Misinformation and Public Health Messaging in the Early Stages of the Mpox Outbreak: Mapping the Twitter Narrative With Deep Learning.

Journal: Journal of medical Internet research
Published Date: Jun 6, 2023

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Shortly after the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, an outbreak of mpox introduced another critical public health emergency. Like the COVID-19 pandemic, the mpox outbreak was characterized by a rising prevalence of public health misinformation on social media, through which many US adults receive and engage with news. Digital misinformation continues to challenge the efforts of public health officials in providing accurate and timely information to the public. We examine the evolving topic distributions of social media narratives during the mpox outbreak to map the tension between rapidly diffusing misinformation and public health communication.

Authors

  • Andy Edinger
    Department of Applied Health Science, Indiana University School of Public Health, 47405, Bloomington, IN, USA.
  • Danny Valdez
    Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA.
  • Eric Walsh-Buhi
    Department of Applied Health Science, Indiana University School of Public Health, 47405, Bloomington, IN, USA.
  • Jennifer S Trueblood
    Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA.
  • Lorenzo Lorenzo-Luaces
    Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, United States.
  • Lauren A Rutter
    Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, United States.
  • Johan Bollen
    Luddy School of Informatics and Computer Engineering, Indiana University, 47405, Bloomington, IN, USA.

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