinformation. Using misinformation identified by the fact-checking platform by Tencent and posts on Weibo, our results showed that the evolution of misinformation follows an issue-attention cycle, pertaining to topics such as city lockdown, cures, and preventions, and school reopening. Sources of authority weigh in on these topics, but their influence is complicated by peoples' pre-existing beliefs and cultural practices. Finally, social media has a complicated relationship with established or legacy media systems. Sometimes they reinforce each other, but in general, social media may have a topic cycle of its own making. Our findings shed light on the distinct characteristics of misinformation during the COVID-19 and offer insights into combating misinformation in China and across the world at large.

Motivation & Objective

• To understand the dynamics of misinformation spread during China’s early COVID-19 outbreak, particularly in relation to major policy events.
• To examine how cultural beliefs, social norms, and pre-existing worldviews influence public receptiveness to misinformation.
• To investigate the interplay between social media platforms like Weibo and legacy or authoritative media in shaping public discourse.
• To assess the role of government and expert voices in either containing or fueling misinformation during public health crises.
• To identify recurring patterns in misinformation cycles related to key events such as lockdowns, cures, and school reopenings.

Proposed method

• Collected 531 Weibo posts identified as misinformation or gossip from Tencent’s Jiao Zhen fact-checking platform between January 18 and March 27, 2020.
• Used advanced Weibo keyword search to collect 3.3 million public posts using terms like 'novel coronavirus,' 'Wuhan pneumonia,' and 'corona' from January 18 to February 26, 2020.
• Tracked temporal trends in misinformation and gossip, correlating spikes with major events such as Wuhan’s lockdown and expert announcements.
• Analyzed the role of authority sources (e.g., Dr. Nanshan Zhong) and their influence amid conflicting public beliefs and cultural practices.
• Examined the relationship between social media and legacy media, identifying when they reinforce or diverge from one another in information dissemination.
• Employed qualitative and temporal analysis to map the issue-attention cycle of misinformation across three key phases: lockdown, transmission/cures, and school reopening.

Experimental results

Research questions

• RQ1 How does the spread of misinformation on Weibo correlate with major public health events such as city lockdowns and policy announcements?
• RQ2 To what extent do cultural beliefs and pre-existing worldviews shape public acceptance of misinformation during the pandemic?
• RQ3 How do authority figures and expert statements influence or fail to counter misinformation in the Chinese media ecosystem?
• RQ4 What role do social media platforms like Weibo play in amplifying or containing misinformation compared to traditional or legacy media?
• RQ5 Are there recurring patterns or cycles in misinformation related to specific pandemic phases, such as transmission, cures, or reopening?

Key findings

• Misinformation spread in distinct waves corresponding to major events: the Wuhan lockdown (January 23, 2020), the announcement of fecal transmission risk (February 2), and school reopening concerns.
• The first major spike in misinformation occurred immediately after Wuhan’s lockdown, fueled by fears of supply shortages and misinformation about city-wide disruptions.
• False claims about unproven cures—especially Shuanghuanglian, a traditional Chinese medicine—spread rapidly, driven by cultural beliefs in herbal remedies and perceived control over health outcomes.
• Despite expert warnings, misinformation about cures persisted, indicating that public trust in traditional remedies often outweighs scientific evidence.
• Authority voices, such as Dr. Nanshan Zhong, sometimes amplified misinformation by introducing unverified claims (e.g., fecal transmission), which then spread widely on social media.
• Social media and legacy media systems showed a complex relationship: while sometimes reinforcing each other, social media often developed its own topic cycle independent of official narratives.