![]() ![]() The Institutional Review Board (IRB) of Stanford University (IRB# 63151) deemed this study exempt. These videos are now in the public domain thus, no further consent was sought for this analysis. The study participants each consented to have their presentations recorded. It occurred on August 26, 2021, and data analysis was completed between October 2021 and November 2021. The conference was called INFODEMIC: A Stanford Conference on Social Media and COVID-19 Misinformation, and it was sponsored by Stanford University (Stanford, CA). The transcript of the conference presentations formed the data for this study. Our study aim was to identify best practices for social media companies to combat COVID-19 misinformation online results of our thematic analysis represent the primary outcomes of the study. We conducted a thematic analysis of the transcript of a 6-hour, virtual conference about the COVID-19 infodemic. In this paper, we report (1) the methods used to execute the virtual conference, (2) conference attendee engagement and analytics, (3) our qualitative analysis of the conference presentations, and (4) best practice recommendations. Our primary aim for the conference was to develop best practices for social media companies to mitigate the COVID-19 infodemic online. In August 2021, we hosted INFODEMIC: A Stanford Conference on Social Media and COVID-19 Misinformation to address issues related to the ongoing COVID-19 infodemic. Additionally, the effect of a coordinated effort by social media companies to act against the COVID-19 infodemic is untested. Thus far, there are no uniform efforts and policies by social media companies to combat harmful misinformation and disinformation present on their platforms. Although the connection between vaccination rates and the presence of misinformation online is known, best practices for mitigating the COVID-19 infodemic are yet to be determined. This was made worse by influential political representatives and cultural figures who spread misinformation and disinformation across all major social media platforms, which is referred to as top-down misinformation. Social media has been shown to be more effective at promoting vaccine hesitancy than uptake, leading to a reduced effectiveness of public health measures and to decreased public engagement in disease prevention activities. Social media platforms accelerated the dissemination of inaccurate information about the pandemic, contributing greatly to the COVID-19 infodemic and its health effects. COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy is higher in some demographic groups who have even lower vaccination rates than the general population, demonstrating that the infodemic may disproportionately affect some communities. In the case of COVID-19, this hesitancy occurs despite an excellent vaccine safety profile. The COVID-19 infodemic has significantly contributed to vaccine hesitancy, which is the refusal of vaccines when access is not a limiting factor, across the United States. According to the World Health Organization, an infodemic is “too much information including false or misleading information in digital and physical environments during a disease outbreak”. Taken together, the escalation of inaccurate information surrounding the pandemic can be accurately described as the COVID-19 infodemic. Misinformation refers to inaccurate information disseminated without malice, while disinformation is the purposeful spread of inaccurate information with malicious intent ( Table 1). Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a proliferation of both misinformation and disinformation about the virus, its origin, the vaccines, and potential treatments. This disparity persists despite widespread vaccine access. Still, this fell short of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) goal of 70% vaccination of the US population by J. As of December 2021, 60% of the US adult population had received 2 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. However, after an initial year of staggering case numbers, we finally have observed a decrease in the number of new infections requiring hospitalization as more people get vaccinated against the virus. More than 780,000 Americans have died from COVID-19, and new variants of the virus continue to emerge. COVID-19 is currently the third leading cause of death after heart disease and cancer, with approximately 266 million cases and 5 million deaths to date. The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a huge toll on the world. ![]()
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